Now reading:

A review, by Wacky Girl: “I really like the 2011 National Geographic Kids Almanac for many reasons. It’s easy to use, has lots of pictures, tells you everything you need to know about everything and is easy to understand. It is also very colorful! Some of my favorite sections are: the future world chapter, Your World 2011, Super Science and Wonders of Nature. I would recommend this book to really anybody. It’s easy to use, fun, and has a lot of information.”

(A note from her librarian mama: Most kids love almanacs, encyclopedias, dictionaries, all kinds of non-fiction research books, much to my amazement and delight. Even kids who aren’t crazy about reading will pore over a Guinness Book of World Records. So pick one up and see how it goes. We also subscribe to a few kids’ magazines, and those have a lot of “curb appeal,” too.)

Steve and my mom both read “The Botany of Desire” and enjoyed it. We’re all big fans of Michael Pollan over here. I’ve gotten halfway through “Botany of Desire” on three separate occasions now. Who knows what my problem is — it’s a great book, I just can’t jump over that fence or something. So when I saw the DVD on the shelf at the library, I grabbed it.

Steve and the kids and I watched it in half-hour segments — first the apple, then the tulip, marijuana and then the all-mighty potato. Really excellent documentary. And yes, I’ll finish the book this summer.

If you have reluctant readers such as myself at your house, it might be helpful to pick up the DVD versions of a book, or if you can find an audiobook version, that helps, too. Whatever it takes to get us engaged.

(Please see my disclosure statement.)

Happy Thursday, everyone!

— wm

“Power is only important as an instrument for service to the powerless.”
— Lech Walesa, human rights activist, Polish president, Nobel laureate (b.
1943)

Summer is officially ON.

Some random thoughts:

1) we went to the beach, it was fun, i was grouchy, why my family doesn’t disown me i have no idea. happy birthday, mom. Sorry.

2) a huge hunk of the deck found its way into my foot. while we were on vacation. Cuz i know how to relax. And only half of it came out. yeah. infection. tiny tweezers and lots of alcohol (rubbing, not the kind you drink) finally dug the rest of it out. good God, I’ll be glad when i can walk again.

3) planted pumpkins and flowers last week and it’s been so hot they’re already sprouting!! yay, plants.

4) when u invite the really nice neighbor kid to do taekwondo with you as your guest, it’s important that you not drive off and leave him behind, Steve. just sayin’. His mom is really understanding, thank goodness.

5) did i mention that i love our new neighborhood? the kids dart in and out of each other’s houses, people invite you over, people wave and say hello. except for us, of course. we’re fairly skilled at driving off and leaving people behind.

6) also, it’s quiet.

7) i like quiet.

8) can’t find the post office, but did find the nearest university — looks like they might be able to get me started on my master’s in teaching (plus library work plus reading specialist endorsement) as early as… August? (pssst — that’s next month.)

9) today, the cat threw up all over; the PC got infected and is not happy; the server was crashed (but now we’re up? i think?); the cupboard door in the laundry room fell apart in my hand; i broke the vacuum cleaner; we left our friend in the driveway and… I couldn’t walk. But all in all? A banner day. Because I’m starting grad school soon. For real. Thank you.

10) gotta go, Spocky.

i love my girl Yvonne.

This one is so good, too. Why yes, that is Antonio Sabato Jr. from “General Hospital” with her.

“Cherish the child and the adult will know love.” — my daughter, reading from her fancy birth certificate that’s on the wall.

Both kids hysterical with laughter over this.

“That’s all you need to be happy, that’s all you need to know in life.” — my girl

“Heh heh heh hee heeeee heh heeeeee ya yee yee” — her brother, laughing maniacally

Now reading:

Riddle me this, Batman… why didn’t I review Julie Buxbaum’s “The Opposite of Love” when it came out in 2008? Hmm. Who knows. I read it, really enjoyed it, and refused to pass it along to friends. Selfish, selfish girl.

Emily Haxby, an almost-thirty-year-old lawyer in Manhattan, does not know why, but she cannot commit. Her ma is dead, her big-dog politico dad (“This is Lieutenant Governor Haxby”) is… a handful. And her Grandpa Jack is not doing well. But she won’t admit it. And then there’s Andrew, her ex. “I broke up with him, remember.” Mason, her sexy co-worker. And her boss, who likes to, uh, show off.

Great book, good summer read, and I hear it’s been optioned for a movie.

Buxbaum’s new novel, “After You,” is as good as her first, but it’s a different sort of read. Ellie Lerner flies from the Boston suburbs where she lives a quiet, not entirely happy life with her husband, to London, to care for her best friend Lucy’s child (and husband, perhaps?) after Lucy is murdered on a quiet Thursday morning as she walked her daughter to school from their Notting Hill home.

It’s not a murder mystery, but it turns out Lucy did have her mysteries. And what is Ellie running from? Or to? I especially liked the character of the little girl, Sophie, who becomes selectively mute after the tragedy. The scenes with Ellie, where they read “The Secret Garden” together, are poignant. Really good book.

In the middle of these two books, I started re-reading Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” for the tenth time or so. I first read it when I was in college, just a few years after its release. This book has always had a hold on me. The quirky, elusive Ruth; the mystery that is Macon Dead; his son, Milkman, aka Macon Dead Jr.

They slid into a booth and ordered Scotch and water. Milkman drank his quickly and ordered another before asking Guitar, “How come they call me Milkman?”
“How the fuck would I know? That’s your name, ain’t it?”
“My name is Macon Dead.”
“You drag me all the way over here to tell me your name?”
“I need to know it.”

But Hagar… I think it was Hagar who got to me first. Hagar, “spinning into a bright blue place,” a place “where everything was frozen except for an occasional burst of fire inside her chest that crackled away until she ran out into the streets to find Milkman Dead.”

Shivers, every time. I love “Jazz,” too, it’s second on my list for my top favorite Toni Morrison novels. “Beloved,” “The Bluest Eye,” and the others, all good, but “Song of Solomon” is mine, mine, mine. I’m reading the Everyman’s Library edition this time around, with an introduction by Reynolds Price.

(Please see disclaimer, y’all.)

“I’m not angry — I’m delightful.” — Bob Dylan, “Don’t Look Back”

On the coffee table:

So. So, so, so… Happy Father’s Day, Hockey God. In honor of the occasion, and his mother visiting, he cleaned the entire house and is at this moment doing the grocery shopping. Oh my God, I really am the worst wife, and he really is the best son, father, husband. I did buy the wine, and… cleaned a bathroom? And then bought more wine and Steve went to the farmers market. Good enough!

I review books here, occasionally, you may have noticed. Some I buy, some we get from the library, some are sent to me by publicists. I’ve just started Mark Edmundson’s “The Fine Wisdom and Perfect Teachings of the Kings of Rock and Roll (a memoir).” It’s funny, and I think Steve will like it. (HarperCollins Publishers.) Ditto “Heart of a Shepherd,” by Rosanne Parry. (Random House, 2009, $15.99, 161 pages.) Just started it, it’s really good, yes I’m in the middle of four other books and doing a reading sprint. I first met Rosanne because she was volunteering at my old school! The students loved her.

She’s a good girl, good writer and a lot of fun. Give her a read. No, she didn’t pay me to say that, and I bought her book because I like supporting writers.

Brad Meltzer’s “Heroes for My Son” (Forty-four Steps, Inc., HarperCollins, 2010, 111 pages, $19.99) is a moving, inspirational book that he compiled for his two sons. (One for his daughter is on the way.) I skipped Jefferson, Washington, and Bush One (sorry), but was especially moved by the entries on Roberto Clemente, Gandhi, Mr. Rogers, Mother Teresa, and Meltzer’s mom and granddad, Teri Meltzer & Ben Rubin.

“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you and you don’t do that, you are wasting your time on this Earth.” — Roberto Clemente

Happy Father’s Day, guys.

And… here’s the disclaimer.