Books, Books, All of the Yummy Books to Read

2005 Reading List (Yearly Round-Up):

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance – Barack Obama
A fine read. I found Barack’s willingness to expose his weaknesses, his humanity, a refreshing experience, mainly because he’s a politician, but mostly because he is a really cool guy.

Freakenomics - Steven Levitt
I suppose this may have been an okay read, had the media not reported every single topic contained therein before I read it. Can’t so much blame the book as I read it only so I would know what everyone was blathering about. If you haven’t read it, don’t bother. It’s old news.

Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd
I can’t fathom the reason everyone seemed to love this book so much. I found it boring and depressing. I suspect it was an Oprah book. She digs these sorts of painful reads.

Touch Points – T. Berry Brazelton
It’s official, Dr. Brazelton is my favorite “authority” on child rearing. He encourages parents to treat their children like, get this, little people with desires and needs and opinions. Gasp! That’s just goofy!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
I simply loved this book. Read it.

Runaway – Alice Munro
This is not Alice’s best book. If you haven’t read her, read Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage. Even so, I liked it very much. Warning: These are short stories and I believe I may be the only person on the face of the earth that loves a short story.

Spinners – Anthony McCarten
This is a goofy little book that I liked but did not love. I’d recommend it if there weren’t another million books in the world that need your attention

The Name of the Rose – Umberto Echo
I can’t speak to this book as I clearly missed the plot. Why so much with the Latin and the blah, blah, blah, blah?

I’m Chocolate, You’re Vanilla: Raising Healthy Black and Biracial Children in a Race Conscious World - Marguerite A. Wright
I loved this book. Truly brilliant. ‘Rents of white babies should read this as well.

The Lecturers Tale – James Hynes
Fleck.

Blink – The Power of Thinking without Thinking
Yeah, it was okay. No nearly as good as The Tipping Point.

Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood
I liked it very much. Very dark, as is Ms. Atwoods M.O., but also very good.

The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
Winner of LIBBY’S BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR award. Freakin’ brilliantly written. A wonderful story of an Indian family immigrating to the US. Lahiri is the best writer around.

Snow – Orhan Pulmak
A very good book indeed.

2006 Reading List:

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Crescent - Diana Abu-Jaber
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Don’t Know Much About History
Oh The Glory of It All - Sean Wilsey
The Ice Queen – Alice Hoffman
The History of Love - Nicole Krauss
The Losers Club - Richard Perez
Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis – Jimmy Carter
Marley and Me – Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog - John Grogan
Libra - Don DeLillo

Baby Becomes Toddler

There have been many names given to our child. Bubber Boo, as many of you know, with variations thereof; Bubber, Bubs, Ubs. There has also been The Pirate, Pterodactyl and Sweet Petite. Recently we’ve moved from the cutie pah-tootie baby names to names more apropos of the immovable, inconsolable and intrusive toddler. He is now Slow Motion, River Dance (when he does that foot stomping combo screaming thing), and Yesforallthatisgoodinthisuniverseturnonthetv.

Somehow, and I don’t know why this is the case, these new developments and naming conventions have pleased my father to a great degree indeed. I can’t imagine why.

Oh my, me thinks a 12 hour drive tomorrow shall be interesting.

…as least we have drugs for the dog.

This freakin' guy...

...I oughta...

"Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what he loves."

-Pascal

And what should we love? The ideals. Call me Plato, but I believe there are steadfast and tangible ideals that lead to living a good life. Okay that sounds a little bit Aristotelian. Even so, should this be the case, and I believe it is, there are ways of living that yield human flourishing. Make no mistake; the founding fathers of our country grasped this and tied the conception of this new nation’s identity to those ideals. Equality, an empowered citizenry, protections from governmental powers, divisions of powers toward those ends, and human rights were all rolled up in the constitution pig in a blanket style.

And so, when I saw this I thought, “Wow, we’re waking up to who we are.” In this single act, we’re remembering and reclaiming our identity. We seem to be nodding to the country that was promised to us by the founders and taking it for our own once again; the country that one can feel passionate love for may once again be ours.

Today is a good day.

Narrowing the Field

If you're befuddled by the seriously goofy amount of items available to purchase for me for Xmas (yeah, I'm in a soldier in the war against "Christmas"), then here are some very fine ideas indeed.

Gimme this or maybe this or even the real deal found here or even this will do the trick.

Weeeeeeee, Libby loves gifts!

Miscellaneous Monday

Good lord. So not good.

Pay no attention to the killjoy behind the religion. Go get your shoppin’ on!

Ummmm, babe.

Good to see they’re working on the message. Even so, I still can’t stand Howard Dean, so sue me.

In case Arnie is reading my blog; This is your moment. This is your legacy. Do not blow it.

Ahhhh The Soothing List or As Good as Hot Chocolate

I lifted this from my pal that lives in the twin city's blog.

7

7 celebrity crushes:
Nick Cage, bell hooks, Sarah Silverman, George Stephanopoulos, Bill Clinton, Barack O’bama, and Bobby DiNero

7 things I’m good at:
detroiting things, driving (shut up!), hugging, observing, being gentle, being thankful, and being in the moment

7 things I plan to do before I die:
hear “I love you” from Ubs, hug my grandchildren, watch the sun go down over the lake on the porch of my retirement property in a rocking chair with a cup of joe and a book, feel comfortable in my skin, walk where Socrates walked, reread Aristotles’ Nicomachean Ethics, and go on a month-long back-country hiking/canoeing trip

7 things I cannot do:
Keep the Tupperware cabinet organized, abide by mean parents, tolerate hitting, watch sports on tv (unless it’s the Olympics), feel guilty, be solely responsible for keeping in touch, talk on the phone, and be motivated by being judged

7 things that attract me to the sex to whom I am attracted:
Big hands, wide shoulders, long arms, a low laugh, feeling protected, the garbage being taken out, and watching them with their children

7 things I say often:
Coolie, Delightful, True Dat, Word, It’s okay/You’re okay, Right on, and Gouda!

Now you go!

Crabby Monday

Didn’t sleep much last night. I’m convinced that I have that weirdy leg thing.


Of course, I may also have this.


Needless to say, I’m easily marketable.

Anyway, maybe it’s the holidays though I love them, so I’d think not. Maybe it’s the constant bickering that has become my life as of recent days. Maybe it’s that I’m listening to Helen Reddy or that my sweet doggie has an ear infection that I should have prevented by cleaning his sweet little ears. Maybe it’s that I needed a day for myself and I came home to hear that Ubs called for me all day and missed me desperately. Or maybe it’s that the damn brow sock tainted my bleached white load.

Dude, it’s the brown sock. I am that fucking brown sock. Try as I do; sort, select right temp, add bleach and detergent, place clothes within, leave to soak (I know, impressive…folks that soak impress me), return (displays vigilance – not leaving to soak and deteriorate for days), start the cycle, return to place in the dryer (all of this over the course of one, single day) and find a freakin’ tainted load of laundry.

Not good enough
Not considerate enough
Not organized enough. Look at me.
Look
At
Me
Nothing has changed
I simply remain
Who I am
Who I’ve been
A brown sock
Fuck off