Some of you will remember that when Kingsley went missing Cooper started doing this adorable thing where he punched me in the face when he was hungry. At 5 o’clock in the morning. Well, he still occasionally does that when I do something silly like fall asleep before feeding him his midnight snack.
So, this morning, I just assumed that since he was purring and batting me in the face that he must be hungry and so I chose to ignore him. (Actually, I told him that we weren’t eating until the alarm went off, but since my cats don’t speak English that detail is both silly and irrelevant.)
When the alarm went off and I finally did get up he ran into the room, watched me go about my morning business and then led me into the kitchen. ” I know, I know,” I said to him, “You’re hungry.” Only instead of stopping by his food bowl and waiting patiently he kept on walking and sat on my yoga mat in the front room. I stared at him for minute, put food into his bowl (Lily, my other cat, actually was hungry) and then went to join him on the floor.
I’ve been doing yoga in the mornings and apparently Cooper has decided that this is new special Kate and Cooper time. Isn’t that adorable? So, now I have to wonder, is he hitting me in the face because he’s hungry or because he wants to weave through my legs while I’m in downward-facing dog?
Despite the fact the most of my friends told me to read things that weren’t linguistic while I was on vacation, I picked this book up. I figured that, since Blount is a journalist and not a linguist, it wouldn’t be like real language reading. It would be fun. And, the subtitles promised, “the energies, gists and spirits of letters, words and combinations thereof; their roots, bones, innards, piths, pips and secret parts, tinctures, tonics and essences; with examples of the their usage foul and savory.”
That sounds fun, right? (Well, it sounds fun if you’re a nerd like me.)
And, the book isn’t bad. I just don’t feel like it is what I was promised. There are not a lot of “roots, bones, piths and secret parts”. There are some but not for every word. And, some of Blount’s “pith and innards” seems to be features of sounds or phonology that he points out to support his thesis that language isn’t arbitrary. But, a lot of language is arbitrary. It is actually a design feature. It has the flexibility that it has largely because of its arbitrary parts. But, whatever. I’m trying to not be a linguist, just someone who is interested in words here.
There were a lot of anecdotes in the book. Some of which were funny, some of which were just, well, anecdotal. And, often not having to do with the words but rather one instance of one word’s usage.
My friend Melissa recommended it to me. And, I looked for her review of it just now to see if she liked it. Because I have to say that my opinion of the book is coming down on the side of ‘boo’. Anecdotes about your life in words can be fun. But, believe me when I say (after reading 1 semester and 1 summer session’s worth of papers on etymologies) where words come from is sometimes surprising, often fun, every now and then shocking and always interesting. I expected so much from this book based on its title, and it just didn’t deliver.
The time of year when things are starting to mature in farms and gardens and I find myself (like many other CSA share-having people) hip deep in more veg than any one human being could eat. This is okay because since I have moved to Buffalo I have slowly been building up an arsenal of canning skills.
That sounds so weird. But, It is true. I have recipes. I have pickling spices. I have jars. I have the internet to search for new and exciting recipes. And, tomorrow I’ll hopefully have jars full of a brand new (to me) squash pickle recipe.
You read that right, squash pickles. I also plan on making a beet relish. The recipe calls for horseradish, but I have fresh dill so I may use that instead. Is it wise to monkey with a recipe you’ve never tried before? Probably not. Will I do it anyway? It wouldn’t be the first time.
This man, Valentin Abe, has built a hatchery in Haiti. He then shares his fish with local fisherman (who can’t fish anymore because their lakes have been overfished) to farm the fish. This is just a great idea.
So, admittedly, I’m only half way through this children’s classic in English. But, I don’t think I’m going to finish it for the following three reasons:
1. I read this in Italian back when I was actively pursuing Italian-reading skills. I don’t remember finding the wooden boy to be such an irritant that time around. Although, admittedly, it is probably hard to be irritated by the characters when one is staring at a sentence and asking oneself, “Is that the subjunctive? I think it is the subjunctive. Why is that in the subjunctive??”
2. This edition has a lovely forward by Umberto Eco in which he argues that Pinocchio is loved by all and translated into everything because as a story it is hard to pin-down. I disagree. Maybe this is just where I am in my life, but I feel like Collodi, with his annoying little wooden boy, has beaten me over the head with his tale of morality. In case you were curious or didn’t already know this, people, its right action and not intention that matters. As the old saying goes, The Road to Hell (and/or jackass-ville) is paved with good intentions.
3. I hate Pinocchio. He’s Carrie Bradshaw, Meredith Grey and Bella Swann all rolled up into one. I didn’t think the bar could slip that low.
Normally, I recommend both reading Classics and finishing books (especially short books) but I just couldn’t do it. Time is at a premium (especially now that its the last few weeks of the semester). Maybe I will return to this translation of this classic after the semester is over, but I doubt Pinocchio is going to get anymore endearing.
Up for April previously had been Aimée & Jaguar: A Love Story, Berlin 1943 by Erica Fischer but it has changed to Toby Young’s How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. For some reason, I think this is going to be my cup of tea.
Speaking of Percy Jackson, I have recently finished the third book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. In this novel, we follow Percy and Co. on a quest to save a goddess and keep the titan Kronos from coming into full power. This is the first adventure with Thalia, a daughter of Zeus. We meet the virgin Goddess Artemis and her hunters led by her lieutenant, the mysterious Zoe Nightshade.
The heroes have to go across the country in order to rescue one of their own in addition to the Goddess. Throughout the adventure, Percy, Grover and Thalia discover an inconsistency about the newest hunter Bianco and her brother’s Nico past that may turn out to be dangerous for the whole world.
In the end, as one would expect, there is an excellent battle between a Titan and the heroes and I was shocked, shocked! (well…not that shocked) by some of the decisions which the characters make. They are still fighting to save Luke from his own decisions and we know a little bit more about the prophesy and who it is about. This was a good little read. As exciting as the first two. It made me want to pick up the next one.
Back in the day (it feels like I’m saying that a lot lately), I went through this phase in which when I read a book, as a little review of it I would put together a mix CD. It was a fun little exercise that brought together two of my favorite activities, reading and listening to music.
Right now, I’m reading Constructions for a class (this is not likely to receive mix tape treatment), The Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Crimson Petal and the White. These last two may very well get their own mix tapes. Percy Jackson is a demigod, the son of Poseidon, and quite the little badass. His adventures are fast reads (reading teen fiction will do that for you) and are terribly entertaining. This one is book four. And, the Crimson Petal and the White is a look at Victorian England from multiple perspectives. Its seven hundred…thousand (hyperbole) pages long but so far its been terribly interesting. It starts off following a prostitute and then moves its way up through society. The mix tape potential is astounding. I could possibly do a song for each person that is followed!
Now, why am I bringing this up now? Well, when the NaBloPoMo people sent me an email to say that February’s topic for anyone up to the challenge of blogging everyday of the shortest month of the year was “love”, I thought, “Hey, wouldn’t it be interesting to come up with a mix tape representation of the many different kinds of love at there in the world?” (Even more interesting when one considers how odd and awfully awkward I am when it comes to any kind of human interaction.)
You may have noticed that I’ve been ending entries with songs. I am collecting these things into a list so that I can put them together as a mix. So, you’ve been warned.
So, a soundtrack can really make (or break) a film. Love Actually is one of my favorite films (and, yes, I realize its a Christmas film, but I could watch it at any time in the year). And, I was thinking about it the today; it would be a completely different film without its soundtrack.
I love the film because you are so happy when Sam (played by Thomas Sangster) and Jamie (Colin Firth) triumph in love. You’re touched by Daniel’s (Liam Neeson) devotion to his recently passed spouse. You want to smack Sarah (Laura Linney) for letting Karl’s (Rodrigo Santoro) hot, mostly naked (Brazilian) personage go. You feel a sense of catharsis when Mark (Andrew Lincoln) finally says what he needs to say and moves on. You’re touched when Billy Mac tells his manager, whom he calls Chubs, that he’s come to realize that he’s spent his whole life with his fat employee, and in truth, “The People I love is, in fact, you.” And, you are devastated when Karen (Emma Thompson) is herself devastated after discovering her husband’s possible infidelity. (Oh, and the Prime minister/Natalie stuff is hilarious and wonderful.) But, you feel all of these things because of the soundtrack.
Karen tells Harry near the beginning of the film, after he asks why she still listens to Joni Mitchell, “I love her and true love lasts a lifetime. Joni Mitchell is the woman who taught your cold English wife how to feel.” And, Joni Mitchell sets the tone of their relationship. Her heartbrokenness is set against the background of Mitchell’s hauntingly beautiful “Both Sides Now” (which by the way, if you’re never actually listen to the lyrics, I really recommend it). Her heart breaks and so does yours while Joni Mitchell croons about having looked at love from both sides and after this coming to realize that she really doesn’t know love at all.
Karl and Sarah are set to Eva Cassidy’s “Songbird”. This was apparently the filmmaker’s second choice. He had imagined the scene to Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Come on Come on”. But, this tune really does end up being perfect and fitting in completely with the feel of the scene.
And, the ending of the film gets me every time, calling back to its beginning with the arrivals at Heathrow while “God Only Knows” plays on in the background. “God Only Knows what I’d be without you” the Beach Boys tell us as we see image after image of husbands, wives, daughters, sons, brothers, mothers, sisters fathers, friends reunite. Its such a powerful and all encompassing sentiment, What would we be without the people in our lives who love us? What would we be without the people in our lives that we love?
Its a good film, but how the music plays into the action really makes it remarkable.
Song: Both Sides Now
Performer: Joni Mitchell
Album: Both Sides Now
Song: Songbird
Performer: Eva Cassidy
Album: Songbird
Song: God Only Knows
Performer: The Beach Boys
Album: Love to Love
The first book off of my booklist this year was for my book group. We read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. The book follows the main character Melinda through her first year of high school. It becomes painfully obvious in the first chapter that something awful has recently happened to her. You find out that at a party during the summer, she called the cops and is now hated by everyone at school. Throughout the book, she grows and develops and eventually, confronts the incident.
Anderson does an excellent job of portraying the tension created by the feelings Melinda is having (or trying not to have) and the image she is trying to project to the world. This book was heartbreaking but it was beautiful. And, the climax… well, it was thrilling and a little frightening. This was a wonderful book and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
I can’t believe its taken this long for me to upload the booklist. I fell down on the job in regards to my reading list last year. It is a sad state of affairs when a girl can’t sort herself out long enough to read fifteen non-school books.
So, this year I have decided that I will not fall down on the job! I will succeed! So, I’ve added a number of things that have been recommended to me in the past year (along with a number of things that my book group has selected) to last year’s list in order to come up with this year’s list. There is only one change I am making. Last year, Ivanhoe was on the list because I thought that was something I already owned. Turns out, what I own by Sir Walter Scott is actually Rob Roy.
It will be replacing Ivanhoe on the list this year.
So, starting with Last year’s books first:
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
Compassionate Carnivore by Catherine Friend
On the Wealth of Nations by P.J. O’Rourke
Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson
Break, Blow, Burn by Camille Paglia
The Eight By Katherine Neville
Begin Anywhere by Frank Gianpietro
The Horse, The Wheel and Language by David Anthony
How Language Works by David Crystal
The Ode Less Traveled by Stephen Fry
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Farber
And, then adding:
Alphabet Juice by Roy Blount Jr.
The Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Ibid by Mark Dunne
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan
The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
Speak by Laura Halse Anderson
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Jaws by Peter Benchley
Aimée & Jaguar: A Love Story, Berlin 1943 by Erica Fischer
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson
Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower by Marcel Proust
The Stuff of Thought by Stephen Pinker
And, four more books to be determined. So, the rules are as they’ve always been. I can read whatever I want, on the list or not. But, I am challenged to make it through at least these 30 books. (Which, yes, I still realize, includes Ivanhoe.)
