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Holey Moley: It’s a Math Crisis!

Feb4

Total population of the United States: 305, 748, 186

Nancy Pelosi: “Every month that we do not have an economic stimulus package, 500 million Americans lose their jobs.”

She meant 500,000. Question: Can we use the same math and decrease the economic stimulus package by the same order of magnitude, since Ms. Pelosi thought the problem was 1000 times as bad as it it may be? Divide 1 trillion by 1000, and we’ve at least reduced the boondoggle to 1 billion. It’s still a travesty, but better math.

(NOTE to readers: Check my math. It’s not my best subject either.)

Stimulating Taxes

Feb4

The Anchoress has a 1-2-3 Stimulus Bill, an easy three-step program to stimulate the economy. I think she has a great idea, and I have a plan to help with step three on her list: make people who don’t pay their taxes pay them.

It looks as if there might be a lot of these people, people who owe forty thousand or one hundred fifty thousand dollars in taxes. The IRS doesn’t have time or manpower to audit everyone who might owe that amount of money or more. What we need is self-audit. And we’ve happened onto a way to get rich people to ‘fess up and pay their back taxes: appoint them to a position in the Obama administration that requires confirmation by the US Senate. Now, President Obama can’t appoint everyone who make more than a million dollars to a position within the administration any more than the IRS can audit all those millionaires. However, he can threaten/promise. I suggest he make a statement something like this:

“I believe that if you’ve made a million or more dollars that you know something. You’re doing something right. And I want that kind of expertise in my administration. So, I’m going to be looking at a list of millionaires for positions in my new administration. And I want a bipartisan group working for me, so it doesn’t matter whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or neither or even if you haven’t voted in years. If you had a million dollars in income in any year in the past five years, I’m looking at you. Uncle Sam wants you to serve. HOWEVER, you must have paid all your taxes. If you have any unpaid taxes, please pay them now, voluntarily, so that I can consider you as a part of my team.”

All those millionaires would be scrambling to pay their taxes just like Daschle. The US treasury would start filling up, and if we also did steps one and two of The Anchoress’s plan, everyone would at least have a good time for a while. Which is more than I can say for the stimulus package that’s in Congress now.

KidLitosphere Central

Feb3

Take a look at this new initiative if you’re at all interested in children’s books, reading, and libraries.

This thing that Melissa Wiley dubbed the “KidLitosphere” has become a valuable resource that celebrates fiction and nonfiction, poetry and prose, authors and illustrators, writing and reading. Bloggers cover everything from picture books to young adult titles, writing process to publishing success, personal news to national events.

KidLitosphere Central strives to provide an avenue to good books and useful literary resources; to support authors and publishers by connecting them with readers and book reviewers; and to continue the growth of the society of bloggers in children’s and young adult literature.

Bookmark it now.

Sunday Salon: Gleaned from the Saturday Review

Feb1

The Sunday Salon.com

Here are the books I spotted in yesterday’s Saturday Review and added to my ever-growing TBR list:

Sarah’s Key by Titiana de Rosnay. Recommended at Small World Reads. I thought I already had this one on my TBR list. I’ve seen reviews of it in several places.

On My Honor—Bauer. Recommended at Maw Books. This Newbery Honor book about making choices and the consequences of bad choices might be a good one to give to Karate Kid after I read it.

SIlent Music: A Story of Baghdad by james Rumford. I’m adding this picture book to the ones I’m considering for a follow-up book to Picture Book Preschool, to be called Picture Book Around the World.

Eat, Drink and Be from Mississippi by Nanci Kincaid. Recommended by S. Krishna. This novel sounds good: “Eat, Drink, and Be From Mississippi is a warmhearted, beautifully written, and uplifting story about love, family, and finding your way home.”

Racing Odysseus by Roger Martin. Recommended at Seasonal Soundings. A college president takes a sabbatical and goes back to college at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. I’ve always been interested in this particular college with its liberal arts curriculum and tutorial method. I can’t wait to read this memoir of a year as a 61 year old college freshman studying the great works of classic literature.

The Rule of Won by Stefan Petrucha. Recommended at Presenting Lenore. I like books that explore the edges of physical, mental, even spiritual sanity. This book is about a cult that turns into a nightmare and about how needy people get sucked into the group.

Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life by Michael Dirda. Recommended by Krin at Enough to Read. As if I didn’t have enough to read, I’m interested in reading a book about reading, with reading suggestions? Yeah.

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George. Recommended by Emily Beeson at Deliciously Clean Reads. Based on the fairy tale of The 12 Dancing Princesses. I like re-written fairy tales if they’re well done. This one looks good.

Books Read in January, 2009

Jan31

Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins. I had been saving the ARC I received of Secret Keeper for a treat and because I thought that a review closer to the time of publication would be more helpful to readers. In December I succumbed, and read it. (I’m counting it for January because I reviewed it in January, and it was published in January.) Such a powerful story! I so wanted everything to turn out just like the fairy tales, and yet I felt as I read that it couldn’t have beenwritten it any other way. It’s a story that bridges cultures and creates understanding and makes even WASPs like me feel a twinge of identification with the characters and their very human situations.

I Choose To Be Happy: A School Shooting Survivor’s Triumph Over Tragedy by Missy Jenkins with WIlliam Croyle. I received an ARC of this autobiography/memoir of a survivor of the 1997 Paducah, KY school shootings. It was readable, but not classic literature. There’s lots of psycho-babble, a deep and believable faith, and some good ideas on forgiveness.

Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Thomas Flexner. The first president, and the first biography in my American Presidents Project. Next up is David McCullough’s John Adams. Semicolon review of The Indispensable Man.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale. Semicolon review here.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. What fun! 2008 National Book Award FInalist. Cybils Young Adult Fiction FInalist. Frankie Landau-Banks is an intriguing and complicated character, and I enjoyed getting to know her. Semicolon review here.

A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth Bunce. Rumplestiltskin for grown-ups. Pagan witchiness and magical realism. Cybils Fantasy and Science FIction Finalist. Recommended by Miss Erin. Semicolon review here.

The Explosionist by Jenny Davidson. Odd alternative history/science fiction/ghost story/espionage novel. Yeah, all that plus politics, seances, terrorism and murder, with a bit of schoolgirl romance. Cybils Fantasy and Science FIction Finalist. Semicolon review here.

Sweethearts by Sara Zarr. Another Cybils finalist, Brown Bear Daughter and I both thought it was just so-so. Not bad, but a little obsessive in its treatment of childhood friends who experience a traumatic event and then can’t forget one another or move on to other relationships. But the two, a teenage boy and a girl, insist that they are not in love with each other.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Wow! Fascinating, thrilling, and thought-provoking YA dystopian fiction. Semicolon review here.

Prodigals and Those Who Love Them by Ruth Bell Graham. Rather than a book by Mrs. Graham about prodigals, this is a compilation of poems, devotional thoughts, Biblical passages, stories, etc. about prodigals and those who love them. I sort of skimmed through and prayed for my own prodigal.

Home by Marilynne Robinson. Reading this sort-of-sequel to Gilead made me want to go back and re-read that book.

Heaven: Your Real Home by Joni Eareckson Tada. January selection for Semicolon Book Club.

Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher. Good historical fiction set in the Great Depression, with some language and disturbing elements. For older teens and adults. Semicolon review here.

Wake by Lisa McMann. Seventeen year old Janie gets sucked into other people’s dreams. I didn’t like it as much as Jen did.

Schuyler’s Monster by Robert Rummel-Hudson. Semicolon review here.

Paper Towns by John Green. Not my favorite of the three books I’ve read by Mr. Green. I’d suggest An Abundance of Katherines if you want to check out this writer. All three books (Looking for Alaska, Abundance, and this one) are funny, but only in Abundance did I find that I really liked the characters and believed in them.

The Juliet Club by Suzanne Harper. Fluff, teen romance with touches of Shakespeare.

Have You Found Her by Janice Erlbaum. Memoir of a difficult experience in counseling and mentoring a troubled teen. Semicolon review here

Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris. Mystery set in Saudi Arabia with Muslim detectives, a man and a woman, and lots of religious and sexual tension. Not explicit, but definitely culturally enlightening. Semicolon review here.

The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson. Fascinating stuff. I just finished this one, and the review will be forthcoming.

Holes by Louis Sachar. I just finished this 1999 Newbery Award winner last night. Quirky, weird, and fun are the best adjectives I can think of to describe it. However, be warned that there is some rather nasty violence for such an imaginative and seemingly fantastical story.

Twenty-one books read in January.

Favorite young adult books of the month: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins or The Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins.

Favorite adult fiction book: Home by Marilynne Robinson.

Favorite nonfiction: Have You Found Her by Janice Erlbaum.

Emerging theme for the month: Prodigals, finding lost people, and what to do with them once they’re found. Can anyone really turn another person’s life and path back to God? What can be done to help someone who’s lost other than pray?

It was good month for reading.

Books I Started But Didn’t Finish in January, 2009

Jan30

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. I made it about 100 pages into this Lord of the Flies goes to an Australian boarding school novel before I finally realized that I couldn’t figure out what was going on nor did I care. The boarding school had adults, but apparently they were all out to lunch except for one named Hannah who disappeared about fifty pages in, and the kids were busily fighting some kind of gang wars but out in the countryside instead of the inner city. I think. It’s a YA Fiction Cybils finalist, and Becky says it’s worth the effort. And it won the Printz Award for Young Adult literature. Maybe it’ll do something for you, but not for me, not this time.

Audrey, Wait by Robin Benway. Another Cybils YA Fiction FInalist.I only made it about three pages into this one. By then I knew that Audrey had decided to break up with her rock star boyfriend, that Audrey and all her friends had foul mouths, and that Audrey and her (ex)boyfriend had been, as they say in polite society, “engaged in sexual activity.” I was fairly sure that before I read too many more pages Audrey was going to tell me all about said activity, and I really, really didn’t want to know. Little Willow recommends this book for “those who enjoyed Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.” Since I hated Nick and Norah, I’m satisfied that my decision to give up on Audrey sooner rather than later was the right one.

Lottery by Patricia Wood. Great premise: Perry, who knows he’s not retarded because his IQ number is 76, one point above the cut-off, wins the lottery and deals with his new-found luck. However, the beginning of the book features Perry’s Gram who uses the Lord’s name and his judgement (g–d—) as a combination punctuation mark/adjective/exclamation in almost every sentence she speaks. It was annoying, and fairly soon, I decided I just didn’t care to hear it anymore.

Europe Central by William T. Vollman. I think I missed something here because to me it read like a bad imitation of a Russian novel. Maybe I just got that impression because the part of the novel is set in Russia and features Lenin and his wife as fictional characters. I think the rest is set in Germany, during World War II. The style and plot are too choppy and unintelligible for me, but the blurb says it’s “a daring and mesmerizing perspective on human actions during wartime.”

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. This year was supposed to be the year that I “discovered” Neil Gaiman, after the rest of the world had already done so. Unfortunately, I tried this book twice. The first time I didn’t get past the first scene in which a teddy bear was murdered. The second time I read about half of the book, and although I can see the attraction, I realized that I was finding it tedious and boring. I’m glad the kid in book, Bod, escaped and found a home in the graveyard, but I didn’t really want to know what happened to him after that. Eventually, we all die and end up in the graveyard anyway. Cybils Fantasy/Science Fiction Finalist. And of course, after I wrote this blurb, it won the Newbery Award. Don’t mind me; you’ll probably love it.

The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkowski. Fantasy set in an alternate nineteenth century (?) Czechoslovakia with magic. I read about half of this one, too, so I did give it a chance. However, I just couldn’t get very interested. Cybils Fantasy/Science Fiction Finalist.

Foundling by D.M. Cornish. I may return to this fantasy, the first in a series. The second book in the series, Lamplighter, is another Cybils Fantasy/Science Fiction Finalist. Again, I couldn’t get interested after reading about 100 pages.

Heaven by Randy Alcorn. I will finish this one, but I found it to be a book to be savored in small bites rather than devoured whole.

I started and quit more books this month than I ever have before. Maybe I’m getting older and more discriminating, or picky, or even judgmental, if I want to get pejorative in my terminology and criticize myself for giving up.

“If you still don’t like a book after slogging through the first 50 pages, set it aside. If you’re more than 50 years old, subtract your age from 100 and only grant it that many pages.” —Nancy Pearl

I am over 50 now, so according to Ms. Pearl, I’m allowed.

7 Quick Takes Friday

Jan30

1

The Guardian has a list of Ten of the Best Butlers in Literature, and it doesn’t include Jeeves. Is that because he’s a valet, not a butler? According to Wikipedia:

Jeeves is a valet, not a butler. However, Bertie Wooster has lent out Jeeves as a butler on several occasions, and notes that “if the call comes, he can buttle with the best of them”.

2

the-james-challenge1
I saw this idea at Beyond Homemaking’s Seven Quick Takes, and it looks like such a great mind-sharpener and spiritual boost. Only two problems: I already have 12 (huge) projects for the year, and If I do this memorization project, I want to memorize something else, not James. Maybe Philippians, as Sara mentions in her post.

3

Speaking of projects, Friday Quick Takes would be a good time to check in on my projects and update you and myself on how I’m doing.
Bible Reading Project: I have been reading II Samuel 1-8 all month, but not every day. I’ve decided that I don’t like David very much right now. His sons turned out rotten, and I don’t need that kind of discouraging example in my life right now.
February: I Thessalonians. Maybe I should take it as my memorization project.

4

For my Newbery Project, I was trying to read the Newbery winners and honor books in order from 1923 when the award was first given until now. I haven’t picked up on that yet, but I am reading Holes by Louis Sachar, the winner of the 1999 Newbery Medal. So far, I can say it’s fantastically weird, but I think I kind of like it.

5

For Operation Clean House I was supposed to clean out the dressing area and closet in January. I got the dressing area, but the closet is untouched. Maybe this afternoon and tomorrow.

6

LOSTBooksbutton
For my LOST Reading Project, I signed up for the LOST Books Challenge and chose some books to read. Now I just need to get reading.

7

For my US Presidents Reading Project, I read Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Thomas Flexner (Semicolon review here). In February, I’m going to start on John Adams by David McCullough, which happens to be the Semicolon Book Club selection for March.
US Presidents Reading Project home page.

Thanks for dropping by. See you next week for more project updates and random book and homeschool thoughts. Right now, I’ve got to get on that closet.

Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris

Jan29

Finding Nouf is one of ten winners of the 2009 Alex Awards for “adult books that will appeal to teen readers.” I read it a week or two ago before the award list came out, and I must say that I was impressed, although I didn’t think of it as an adult book or a young adult book. It’s shelved with the adult mysteries in my library.

Finding Nouf, although written in a genre, detective stories, that’s know for its plot-driven novels, is all about setting first, and then characterization. The plot is serviceable, but not what kept me reading. In fact, I had to look back at the book just now to remind myself whodunnit. The story is set in Saudi Arabia, where a Palestinian orphan, Nayir, and a young professional, Katya Hijazi, team up to solve the disappearance and murder of a rich Saudi sixteen year old, Nouf. Nouf happens to be the sister of Miss Hijazi’s fiance and Nayir’s friend, Othman Shrawi. And even though Nayir is uncomfortable with the mere presence of Katya Hijazi, a single woman, in the same room with men, and sometimes unveiled, he realizes that the tow of them need to work together if they are going to navigate the rules, written and unwritten, of Saudi culture and society and find out what really happened to Nouf.

The relationships of men and women in such a legalistic, religion-drenched society are complicated and awkward. Modernity is an influence, as is tradition, and both fight against the exigencies of just getting things done, like a murder investigation or even a simple meal. It was fascinating to read about how naive and ignorant Nayir was in the area of relating to women, and yet I wondered if men in our “open and free” American society understand women any better than Nayir does.

Zoe Ferraris, by the way, lived in Saudi Arabia with her Saudi-Palestinian husband just after the first Gulf War, although she is now divorced and lives in San Francisco.

LA TImes article about the book: “Now there is “Finding Nouf,” the fictional outcome of San Franciscan Zoë Ferraris’ habitation in Saudi Arabia for several years after the first Gulf War. Even if that information had been left off the jacket flap, it would be readily apparent; only a writer with experience both as a part of and apart from Saudi culture could have crafted such a novel.”

At Talifoon by Zoe Ferraris (a short, but revealing, article about Ms. Ferraris’s life in Saudi Arabia): “Just after the first Gulf War, I moved to Jeddah with my husband. I didn’t realize at the time that I hadn’t married Essam, I had married his mother and the women of his family. The minute I arrived, they became my world.”

An interview with Zoe Ferraris: “The biggest revelation I had in Saudi Arabia was learning that men were just as frustrated by gender segregation as women were. My ex-husband’s best friend tried for years to find a wife. It surprised me to realize something that should have been obvious: if you’re not allowed to speak to the opposite sex, how do you meet a mate?”

I found this book on the recommendation of Sam Sattler at Book Chase. Thanks, Sam.

Have You Found Her by Janice Erlbaum

Jan28

“While all of the incidents in Have You Found Her are true, certain dialogue has been reconstructed, and some of the names and personal characteristics of the individuals involved have been changed. Any resulting resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and unintentional.”

So, Have You Found Her is Janice Erlbaum’s memoir of volunteering at the homeless shelter where she was once an inmate or a client or whatever it’s called these days. And while at the shelter, Janice meets Samantha, a troubled homeless junkie with a charismatic personality and surprising talents that amaze Janice and the rest of the therapeutic community that builds itself around Samantha to try to help her overcome her horrible past of abuse and addiction.

The story continues as Sam travels through treatment center, hospital, psych ward, hospital again, halfway house, and detox getting ever sicker even as she tries to kick her addiction and regain her health. Janice becomes more and more committed to her unofficial ward and makes promises: “I am going to be in your life from now on.” “You can call me anytime.” “One year sober, and I’ll take you to Disneyland.” And finally, because Sam’s family is completely dysfunctional and unavailable, “I’ll be your legal guardian if you’ll sign the papers.”

At that point the story takes an unexpected turn, and as an empathetic reader, I was confronted with some very difficult questions. How far does commitment take you? If you love someone, is it forever? Really? What if the person you love rejects your love? What if he or she isn’t the same person you thought she was? What if the person you committed to love is much sicker than you thought? What if you don’t know how to love someone without enabling the very behaviors that are making her ill?

I thought this story was fascinating and disturbing. And if you’ve ever met or known someone like Sam, someone who preys on the co-dependency of people who need to give, you’ll find it a gripping memoir of “one woman’s quest to save a girl’s life—and the hard truths she learns about herself along the way.”

I really want to say something more about this book, but this last part enters into spoiler territory. So if you haven’t read the book and you intend to do so, stop reading now. I knew how this story would end about halfway through the book, or maybe even sooner. I think that’s because a) the author foreshadows the ending in some of her statements about Samantha early in the book and b) I’ve lived with a compulsive liar. No Munchausen’s syndrome, but definitely I know what it is like to deal with someone who tells stories to dramatize and enlarge themselves and to gain attention. It is tempting to think that if we just hang on hard enough and love strongly enough, we can “fix” someone else, that my love is the key to another person’s recovery and health. But it’s not true. I can pray, and I believe that God uses those prayers somehow to reach into the life of the one I’m praying for. But only God through Christ and the person himself in cooperation can change a person who is mentally ill and/or spiritually emaciated.

I needed to remind myself of that tonight, and thanks to reading this book and writing this review, I just did.