Raising Opie and his sister in the most wholesome town in America.
Overrated:
Underrated:
Properly rated:
Agree/disagree?
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Cranky question of the week: Where have all the writers’ bios gone in magazines? Am I the only person who ever reads (read) those? Anytime a writer refers to him- or herself in the first person, I like a little introduction, please. But lately, that’s nearly impossible to find.
This has been happening for awhile and The New York Times Sunday magazine is the latest culprit. Before the magazine’s recent redesign, each writer’s bio was included at the bottom of the first column–where one could find it quickly and easily if one were curious. Now, there are a few bios in the front of the book, near the table of contents. So if the writer you’re interested in learning more about happens to be there, you can flip around and look for him or her. But chances are, you won’t find what you want.
Is this a generational thing? Am I supposed to just Google these people? Or is it about writers being a dime a dozen in the world of user-generated content and web 2.0?
I worked on a project a few months ago, reviewing and tagging a major content site after a redesign and reorganization. In the process, many long articles were shortened considerably, which was a good thing; they were much too long for the online reader/scanner. Most bylines were stripped, too. In many cases, this didn’t matter; a how-to or a bulleted list of tips doesn’t exactly cry out for a how-do-you-do from the writer. But a personal essay? A statement of opinion? A persuasive argument? I need to know who you are!
Do you ever read bios in newspapers, magazines, or online? Or wish you could?
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I read an absolutely searing memoir recently: Without a Map by Meredith Hall. The story begins when Hall becomes pregnant at age 16 (in the 1960s) and is suddenly, wrenchingly rejected by her school, friends, neighbors, siblings, and parents. Her son is placed for adoption–she’s given no choice on this–and the book outlines the repercussions as they happen over the ensuing years.
While I lost my son under different circumstances, I related so utterly to Hall’s pain and grief. About six years after she gives birth, she travels to Europe, intending to meet a boyfriend there and continue to India. Instead, she simply walks, alone and without a map or a plan or any money, for months, finally ending up in Israel with nothing but a knife, a bedroll, her passport, and a simple dress she’d made herself after selling the rest of her possessions.
Now, no one needs to worry that I’m going to take off on foot and end up in Patagonia or something. But I got it. I got why she walked. Why the only right thing to do seemed to be just to go and not stop. Why something that makes no sense can also make perfect sense. Walking let her escape her past, present, and future all at the same time. And sometimes, that feels like the only way to go.
[I did this on the wrong day, but I wanted to participate in some of the #best09 prompts and this has been on the brain.]
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Have we ever talked about dream jobs? What is yours, assuming salary, education, background, location, etc. are no object? Mine is translator of French novels.
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Didja see these two cuties? Nonlinear Nora had twins, a boy and a girl, last Friday, and Mo-Wo is throwing a babies’ shower. (So what if the babies are already here. We like to flout convention here in the blogosphere.) Our gift to Nora: a list of picture books for her growing family and its growing library.
I love to give books as baby presents. No worries about size or decor or duplication; if they have it already it’s easy to regift or donate. If the baby in question has an older sibling, get a board book and a big-kid picture book and everyone’s happy. My must-gives include Where the Sidewalk Ends, the Little Pea/Little Hoot combo by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and anything and everything by Peggy Rathmann (Gloria is a dead ringer for our own dog).
For Nora’s new little pair, today I offer the talented author/illustrator duo of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, starting with The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child. The rhymes and illustrations work together brilliantly in these two very funny books about a clever mouse who outwits a much bigger adversary. Another title by these two that I adore is Room on the Broom, in which a temporarily wandless witch is saved from an unpleasant end by a motley pack of companion animals.
As Mo-Wo says, Nora, “our hearts are filled with gladness for you all”–gruffaloes, mice, babies and all.
(P.S. Speaking of mice, I trust you already have a copy of Noisy Nora, one of the best sibling jealousy books ever?)
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Our book club is currently reading a short-story collection written by the husband of one of our members. I’m only halfway through it, but I am enjoying it very much. When we first decided to read it, the plan was for the author to come to our meeting, which is next week, and join in our discussion. Now I’m not sure that he is coming, because we’ll be meeting at a restaurant instead of at their home as we typically do.
But either way, I’m a little stuck on what to say and ask. Typically our discussions tend toward what we liked and didn’t, characters that annoyed us, what we found believable or un-, what messages we took away from the book. I’m curious as to how that will all play out with the very different dynamic of having to consider the author’s feelings too.
What would you want to know? Would you focus on questions about writing process or seize the opportunity to dive more deeply into the characters’, and the author’s, motivations and choices?
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Ever wonder how the tradition of trick-or-treating got started? Author/illustrator team Lisa and Tucker Johnson have a sweet suggestion. In their book All Hallows Eve: The Story of the Halloween Fairy, they imagine a cute little fairy named Eve who loves candy, but can’t seem to produce any for herself with her magic wand.
I reviewed this book, plus two follow-ups covering the winter holidays (Christmas Eve: The Joy of Giving and Winter’s Eve: Love and Lights), thanks to the Parent Bloggers Network. Head on over to The Full Mommy for the full review.
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1. My review of mom-blog-thology Sleep Is for the Weak is up today at The Full Mommy.
2. Speaking of sleep, my son is trying to kill me. No matter what we try, it takes an hour to put him to bed. An hour of hands-on shushing, corraling, returning-to-bed time. It just seems to take him that hour to wind down enough to fall asleep. Short of drugs (which believe me I have contemplated), what else can we do?
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I’m not sure how I escaped it, but I don’t remember ever having a summer reading list when I was in school. Not that it mattered, because I read all the time (you know, the walking-up-and-down-stairs-with-nose-in-book kind of kid).
Now, of course, I can’t walk around with my nose in a book anymore, not least of all because I am always carrying something else–child, laundry, stray toys–or because I’d trip over something (child, laundry, stray toys) if I weren’t paying attention. I do always have at least one book in progress, but it may take me weeks to finish it during stolen moments.
This summer, I’ll be reading these for sure (they are book club picks) and probably squeeze in a few others as they pop up. (I just read Friday Night Knitting Club after my mom passed it on. Eh; but the funny part is the author succeeded me at a job once. My mom had no idea!)
What’s on your wish list or bedside table for this summer? (If you need ideas, this is kind of fun — a list of city-, region-, and state-wide “one book” efforts.)
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