What I Loved, 2008

I keep a little notebook on my nightstand. In it I write down the books I read over the course of a year. In addition to the book's title and author, I usually jot a little note regarding my overall impression about that particular title.

A couple people asked for my favorites of the year. I narrowed it down to the top five in fiction and non-fiction.

Top 5 Fiction of 2008 (it was really, really hard to narrow it down to five):
1. Wintersmith - Sir Terry Pratchett (he was recently knighted by Queen Elizabeth)
2. The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
3. An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England - Brock Clarke
4. The Pale Blue Eye - Louis Bayard
5. I Love You, Beth Cooper - Larry Doyle

Top 5 Young Adult Fiction of 2008:
1. Redwall - Brian Jacques
2. The Percy Jackson and The Olympians books (The Lightning Thief, et. al.) - Rick Riordan
3. Soon I Will Be Invincable - Austin Grossman
4. Zel - Donna Jo Napoli
5. The Twilight series - Stephanie Meyer

Top 5 Non-Fiction of 2008:
1. The Areas of My Expertise - John Hodgman
2. The Shock Doctrine - Naomi Klein
3. The $64 Tomato - William Alexander
4. Blood Brothers - Michael Weisskopf
5. The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan - Wendy McClure

Top 5 Comic Books of 2008:
1. One Hundred Demons - Lynda Barry
2. Owly: A Time To Be Brave - Andy Runton
3. The Mouse Gaurds - David Peterson
4. Too Cool To Be Forgotten - Alex Robinson
5. Funhome - Alison Bechtel

With the good, you get the bad and I read some stinkers this year. Stay far away from the following books, the worst I read in 2008, if you know what's good for you:
1. Footsucker - Geoff Nicholson

2. Alligator - Lisa Moore (I have no recollection of reading this book, other than the fact that there are no alligators in it.)

3. Eye Contact - Cammie McGovern (my note for this says it all: "meh.")
4. Generation Ecstasy - Simon Reynolds
5. The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless - Ahmet Zappa (which is too bad because I love the title)

Leeanthro wondered what book I'd like to hear on audio. My choice is Terry Pratchett's bloody fantastic Wintersmith, mainly because I'd love to hear the Feegles (they have Scottish accents and are hilarious).

So there you go. Here's to a 2009 filled with great books, comics, poetry: beautiful, beautiful words.

A Year In Books or Take That, 90.

I know, I know.

I've been M.I.A. for about two weeks now - the longest I've gone without writing here while I've been at home (though I did spend four days in Chicago away from a computer). I've been busy what with Christmas and all (more to come later, especially a picture of Flynn and her new doll, Kit with their matching dresses).

It's that time of year when I list all of the books I read over the course of 2008 (I'm a day early but I'll finish my current book tonight).

(Deep breath in) Here goes:

1. The Thief Lord - Cornelia Funke
2. Toast - Nigel Slater
3. It's Not About The Tapas - Polly Evans
4. The Devil Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger
5. Saturday - Ian McEwan
6. The Solace of Leaving Early - Haven Kimmel
7. Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony - Eoin Colfer
8. Alligator - Lisa Moore
9. The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club - Laurie Notaro
10. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
11. Holy Cow - Sarah MacDonald
12. My Life As A Fake - Peter Carey
13. The City of Ember - Jeanne DuPrau
14. Mr. Timothy - Louis Bayard
15. Stephen Fry's Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music - Stephen Fry
16. March - Geraldine Brooks
17. The Pale Blue Eye - Louis Bayard
18. The Book of Ralph - John McNally
19. Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer
20. Tabloid Love - Bridget Harrison
21. The Death of Ivan Illyich - Leo Tolstoy
22. Soon I Will Be Invincible - Austin Grossman
23. The Meaning of Night - Michael Cox
24. Nature Noir - Jordan Fisher Smith
25. The Magic Circle - Donna Jo Napoli
26. Sirens - Donna Jo Napoli
27. Zel - Donna Jo Napoli
28. Spinners - Donna Jo Napoli
29. The Prince of The Pond - Donna Jo Napoli
30. Stones In Water - Donna Jo Napoli
31. Beast - Donna Jo Napoli
32. Disgrace - J.M. Coetzee
33. History Lessons for Girls - Aurelie Sheehan
34. Everything Here Is Mine - Nicole Hollander
35. My Cat's Not Fat, He's Just Big Boned - Nicole Hollander
36. Assassination Vacation - Sarah Vowell
37. The Dead Beat - Marilyn Johnson
38. Girl - Blake Nelson
39. I Love You, Beth Cooper - Larry Doyle
40. The Areas of My Expertise - John Hodgman
41. What Did I Do Last Night? - Tom Sykes
42. The White Mountains - John Christopher
43. Interworld - Neil Gaiman & Michael Reaves
44. M Is For Magic - Neil Gaiman
45. Exile - Blake Nelson
46. Take The Canoli - Sarah Vowell
47. Footsucker - Geoff Nicholson
48. Paula Spencer - Roddy Doyle
49. The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
50. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie
51. Eye Contact - Cammie McGovern
52. The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin - Richard Lourie
53. I Capture The Castle - Dodie Smith
54. Finbar's Hotel - Dermot Bolger, ed.
55. Peony In Love - Lisa See
56. Him Her Him Again The End of Him - Patricia Marx
57. After Dachau - Daniel Quinn
58. Candyfloss - Jaqueline Wilson
59. The Apprentice - Jacques Pepin
60. The Mouse Guards - David Peterson
61. Flying Dutch - Tom Holt
62. One Hundred Demons - Lynda Barry
63. Owly: A Time To Be Brave - Andy Runton
64. Too Cool To Be Forgotten - Alex Robinson
65. I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
66. Cat Getting Out Of A Paper Bag - Jeffrey Brown
67. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Alexander MacColl Smith
68. Everything Is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer
69. Bighead - Jeffrey Brown
70. Clumsy - Jeffrey Brown
71. The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon
72. The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan - Wendy McClure
73. Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
74. Happiness Sold Separately - Lolly Winston
75. The Italian Secretary - Caleb Carr
76. Complications - Atul Gawande
77. Pigtopia - Kitty Fitzgerald
78. Eat This Not That! For Kids - David Zinczenko
79. The Places In Between - Rory Stewart
80. A Zoo In My Luggage - Gerald Durell
81. We Need To Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver
82. Georgie - Malachy Doyle
83. Now Is The Hour - Tom Spanbauer
84. Eat This Not That! - David Zinczenko
85. The Great God Pan - Donna Jo Napoli
86. Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson and D.O. Relin
87. Don't Try This At Home - Kimberly Witherspoon & Andrew Friedman, eds.
88. Mixed-Up Max - Dick King-Smith
89. Generation Ecstasy - Simon Reynolds
90. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
91. New Moon - Stephanie Meyer
92. Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer
93. Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Meyer
94. Funhome - Alison Bechdel
95. The Shock Doctrine - Naomi Kelin
96. Nation - Terry Pratchett
97. The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
98. Mississippi Sissy - Kevin Sessums
99. Snakes and Earrings - Hitomi Kanehara
100. Half-Moon Investigations - Eoin Colfer
101. The Amulet - Kazu Kibuishi
102. Absurdistan - Gary Shteyngart
103. The $64 Tomato - William Alexander
104. Beautiful Stranger - Hope Donahue
105. S/He - Minnie Bruce Pratt
106. Wish I Could Be There - Allen Shawn
107. The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
108. The Kiss and Other Stories -Kate Chopin
109. Undead and Unemployed - Mary Janice Davidson
110. Blood Brothers - Michael Weisskopf
111. Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson
112. An Arsonist's Guide To Writers' Homes In New England - Brock Clarke
113. Twelve - Nick McDonell
114. Wintersmith - Terry Pratchett
115. Dragonslippers - Rosalind Penfold
116. The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless - Ahmet Zappa
117. The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
118. The Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan
119. The Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan
120. Redwall - Brian Jacques

whew.

Yeah, one hundred and twenty. That's a lot of books.

Gingerbread House

Flynn and her fellow kindergartners made "gingerbread" houses today in class. The house is constructed with graham crackers and a milk carton. They had a blast and could hardly wait to take it home.

Flynn shared hers with Evan and they dove in almost as soon as we walked in the door.

They're so sugared up right now I believe they're vibrating.

I think I'll send them outside to play in the snow.

Lykke Li with "Little Bit"

This song, Little Bit by Swedish singer Lykke Li, hypnotizes me every time and I've been grooving to it for a couple of weeks now. It just crawls inside my brain and makes me want to move, if not like the dancers getting their freak on in this video, then something very similar.

Anyway, hope you like it as well.

Flynnie's New Quilt

Yesterday I got on the stick and finished Flynn's "Kit" quilt. Since she's become obsessed with Kit Kitteridge, an American Girl doll, she's a)wanted to look like Kit and b)possess all of Kit's stuff, including Kit. The day she had her hair cut to look like Kit we stopped by the fabric store, a dangerous thing for my mother and I to do but patterns were on sale for $1.

I'd been planning on making Flynn a quilt for a while but couldn't pin down what fabrics to use. The Kit obsession gave me an idea: Kit's stories take place during the 1930's so I decided to use Depression-era reproduction cottons. Flynn, my mom and I started pulling bolts of fabric left and right but settled on five (I already had the small print cherry fabric at home, which Flynn insisted on using); later I would purchase two yards of '30's reproduction prints from a fabric store in Urbana.

I have to say that Flynn has a good eye for color and pattern since she's the one who picked out the majority of the fabrics.The quilt is composed of 12" blocks alternating with 4-patch blocks (4, 6" squares sewn together). I found the backing at Hancock's on their clearance table for 60% off. Flynn loves the peachy-pink color and the white flowers pair nicely with the rest of the floral patterns in the quilt top. Flynn chose the threads I quilted with; red, light blue, yellow, lavender, and baby pink. The binding is also a reproduction fabric but is not used in the quilt top at all, but I think it looks nice.

Most importantly, Flynn loves it. She wrapped herself up in it as soon as she laid eyes on it.Now she wants matching quilts for each of her dolls (she calls them her sisters): Maria, Sophie, Jessie and Katherine. I'll need to make two extra as the Fat Man is bringing her Kit and Kit's best friend, Ruthie.

I better get sewing.

Tea and Cookies

I made six dozen of these deliciously crispy sesame cookies this morning; five dozen for a church fundraiser and some for our letter carrier (I'm eating what's left). The cookies are *this* close to being vegan; no butter or milk and I'm sure there's some substitute for the egg.

Now if you'll excuse me I have some cookies to devour...

Ray of Light

Here's a little meme I stole from Facebook. It's fun and possibly a bit revealing.

1. Put your iPod or whatever music player you have on shuffle. (I don't own an iPod, so I'm using my Sansa miniclip).
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag 5 friends who might enjoy doing this as well as the person you got this from. Let them know they've been tagged.

OK, I'm using my miniclip and there aren't a lot of deep meaningful songs on here - I use this when I'm working out and it's heavily stacked with fast-moving techno and punk. I'm just sayin'.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Poprocks & Coke by Green Day

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Times Like These by Foo Fighters

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Hyperactive! by Thomas Dolby (strange considering my husband can sleep like a hibernating bear anywhere anytime)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Spitfire by Prodigy

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Here It Goes Again by OK Go

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Volcano Girls by Veruca Salt

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Blitzkrieg Bop by The Ramones

WHAT IS 2+2?
Ana Ng by They Might Be Giants

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Preparedness by The Bird and The Bee

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
The One Thing by INXS

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Hell by Squirrel Nut Zippers

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Never Miss a Beat by The Kaiser Chiefs

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Philosophofee by Ima Robot

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Jimmy Neutron Theme by Bowling For Soup

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
So What'cha Want by The Beastie Boys

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Disco Infiltrator by LCD Soundsystem

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
2 Atoms In A Molecule by Noah and The Whale

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Supermodel by Jill Sobule

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Move Any Mountain by The Shamen

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?

I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar by Jonathan Richman (But that's where they play all the good music!)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Take Your Mama by Scissor Sisters

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Meltdown! by The Aquabats

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Happy Rap by Junior Senior

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Town Called Malice by The Jam

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Moving by Supergrass

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Tron by Foals

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Troubled Times by The Merrymakers

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Shut Up and Let Me Go by The Ting Tings

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
True Faith by New Order

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Ray of Light by Madonna

I tag:
Looseyfur
Quigs
Mrs. Chicken
Leeanthro
Belle Noelle

This Ain't No Party, This Ain't No Disco

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Talking Heads (a band I've loved for what seems like forever) and adore this live version of "Life During Wartime" from their excellent concert film, Stop Making Sense. I can't help but dance when I hear this song.

Jeez, I wish I had David Byrne's aerobic capacity. He does not stop moving. And Tina Weymouth jumping around with her bass just makes me want to lie down.

The Crazy Mommy Plan by A Certain 5-Year-Old Girl

Hey, kids! Are you tired of the same old, boring, work-a-day, even-keeled mom? Do you long for some excitement? Follow my technique, perfected over the course of five years, and you too will have your very own Crazy Mommy and you will certainly spice things up at your house!

Step 1: Be 5.

Step 2: While your mom is preparing a meal, claim to be the "starvingest child in the whole world". (I've found that this works best at dinner time.) It is important that you wait until she is actually in the act of cooking before you tell her you're hungry. Crawling around on the floor helps.

Step 3: Ask for a piece of candy. Repeatedly.

Example: You:"Mom? Can I have a piece of candy?"
Mom: "No. I'm making dinner."
You: "Please? Just one little piece of candy?"
Mom: "No."
You: "How about now?"
Mom: "I said no."
You: "Now?"

Keep this up until your mom starts to count to 3. It is important that you stop asking at count 2 or else you'll wind up in Time Out on the stairs, which is no fun for everybody involved (especially you).

Step 4: At this point your mom may offer you a variety of healthy snack options. Turn them all down no matter how much you like these foods. Carrots? No. Yogurt? No. Apple slices? No. Piece of string cheese? No way. Cracker? Uh-uh. Counter the offer with a request for either candy or a fruit snack.

You should notice that your mom is starting to act a little funny; closing drawers a little more forcefully than normal, not being able to find a utensil (it helps if you took whatever it is she's looking for and put it in your own play kitchen), and she might be a little red in the face.

Step 5: Mom will offer you a slice of bread and butter. Take it. You have two ways to go here. One way is to take a single tiny, measly bite out of the slice of bread, claim you are full and throw it in the trash. The other way is to sit down at the table with your bread and butter and proceed to eat only the butter, not the bread (This is important: DO NOT EAT THE BREAD).

Step 6: Once your family is sitting at the table and eating the meal your mother just prepared, take one look at it and proclaim it to be "yuck." If you have dramatic tendencies, turn it up to 11; push away from the table and make a sick face, claim your tummy hurts and you can't eat dinner, cry. Also state, "I'm not eating that." It does not matter what's in front of you. It could be your favorite meal in the world (like plain spaghetti noodles with butter and Parmesan cheese). Do not eat it.

Step 6a: Another little trick I've come up with is to tell your mom that your dinner is dirty and needs to be washed off. I just did this the other night and the result was spectacular (my mom developed this cool twitching near her eye). The meal consisted of ham and peas (I call them "green drops"; it makes them sound nicer.). After following steps 1-6 of my Crazy Mommy plan I added this twist: I picked up the pieces of ham off my plate, carried them to the bathroom, rinsed them off with some water from the sink, and returned to the table. I also told my mom that I couldn't eat the peas because they "had cracks in them." Mommy's face turned a lovely shade of purple.

Step 7: Only after you've been threatened with no books before bed do you succumb to eating your dinner and then eat only the requisite number of bites (I have to eat 5 full bites of everything on my plate). Make sure you eat as slowly as possible and with great exaggeration.

Step 8: Ask for a piece of candy.

If you follow my 8 Steps to success you, too, will have a fun Crazy Mommy!

Flight of The Conchords

I've only recently discovered Flight of The Conchords (we don't have HBO) and this song, Foux du Fafa, makes me laugh out loud.

The Wish List

My children have been working feverishly on their Christmas Wish lists for Santa for months. This year, Flynn wrote out hers by herself and has been adding to it almost daily. It consists mainly of items from the American Girl catalog and Star Wars action figures. Evan's list is easy: he would like the Lego catalog. In its entirety. When the Lego catalog arrived I mentioned to Frank, "Evan's Christmas list came in the mail today."

My list is also short and sweet. It consists of 3 items:

1. Sharp knives. Frank and I were given a nice set of knives as a wedding gift and we have used them almost every day for over a dozen years. They're more than a little dull and the wooden handles are cracking.

2. A few sessions with a personal trainer. I'd like to work with a trainer to make sure my strength training form is good so I don't continue to injure myself.

3. Photoshop, Illustrator or at the very least Publisher. My new computer does not have any sort of imaging software and I could really use some, mainly for CD case liners.

What's on your wish list?

You know, aside from world peace, an end to poverty and hunger and war and all that good stuff.