Reading this week:

I will do anything not to fill out this paperwork. So far, for the sole purpose of avoiding paperwork, I have…

* vacuumed
* broken the vacuum cleaner
* messed around on the computer
* broken the computer 3 or 4 times, i lose count
* signed the kids up for swim lessons
* took them to taekwondo a bunch
* cooked
* baked
* cleaned
* did all the laundry daily
* went swimming
* gardened
* changed the sheets on all the beds, even the guest bed, which truthfully? didn’t need changing
* paid bills, visited with neighbors, talked on the phone too much, got myself to the dentist, made dental appointments for the kids, made an eye doctor appointment for myself, applied for jobs, ordered a Kindle online, invited kids over to play every day, did the grocery shopping and…
* actually got about 2/3 of the way through The Paperwork and Various Requirements.

Now let’s get to those books. Wacky Girl is reading “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner” and you know how I feel about Friggin’ Twilight so no, I don’t think it’s getting a review. She also read “Twilight: The Graphic Novel.” I’m sure they’re both bloodthirsty and good.

As a kid, I read (and re-read) Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “A Little Princess” a load of times. I was often forced to cook and clean, and used to fancy myself (in my enormous, clean, and well-appointed upstairs bedroom — a room that stretched the entire length of the house, yes it did) as poor little Sara Crewe. Indentured servitude sucks doesn’t it? I type this as my children are folding and putting away their own laundry. Bitch mother, writing, writing…

But I never read “The Secret Garden.” (I was inspired to read it after finishing “After You.” The book plays a prominent role in the novel. You know — the whole book-within-a-book thing.) We were at Annie Bloom’s yesterday, my old favorite bookstore in Southwest Portland, and found this delicious new release of “The Secret Garden,” with new illustrations by Inga Moore. It is so good. My daughter and I are reading it aloud together, alternating between pages. Ah, summer. Ah, paperwork, okay I need to wrap this up.

The Spinellis, Eileen and Jerry, rocked it with this book we also picked up yesterday — “Today I Will: A Year of Quotes, Notes, and Promises to Myself.” Wacky Girl found it and claimed it, but this is one for the whole family to enjoy. Affirmations, but with a twist. Book recommendations, quotes, thoughts on how to live a better life, and suggestions on how to lively things up. To wit:

“She had eyes in the the back of her heart.” — “A Year Down Yonder,” by Richard Peck

“Isn’t that a nice phrase? It reminds us that vision is not limited to the eyes in the head, nor even the front of the heart. It reminds us that no one’s hurt is too small, no worry too removed, no blessing so elusive that it cannot be seen by the eyes in the back of the human heart.”

“As I am being watched by unseen eyes, I am reminded that I, too, have unseen eyes, eyes that can see the pain behind a smile, the fear in bravado, the affection in a criticism. Today I will open all of my eyes.”

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

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.)

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.

My Favorite Kid Books (this week):

These were just the ones that were stacked on the coffeetable and the arm of the loveseat, believe it or not. (Except “Noonday Friends,” which I can’t locate but want to read again. There is an 8-year-old here who is a lot like Marshall, Franny’s little brother, who longs to stay up… All. Night. Long.) I’m already getting excited for the new school year to start and no, not because I’m ready for my own kids to go back to school, ha. We’ve barely gotten started. We’re enjoying summer break and have some fun stuff planned — trips to the beach, visits to the farmers markets, exploring our new neighborhood. There are lots of music festivals and picnics on the schedule for this summer and (best news of all to me), a new branch of the Washington County Library is opening next week, yes!

So no big vacations this summer, no road trips, but lots of at-home fun and getting to know our new town. (And we’re getting a surprise visit from our friends from Texas, wooooooooot!) In the fall, three of us will start at three new schools. (Steve doesn’t get to go to school. Pity.)

I gathered up the books you see pictured here, read through the ones I haven’t memorized yet, and popped them into a tub that I’ll take with me when I start at my new school in the fall. If it’s a high school, do you think the kids will still be interested in “Where the Wild Things Are”? Probably yes, right? If it’s a middle school, will they think that my recommendations (Mary Stolz, Louise Fitzhugh) are too old-fashioned? We’ll see…

Book reviews (and lots of library trips, and listening to recommendations from students and teachers) are the best way for me to explore some of the new fiction and non-fiction that’s out there. Also, ego has to go out the window. Just because I (or you, or your grandma) loved a book, this is the best book ever, you’ll love it, you have to love it as much as we did!!!!

Well.

Modern readers might not agree. I sometimes find my mind wandering to my K-8 library, from my own childhood. We had a fairly large school, with fairly large children (I clearly remember being 9 years old and staring up, up, up at the ginormous 8th graders. They were adult-size. Wow, would I ever be that big???). But our library was tiny, and the books… they were boring. They were Dullsville, U.S.A. They were dusty.

The librarian disappeared, who knows what happened to her. The mother of my babysitter (and neighbor) took over the library. I remember thinking, “You can be a mom and run a library? Hmm,” and stashing that thought away to pull out 30 years later. She must not have had a book budget, because all of the books, I am sad to say, were from the 1940s or thereabouts. I remember going back and forth along the shelves, hoping that a new book would jump out at me.

With my library work, I’ve been able to make that happen for my students. I was lucky enough to get grant money, not just once, but several times. And I received a small grant, too, so… more books! The students really wanted the Percy Jackson books and I didn’t have a one. Imagine how satisfying when one of my students griped, Still no Percy Jackson! and I could tell him, Look on the cart.

“Nothing,” he said, frowning.

“Look again,” I told him.

“A-ha!!” he said, grabbing the first in the series. Big smiles from both of us.

This is the most fun I’ve ever had with work.

Seriously, when kids are having a hard time with reading — if it’s because of learning disabilities, if they’re not getting the hang of it, or if it’s just that they haven’t found the right genre — picture books are great. Graphic novels are even better.

Happy reading!

(Please see my disclaimer policy.)

On the coffee table:

Reading this week:

Man, oh, man, I guess I felt like a couple of good cries this week. I’ve been reading nothing but young adult fiction, and found three great books. I picked up a copy of “Letters From Rifka,” by Karen Hesse, that I had on hold at the library. The library is great this way. I wasn’t planning on reading anything too heavy this week, but the book showed up, and I was ready for it. I read “Letters From Rivka” straight through and bawled my eyes out. It’s the story of a young Jewish girl in 1919, who is fleeing Russia for America. It’s good historical fiction, but is based on the story of the author’s auntie, Lucy Avrutin, and “this story is, above all else, Aunt Lucy’s story,” says the author.

After that, of course I had to read another Hesse book — this time, her best-known work (and Newbery award winner) “Out of the Dust.” Billie Jo’s story is written in stanza — the poetry is beautiful. She lives in Depression-era Oklahoma, loses her mother and baby brother in a horrible accident, and her father, in his grief, disappears into himself.

Both of the Hesse books are horrifying, and she doesn’t pull any punches, but life is like that sometimes, isn’t it? And she does do a little bit of deus ex machina at the end, but life is like that sometimes, too, eh? Hesse has written a number of books, and I’ve heard that all of her stuff is good. I get worried, sometimes — I get protective of kids and don’t want to expose them to anything too harsh. But sometimes we can better prepare ourselves for “real” life, reading about harsh realities in a book.

Besides — like my own kids always tell me, “It’s only a book.”

Ha.

“The Candy Shop War,” by Brandon Mull (who wrote the “Fablehaven” series) is a twisted little novel for kids and my daughter and I both enjoyed the heck out of it. I don’t want to give anything away, but kids + magic candy + evil witchy candy shop owner + nice ice cream man (or is he?) = excellent read. They’re making a movie out of this one — we’re eager to see how they film it. Lots of great, candy-colored images, coming to life.

Happy Saturday!

— wm

Reading this week:

Jennifer Weiner is an old, old friend of mine. I’ve never met her in person, but I just feel like we’re buds cuz I’ve read all of her books since she first started out. Yes, I do have a girl crush on her! If she asked me out on a date, for example, I would say yes right away. I like her style, her novels, her characters, the plotting, the way she puts a good wrap on all of it and doesn’t overlook any details.

I bristle at the whole “chick lit” label because it’s rude to relegate women into a nice little box and not let us out. We are complex individuals, we women are, and even more so, those of us who feel compelled to write. So there.

On the acknowledgments page for her latest book, “Best Friends Forever,” she ends by dedicating it, “…and to all of my readers, who’ve come with me this far.” I’m all, You’re welcome. (Atria Books, 2009, $27, 362 pages.)

OK, on to the book. Two friends, the volatile Valerie Adler and the sweet Addie Downs. They had a huge blow-up, about a trauma that may or may not have happened, and suddenly… it’s 15 years later. Time for the high school reunion, and Valerie may (or may not) have killed one of their former schoolmates. Who may (or may not) have deserved it. I read this book in two days at the beach, it was just a good romp, right down to the frustrated police detective and a cast of minor characters who keep you turning the pages. Weiner has a little bit of a Joyce Carol Oates kinda thing going on with this one, and I liked it.

“Bump It Up,” by Amy Tara Koch (Random House/Ballantine Books, 2010, $18, 187 pages) showed up in the mail a few weeks back. Immediately all of my girlfriends assumed I was pregnant. Which, you know. They should flippin’ know is physically impossible for me at this point. (And all I can say to thank is, Thank you Jesus and modern science.) All of my girlfriends are a little distractible, I guess. Maybe that’s why they all forgot to send flowers after. Except for Zip, Zip always, always, always comes through. And MamaToo. OK, I did get cards, and food, what am I doing, four months later, bitchin’ like this? But I digress.

You know the type of pregnancy/motherhood (not parenthood, motherhood) book where you’re supposed to look around at all the other chicks in the room and say, I am just so much hotter than her! Etc.? This is that type of book. The end.

“My Baby Book,” the latest by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (Random House/Crown Publishing, 2010, $16.99) is a sweet journal for baby’s first year. I especially liked the intro note where the author says, “this book uses the ‘mom and dad’ paradigm, but we hope the many single families, two-mom families and two-dad families will enjoy this book just the same (and make the text adjustments accordingly).” Nice touch, that.

I like baby books, scrap books, journals, etc. that are pretty, handsome, whatever, but not too precious, y’know? A lot of us (not your girl Wacky Mommy, obviously, but many people) sit in front of a journal, computer screen, scrap of paper and freeze up. This is why, for example, I don’t know how my paternal grandparents met — no one wrote it down. (I do know how my ma’s parents met — she stole him from another girl. “Another gal,” as she would have put it. “My friend said, ‘Oh, he doesn’t like her, anyway, you should go out with him!'” Classic.)

This book begs to be scribbled in, taped up, written on. Sections include “my folks (pre-me),” “precious mementos (emphasis on me!),” and “my gallery of firsts.” Excellent book.

Happy reading!

— wm

Reviewing this week:

I’ve been spending a lot of time at our brand-new neighborhood library with all 20,000 of its brand new books, DVDs and CDs and this makes me even more happy than you’re probably guessing. I grabbed a copy of a new book by Allison Winn Scotch (“Department of Lost and Found” was her first novel; this is her second). It’s called “Time of My Life” (Shaye Areheart Books, 2008, 286 pages, $23). I’ve had the theme to “Dirty Dancing” stuck in my head ever since I brought this book home, but that’s alright. It’s a great book — really enjoyable. Jillian Westfield, one of those mommies-who-has-it-all, doesn’t. She’s lives in the suburbs, she’s horny, her husband is out of town all the time, she’s having trouble bonding with her baby girl and she doesn’t have a boyfriend. She doesn’t have one, that is, until she goes back in time, to find herself hungover and in her ex-boyfriend’s bed.

Hmm.

Chaos and wedding planning — and the fiance is not her husband, by the way– ensues. This book is not at all what it first appears to be, and I mean that as a compliment. Now, I’m turning this post over to my kid…

“Darklight” (by Lesley Livingston, HarperTeen, 2010, $16.99, 312 pages) came in the mail as a review copy. But it was the sequel to “Wondrous Strange” (HarperTeen, 2009, $16.99, 327 pages). So, I put the first book on hold at the library and when it came in I read it.

It was a good book. It’s about a girl named Kelley Winslow, who meets this boy named Sonny and it turns out that he is a mortal trapped in a fairy world. She is… okay, that is a surprise, you’ll have to read it and see.

Well, Sonny is not trapped, but taken away by the fairies. Kelley is an actress who acts in Shakespearean plays. (They have themes about fairies and otherworldly places in Shakespeare. In the sequel, she’s acting in “Romeo and Juliet.”) In “Wondrous Strange” she is acting in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

I’ve started the sequel and am on page 45. It’s good, too. I like how they weave the fairy world and the real world together — one chapter is about Kelley and one chapter is about Sonny, it alternates. It’s kinda like “Twilight,” but with fairies, and the books are shorter. I would say these books are good for ages middle school and up. There’s a lot of cussing in there. — Wacky Girl

Reading & watching this week:

I saw “Au Revoir, Les Enfants” in the theater when it first came out in 1987. Written, directed and produced by Louis Malle, it tells his story of attending a Roman Catholic boarding school during World War II. It’s one of the most gripping films I’ve ever seen. Steve had never watched it, so we saw it together this week. It is a quiet, intense movie, well-acted and beautifully written, and I am as moved by it now as I was twenty-three years ago. Appropriate for mature pre-teens and teenagers.

I had never read Roald Dahl’s “The BFG” (Big Friendly Giant, or “Big Effin’ Giant,” as my son prefers to call it). We’ve been reading it as a family and it’s great, especially as a read-aloud. Dahl always has a way with dialogue, in this one in particular. Good for all ages, unless your littles are prone to scary dreams.

Atwood, my hero. I love Atwood all the way back to “The Edible Woman,” her first novel. OK, I tried to read “Oryx & Crake” and it just absolutely terrified me. No, I don’t know why, it just flipped me out and I could barely start it, much less finish it. Any and all dystopian society books just scare me, alright? They hit too close to the bone. So when the second book in the trilogy, “The Year of the Flood,” came out, I wasn’t sure if I’d be into it, petrified by it, lost in translation, what. I picked it up and haven’t been able to put it down — I’m almost finished with it. It’s one of those books I am savoring, because I won’t want to say goodbye to it once it’s done.

Lucky for me, the third book will come out at some point, and I’m ready to delve into “Oryx & Crake” again. I am that brave now.

“The Year of the Flood” is fantastic, and stands on its own, even if you haven’t read the first book.

Happy Sunday, y’all.

— wm