a lot is going on. bad things, tragic things, wonderful things, sexy things, not-so-sexy things. lots of equilibrium and disequilibrium and WHAT IS THE POINT OF BLOGGING if i can’t GIVE IT MY ALL?

i am giving it my all, believe me, just can’t write about it.

everything is fine with Wacky Family, the three funny, furry cats, the fish, frogs and snails, we’re fine. but in the bigger picture? for some of us things are not so fine. I worry. but at the same time, there is happiness. Peace might happen someday (“there’s a chance/peace will come/in your life/please buy one” — Melanie, “Peace Will Come/According to Plan”) (my favorite song when i was 7, which is the exact age my boy is right now.) Here she is with those little peaceniks, June and Johnny. And here she is, live.

I would like to request that all the long-haired hippie girls with their guitars come back and help us work on peace some more.

Peace is not trite. I want peace.

this song is so pretty, i have to give you all the lyrics:

“There’s a chance peace will come in your life please buy one

There’s a chance peace will come
In your life please buy one”

Reading this week:

More good books:

We’re packing up books over here. Turns out most of our clutter is… books. That’s not a bad thing. I’ll just have to make sure to get a house with bookcases, this time around.

* The Andy Briggs’ books look great, I’m just not going to have a chance to read them any time soon. So much good stuff out there, so little time.

* I started “The Triple Bind” awhile back. (Subtitle is “Saving our teenage girls from today’s pressures. Be pretty, sweet, and nice. Be athletic, be competitive, and get straight A’s. Be impossibly perfect.” That sums it up, doesn’t it?) This is a fantastic book — I highly recommend it. I’m just a little way into it, but I’ve already put post-its on a handful of pages. Always a good sign.

* I heard Mr. Singleton speak in November at a conference — he’s dynamite. I’ve started the book and it’s excellent. This guy needs to review “Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools,” but who do you think is schlepping the boxes around? Anyway, check it out.

happy Monday.

— wm

“Words are the soul’s ambassadors, who go / Abroad upon her errands to and fro.” — James Howell, writer (c. 1594-1666)

still not feeling well. i would say “not 100 percent,” but i’m really feeling more like… 30 percent. Forty-five percent if it’s one of those fake-outs where I start thinking, Oh I’m getting better see? See????

Now on third round of antibiotics for kidney infection and other ailments. (Fourth round if you count what they added to the IV in the hospital.) Getting concerned now (as I always do with bronchitis and bronchial pneumonia, too), what if this time they don’t work?

They will work. Faith, prayers, candles, love and this hot cup of chamomile tea that my husband just brought me. The kids and Steve are packing — we’ve been sorting and planning for the move. Hoping to get the house on the market mid-February. It’s a lovely house, I know that another family, solo dweller or couple will be happy here. It will be nice to have a little more space. I’m going to go read for awhile now — still loving Julia Child’s memoir, “My Life in France.” Such a delight, that book.

Here are a few books (kids’ stuff) that I enjoyed as well, but won’t have a chance to review. (The dog books are about Thoreau, just illustrated versions of his stories. Really clever.) Bon appetit!

— wm

Reading this week:

On the night stand this week:

* Laurie Notaro is funny.

* Greg Mortenson is a pretty amazing individual. My daughter would like me to tell you that this book is also available in a version for young readers and in a picture book format.

the. end.

— wm

On the coffee table this week:

* “The Boy Who Drew Cats” was a gift from Zip — it’s a great book. Wacky Boy gives this one a stellar review of two-thumbs-up.

* I never read the “Julie of the Wolves” books when I was a kid — I missed out. They’re still fairly popular today, which thrills me. Read them and you’ll see why.

* “Honus & Me,” by Dan Gutman, is part of his Baseball Card Adventures series — “Jackie & Me,” “Shoeless Joe & Me,” etc. They’re really good — I like Gutman’s style with all of his fiction. Appeals to the boys, which is always a good thing. (They also take to Matt Christopher books, by the way, even the young men who aren’t sports-crazy.)

Have a good Wednesday.

— wm

On review for today:

Speaking of blood, I’m on page 483 out of 756 pages of “Breaking Dawn” (by Stephenie Meyer, 2008, Megan Tingley Books, Little, Brown and Company, $22.99). I am facing the wrath of my 10-year-old writing this but I have to say it: This book sucks. I mean, sucks. (Edited at 4 p.m. to say — just finished the book. Am standing by this review. wm.)

The vampires, the werewolves, the sex, the drinking of blood… it outdoes “Rosemary’s Baby” and I’m not meaning that as a compliment. I frickin’ love “Rosemary’s Baby,” both the Ira Levin novel and the film version and no, I do not care to discuss Roman Polanski. Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer are just brilliant in it, and I’ve seen it, I dunno. Twenty times?

“Breaking Dawn” does not give me the satisfaction of, say, Rosemary spitting in Guy’s eye when she realizes she’s been set up. I don’t know what else to say about this book, but it is not the book to read, or attempt to read, when you’re recovering from surgery. Or any other time. Who said this about “Twilight,” Neisha? That her favorite part of the book was the blank pages? No. When asked what her ten least-favorite books were, Neisha said, and I’m quoting here, “Can I just say ‘Twilight’ ten times?” Ha. Ha. Ha. I think it was Susan who said that about the blank pages. Anyway. You were so right.

OK. Enough about blood. Next topic: Wine! I am no wine snob, but I do like my pinot grigio (or gris, or what have you) and I like the fizzy stuff, prosecco — prosecco a la Brian Boitano (see? I told you I am low-brow here) with the grapefruit juice and the sugar cube. Well. This book, “Drink This: Wine Made Simple” (by Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, 2009, Ballantine Books, 348 pages, $26) did not make me feel like an idiot for not knowing my wines. Also, she devotes a brief page or two to pinot grigio, which apparently is the Slut of White Wines (my words, not hers) and she also mentions the Ponzis and I love the Ponzis. They are such a nice family, those Ponzis, and they’re local.

She discusses all that you need to know about wine:
1. Type of grapes.
2. Where the grapes were grown.
3. How the grapes were turned into wine.

Also she discusses decanters, glasses, yadda yadda. I liked this book — it would make a good gift or purchase for your own self.

“The Edible Woman,” Margaret Atwood’s first book (1969) is just fantastic and you should just go buy a copy and read it right now. (Why does it fit so nicely into this round-up? You figure it out, I cannot.) You should especially read it immediately if you’ve been unfortunate enough to have read something like, say, “Breaking Dawn” or any of the other “Twilight” books. You need to get that taste out of your mouth and head. Wacky Cousin is right — it’s like you just ate a big bag of Cheetos and feel sick to your stomach once you’ve read Meyer.

The End. You vampire fans can just start throwing stuff at your screen now, I don’t even care. (More randomness: I actually liked the 2nd “Twilight” movie, we just saw it a couple weeks ago. Hmm.)

Love,

WM

PS — I just heard that one of the best editors/writers/reporters I’ve ever known, Mr. J, is moving on to some new projects. Good for him. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. In his honor, and because this post, in particular, fucking really needed an editor, I will leave you with a quote:

“You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke.” — Arthur Plotnik, editor and author (b. 1937)

now on my nightstand (and the coffee table, and stacked up on the floor, and in my car:

“Child Sense: From Birth to Age 5, How to Use the 5 Senses” was just released. It was written by Priscilla J. Dunstan (Bantam Books, 2009, $26, 303 pages). According to her press packet, Dunstan “burst onto the parenting scene” when she appeared on the Oprah show to reveal her “revolutionary discovery” that all babies make about five sounds to communicate their needs.

OK. I’ll tell you everything I know about parenting, and it all adds up to five, too:

1) Nurse if you can; don’t nurse if you can’t.
2) It’s not the terrible 2’s, it’s the terrible 10’s. Remember: They’re all different. They’re all the same, but oh my goodness, they are all different.
3) Try to find common ground with your partner, because eventually (if all goes according to plan), the kids will move out and it would be nice if you knew the person you were left living with.
4) First you’re thinking, oh my gosh! First teeth! She’s finally walking! We’re going to give her a pony for her birthday! Then before you know it, they’re screaming for money. My son, honest to Christ, just yelled at me, “We’d spend more money if you’d give us more.”

(Let us just pause for a moment to mull over that statement. “We’d spend more money if you’d give us more.” I am thinking, these are not children who deserve an allowance. Oh, no. Especially since their dad and I are the ones who got stuck cleaning out the frickin’ guinea pig cage last night.) (The class guinea pig is with us for the holidays. She is awfully cute, but the cage gets stinky.)

Where was I? Oh, yes.

5) They break your heart every day because they fill your heart every day. What with the guinea pigs and murderous African dwarf frogs and all.

And one more thing — as a parent, I firmly believe that you should take all of the credit, none of the guilt.

Next? “Sugar Blues,” by William Duffy (Warner Books, 1975, 255 pages). I have been wanting to read this book for years — Steve and others have highly recommended it to me, the lil sugar junkie. So I finally reserved a copy from the library, and it is a shredded paperback with the teensiest, tiniest print you have ever seen. I can’t read this thing. In fact, as I type this, I have to keep taking my glasses off and putting them back on, just to type and edit.

Pathetic, really.

OK. I’ll break down and buy a copy.

Next?

“Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids” was written by Kim John Payne, M.Ed. (Ballantine Books, 2009, $25, 235 pages). Really great book — I’m about halfway through, and have found several of the passages to be moving. I especially liked his comparison between the children of Asian refugee camps and the British children Payne worked with in the early ’90s. He has some insights that I appreciated about issues of control involving sleep, food and play. This one is going out on loan, along with the Dunstan book.

I’m still finishing “Water for Elephants,” it’s awfully good.

Have a great week.

— wm

on my nightstand this week:

Now reading:

Lots to read this month, and the candy hangover from last night is not helping me concentrate. Self-inflicted torture, I know. Damn you, miniature Milky Ways and Hershey bars. haha.

Veronica Buckley’s new book, “The Secret Wife of Louis IV, Francoise D’Aubigne, Madame de Maintenon” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $35, 498 pages), would be a great pick for a book club, but only if your book club actually reads. Do any of you belong to book clubs, out there? I know you do. Is yours more about the wine and the talk-talk, or the books? I like a good mix of both — it’s hard to find. This biography has loads of art, family trees and salacious gossip. Perfect. Buckley’s other biography, “Christina, Queen of Sweden,” also sounds great. Check ’em out.

That one was for the grown-ups, but the next two are for young adults and families.

Marge Pellegrino’s “Journey of Dreams” (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, $15.95, 250 pages), is one I think more serious students will enjoy. It’s the story of Tomasa, her journey north with her brother, baby sister and father, running away from the Guatemalan army and in search of her mother and brother. Nicely written, with good descriptions and a fast-paced (but not too fast) plot. (Themes of genocide and danger.)

I have to admit, the cynic in me fought a little against opening up “Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be at Home in the World,” by Homa Sabet Tavangar (a “businesss consultant” and mother of three. I think that sort of got the hackles going, too. Business consultant? Alrighty). (Ballantine Books, $16, 281 pages.) You know who doesn’t fly anywhere anymore? Me. I can’t fly anymore. So long, Caribbean. I probably won’t see you. Paris? Ditto. But I can still venture to Canada… Mexico… anywhere in the U.S. (Love road trips — just have inner ear and motion sickness that prevents me from flying.) But this book has lots of tips and suggestions, even if you’re an “armchair global citizen.” There’s nothing to stop you from learning about other cultures, at school, in your own living room, or at your local library.

* Did you know, for instance, that Papua New Guinea (find it on the globe) contains fewer than six million people, but has the most languages of any country — 832. Mexico has 295 native languages.

* She has to throw in her little promo’s for the Gates Foundation. Blech.

* But then rebounds with lists of movies, books and activities.

* Websites? Sure. With tips on investing responsibly, saying “no” to violence” and information on UNIFEM, UNICEF, Save the Children’s Annual Mother’s Index, Worldpulse.com and the Girl Effect.

All right. It’s worth purchasing, this one.

Happy Sunday!

— wm

Now reading:

Not reviewing these, too in awe of the authors and the words.

All three excellent books.

bye.

wm