Summer Reading Wrap-Up

Yeah, so it's not summer anymore. In fact, the temperatures around my house dipped down into the 40's last night. Hubs had to grab a sweater before he left for work today. I can honestly say though that I didn't mind that because he looks adorable in sweaters and it was so soft and cuddly that I could barely stop hugging him to let him out the door. I totally love sweater weather. But this is not a post about sweaters or the impending (and awesome) early fall weather. It's about the last bit of summer reading that I wanted to update you all on, and how the "Summer of 100 Books" maybe wasn't so much.

Remember a few months ago when I told you what I was reading and what I had hoped to read? Well, done and done. So here's the scoop on those:
The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch by Neil Gaiman was really quite dark and depressing. I woke up before everyone else on vacation and wanted to get some reading in and forgot that I had only brought graphic novels with me. I finished like, 1 or 2 a day, and was left reading cereal boxes by the end of the trip. This was the last one I read and I gotta be honest? Not beach (or vacation) reading at all. I suppose I knew that beforehand, but not a good start for me as I've never read any Neil Gaiman before. Good storytelling, but I wasn't prepared to be that bummed out before breakfast. Can anyone recommend any other Neil Gaiman for me?
Before Watchmen Series. If you're a big fan of Watchmen, read these. The Moloch section gave me some context for the events that actually took place in the book, while most of the other ones just gave me background. I didn't particularly care for The Comedian, and The Crimson Corsair was just awful, and silly at that. Silk Spectre was about Laurie, the second Silk Spectre, and honestly I could've done without it. Nite Owl was actually about Rorschach, for the most part, and not the second Nite Owl. The one really stand-out piece was The Minutemen, about the first incarnation of the crimefighting group. I felt like that one could have been released on its own and it would have been a total success. I do plan to re-read Watchmen again this fall, just to try to connect some of the dots. In fact, I'm starting it this afternoon.
The Art of Fielding: A Novel by Chad Harbach. I really enjoyed this novel, but the ending wrapped up a little too cleanly and conveniently for my tastes. You kind of know what to expect from the last third of the book on to the end, and that's a little disappointing. What I can say though is that I enjoyed the story, and I wanted to finish this book whether I knew what was going to happen or not. This was perfect summer reading!
The Queen's Lover: A Novel by Francine Du Plessix Gray, a semi-historical novel about Marie Antoinette and her Swedish lover Axel von Fersen, was something I really thought I'd enjoy since I love historical fiction and more than that I do like a good story about Marie Antoinette. I also thought, hmm, there might be some naughty bits in there! I read the first hundred and fifty pages or so, and then returned it to the library. Why? Well, some of it is a dry history, the naughty bits aren't really naughty (or kind of tastelessly naughty without context). There is also the odd element of memoir by Fersen's sister Sophie. While it does well to capture most of Axel's story, even the bits about the American Revolution, I could not stay interested.  

And the "Summer of 100 Books"? That hit a snag about the time we left for our annual beach vacation in mid-August and Stenni didn't want anything to do with anything that wasn't beach- or boardwalk-related. We did slip in a few more fairy tales and I Spy-type books, but nothing to write home about. I'm just glad that we kept it going for as long as we did! But this was a definite mom-fail on my part for not planning a little better, and knowing that my kid's attention span just can't stay on one thing for too long. 

How did your summer reading go? Anything notable, couldn't-put-downable, or chuck-at-a-wallable? Tell me about it!

If you go in expecting a summer blockbuster...

you won't be disappointed. If instead you expect anything even remotely like the book, prepare for some serious frustration. This, in a nutshell, is my review of World War Z. Brace yourself for a few spoilers.
The movie is a quick-moving, action packed thriller. Most of the people you meet only stick around for like, a minute (they're zombie chow the next). The infectious virus doctor who is kind of funny and supposed to be the reason for the international mission? Yeah, he makes it to the first stop, just barely, and then? Yeah. You know the rest. So it goes with everyone Brad Pitt encounters for pretty much the entire film.
Let me give you the similarities between the book and the movie...don't worry, it's a pretty short list: there is someone with dubious connects to the UN (in the book it's a "postwar council" to record things, and in the movie it's just a guy who used to work there and is apparently good enough at life in general for them to send out a helicopter for him and his entire family to Newark, where no one ever wants to go, especially if it's filled with zombies), they go to a few different countries to show some differences in how the situation is handled (though North Korea is dealt with TOTALLY differently in both), and oh yeah, there are zombies. If you have read the book, you should know not to to expect much more than that. The cool bits about the ineptitude of the government, the rabies vaccine, establishing safe zones, what happens to the rest of the world, and how they started rebuilding? Well, they're just not entertaining enough to share screen time with Brad Pitt (apparently neither was his co-star, Mirielle Enos, who doesn't have enough time here to be as wonderful as she is in TV's The Killing). I also expected something to be mentioned about how the boats in the book were not safe at all, since in the movie they spent some time on a boat, but that was also ignored, sadly (would have made for a minute or two of interesting viewing).
All in all though, I enjoyed the movie. The "zombies" here are of the 28 Days Later virus-made super fast and strong variety, not The Night of the Living Dead slow and dumb variety. That kind of makes for better viewing, though it may not be totally accurate (but who am I to say?). It's a fun bit of zombie fare, if you're into that sort of thing, and Lord knows I am. But it's also a little trite. You know when you're supposed to remember something, and it's obvious if something will be important later. It also wraps up a little to cleanly at the end for my tastes, but that's just me.
If I were giving it stars, let's say 3 1/2 out of 5? Not the best movie, but I was entertained for about 2 hours, and it made for a good drive-in date night movie with the hubs. But don't bring the kids, unless they're not easily scared and also love zombies.

(Extended) Book Week Kind of Wrap-Up: I have read, I am reading, I will read.

Sorry for the mid-book-week absence. I had a much longer than expected ultrasound on Thursday (no worries; me and the little guy are fine, he was just not feeling cooperative for the sonographer), an up-all-night sicky toddler, and a bit more stuff to do than I had planned on before we left on Saturday for our camping trip (and as you know, there's no phone service or wi-fi anywhere near where we camp...such a blessing!). So I didn't get a chance to relay to you my awesome summer reading plans. Here's what we've got so far:

What I've Read:
 Barefoot Contessa, How Easy Is That?: Fabulous Recipes and Easy Tips by Ina Garten...In short, not as easy as I'd like it to be. The tips were ok, if a little obvious (only a few were truly clever and none mind-blowing), but the recipes were somewhat complicated for a woman with a toddler hanging off her leg and 15 minutes to make dinner. I wanted to like this book because I really like Ina Garten (and the book was even a WNYC member gift this year during their pledge drive!) but unfortunately, I didn't get terribly much out of it.
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain I don't like Ernest Hemingway. I don't like him or his writing, despite what my husband or my freshman creative writing teacher think (I distinctly remember almost being thrown out of class for never having read Hemingway by my freshman year of college. By now I have; I don't think I missed out on too much). Now I know that this novel hovers around the "historical fiction" genre, but it's based on fact, and it gave me more of a reason to believe that I've always been right about the man, that he was something of a scoundrel. That said, I couldn't put this book down. Hadley Hemingway was such an endearing character that I really wanted her to be happy but obviously knew how the story ended beforehand. If you haven't read this yet, do it now.
Double Delicious!: Good, Simple Food for Busy, Complicated Lives by Jessica Seinfeld I liked the recipes in this book better than Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious. I'll be making her pumpkin ravioli, cinnamon-maple quinoa, and and butternut tomato soup (def fall recipes though), and the carrot orange popsicles will be a staple in the house throughout the summer. I'm still not sure how I feel about her use of things like all low-fat tub margarine, super-low-fat and/or skim only milk products, and a ton of cooking spray, or how I feel about tricking those in my house into eating healthy, but some of the recipes seem worth a try (I'll stick to those that obviously contain fruits and veggies though, to steer clear of any produce-related feeling of treachery from those I feed).

What I'm Reading:
Homeschooling: Take a Deep Breath- You Can Do This! by Terrie Lynn Bittner I'm still on the cusp of organized homeschooling for Stenni, and I don't know if I can handle it myself. That said, this book gave me a good bit of info that I hadn't run across anywhere else (and admittedly, I thought that I could get almost everything I needed from the library and the internet. Silly V). It answered a lot of practical questions I had about building a curriculum and even what to do when met with resistance (and how to answer snarky questions). I'm glad I found this one and looking forward to finishing it. 
The Art of Fielding: A Novel by Chad Harbach At the urging of hubs and the NPR book review, I finally picked this one up a few days ago and guys...I didn't want to put it down. Not to go camping or hang out with family or even see the sunlight. Like anything worthwhile, it's about life and baseball and the intersection of the two, but so much more than that. It's about the college experience that I didn't have, the hopes and expectations of so many people who are so different and being on the cusp of adulthood and all sorts of things. AND it's really well written. I have read the reviews though, and heard that the last half isn't as great as the first (I don't want to believe it yet, and will tell you soon if it's true or not).  

What I Hope to Read:
The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch by Neil Gaiman I don't know much about this, except that I've never read any Neil Gaiman and everyone says I should. Oh, and it's a graphic novel. I think I'll stick to those for beach reading this year, since I can only sit on the beach for so long and not swim (I really hate sand) and my attention span is really short in bright light. Oh, and the word "nightmarish" keeps coming up in the reviews, and I'd be a liar if I said I didn't kind of dig that.
The Before Watchmen Series (they're pretty much a series of comic books that come before the Watchmen story, chronologically speaking) So when I was in the city in April for a Yankees/Blue Jays game, I stopped at Midtown Comics and picked up one issue from each series of this title (each series is based on a character). I don't know why I did that. I didn't get them in any order, and now I've read from the beginning, middle and end of a few different stories with no idea what happened as a whole. I'd like to read the rest. I should probably re-read Watchmen too, just to be on the safe side.
I like reading comics and graphic novels while I'm pregnant. Right before I found out I was having Stenni a few years ago, I got The Walking Dead Compendium and read it cover to cover while lounging in front of the fireplace. It's just a strange thing that comforts me while pregnant. I can't explain it, but I fully intend to keep doing it. Maybe it just keeps the menfolk around while I chub out (ha, you know, since comic-geek-girls are so well-loved).  

I may also re-read Sin City before the new movie comes out this October (who am I kidding...I totally will!), since I will drag my 9-months-pregant self to see it whether my water breaks in the theater or not.

So what have you been/will you be/are you reading this summer? Anything worth mentioning? Probably not a bunch of comic books, but hey, we can't all have such short attention spans. Stay tuned later this week for the zombie-related book-to-movie review that I know you haven't been waiting for on pins and needles.  

A Literary Aside...

I know I promised to share my own summer reading list today, and I still will...probably tomorrow. But something more important has come to my attention.

Are you familiar with the work of Richard Matheson? You can say no, but you actually mean yes. Sadly for all sci-fi lovers, he passed away on Sunday at the age of 87. Matheson wrote several sci-fi short stories and books, and many of them were adapted for TV and film. He also wrote several well-known episodes of The Twilight Zone (like "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," you know, the one with William Shatner and the monster on the wing of the plane). You may be familiar with I Am Legend (which spawned the dismal Will Smith movie of the same name a few years ago, and a better adaptation called The Omega Man, starring Charleton Heston, in the 70's, with a truly creepy version starring Vincent Price called Last Man on Earth made in the 60's), of maybe Hell House, What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, or the short story "Duel" about a terrifying chase of a motorist by a tractor trailer that was made into a movie in the 70's. His short story "Button, Button" inspired the movie The Box, released a few years ago starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. His "Steel," about a boxer who chooses to battle robots himself while the audience is unaware, recently inspired the Hugh Jackman vehicle Real Steel, which I've got to admit I haven't seen (the Twilight Zone episode was good enough for me). He has inspired countless authors, screenwriters, and directors. We wouldn't have the zombie genre if he hadn't inspired George A. Romero, who wrote and directed the original Night of the Living Dead.
So when you think about it, we as a society wouldn't have nearly as many fears and phobias without the persistent creepiness of Matheson's tales for the past half a century plus. He was a wonderful storyteller and he will be missed, though I'm sure that his influence will continue to live on for generations.

Summer of 100 Books Update!

So, we're officially a month into The Summer of 100 Books, and I wanted to let you know how it's been going. The short answer is, awesome! It's been kinds cool to dust off books I didn't even know we had (let alone had never read) as well as get back to our old standbys. I even hit the cheap book jackpot this past weekend, since the Rescue Squad in my town had its yearly rummage sale and I walked out with stacks and stacks of books for a pittance, and the same day I got to a liquidation sale at a daycare that had gone out of business (SCORE! I found a complete pre-school to kindergarten curriculum, and bought it on the spot to use alongside what we already do!). So, yay! Here's what we've been reading, in no particular order:

1. Is Your Mama A Llama? by Deborah Guarino. One of my favs, because it rhymes and it's about animals!
2. Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire. Dr. Seuss-esque tale about a cool creature with spots and how unique he is, and  his desire to live in the zoo. Also rhymes.
3. There's No Place Like Home (Sesame Street collection book) by Tom Dunsmuir. Talks about the different kinds of places people can live, but the point, obvs, is that there's no place like your home. 
4. Cupcake by Charise Mericle Harper. Cupcake feels sad because although his brothers and sisters are fancy and elaborate, he is perfectly plain, until he meets a plain candle who feels the same and they make each other feel special together!
5. I Can Take A Nap (Muppet Babies book) by Bonnie Worth. So totally worth reading. Miss Piggy gets cranky, mopey and clumsy when she doesn't take a nap, only unlike a normal toddler, she knows and  admits it! 
6. Olivia Says Goodnight by Gabe Pulliam and Farrah McDoogle. I really like the Olivia stories, because she can always be anything she wants (and she always goes to sleep at the end)! And in this one, she cleans up her room and plays nicely with her little brother. Isn't that always good to preach? 
7. Baby Einstein Pretty Poems and Wonderful Words, poems by Robert Louis Stevenson. I'll admit that while this is a cool lift-the-flap, colorful board book, some of the wording demands a little explanation for a toddler. But it's a nice intro to poetry!
8. Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert. We spend so much time in the garden, and I think that learning about where food comes from is so super-important, so this book gets read a lot. I mean, a whole lot. Like Stenni's close to memorizing it type of a lot. Plus it was one of my favorites as a kid, so my name's written super-sloppy in the front cover. 
9. Three Little Kittens by Lorianne Siomades. So you probably know the rhyme about the three little kittens who lost their mittens. This book is really cool because you can look for the mittens along with your kid, and it's easy for little ones to memorize and "read" along with you. 
10. Kite Day: A Bear and Mole Story by Will Hillenbrand. A bear and a mole work together to make a kite, but it breaks and provides a shelter for baby birds. I'm torn on this one. I feel like it's kind of phoned in and maybe promotes littering (?) but it shows different species working together so that's cool, and I just wanted a book about kites so that was covered too. 
11. Angelina's New Partner (Angelina Ballerina) by some unnamed author. This was only ok too, but it did show Stenni that there are other kinds of acceptable dance besides ballet and tap-dancing (the new kid does hip hop dance too), and shows kids (mice kids?) working together even though they have different backgrounds, and that first impressions are not always right. I like the original Angelina Ballerina books better. 
12. Fred and Ted Go Camping by Peter Eastman. I love this book and read it every single time we are going to go camping. For reals. I wish that birds told me where to find delicious food, but the idea of being chased out of a lake bya gigantic fish is terrifying (to me, not Stenni). 
13. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. A classic. Also a cop-out, because it's like the equivalent of a paragraph. But a classic anyway. 
14. I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt. This has been one of Stenni's favorites for a while now. It lends itself well to exaggerated reading and silly voices, and it's short and sweet.
15. I Ruff You by Sandra Magsamen. I'm usually not allowed to read this book, it's pretty much reserved for Papa reading time. They read it through once in a silly way that they've written themselves (hint: it involves the word "poo" even though it's not mentioned anywhere in the real book, because poo is funny to both toddlers and Papas), then they read it the "real" way. It's nice that Stenni likes it enough to parody it, I guess.
16. Rah, Rah Radishes! A Vegetable Chant by April Pulley Sayre. Such a fun book to read out loud, and it has pictures of vegetables you may have never mentioned to your kids, like bok choy  and parsnips. Now when we go to the veggie market, Stenni can point them out and tell me about them, which is really all I could ask for. 
17. What Will I Do If I Can't Tie My Shoe? by Heidi Kilgras. Dude, shoe tying is hard. I avoid it when I can. I always leave my sneakers pre-tied and try to jam my foot into them (as I inch through my second trimester, this is actually happening less and less and I generally sign and untie, then re-tie them, then sign again pitifully). In this book, a boy who has already mastered buttons, snaps and zippers frets over learning to tie his sneakers, but it helped in the end by his big brother. All-around nice. 
18. Our Class Is Going Green by the kindergarten class at Oak Park Elementary School in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. This adorable book shows what one particular class is doing to save the environment. It's pretty basic stuff but it spurred conversation. The most interesting topic it brought up was that Stenni thinks that we live in our house, not on Earth. I tried to convince her that it's both, but she wasn't having it. I'll push that topic again at a later date. 
19. The Fire Cat by Esther Averill. A cute chapter book (but a surprisingly quick and easy read) about a cat that lives in a firehouse. He starts out being kind of mean and selfish, but ends up saving a scared kitten from a really high branch when the firefighters can't, and decides that it's only the beginning of the nice things he'll do.  
20. Eeyore, Pooh, Piglet and Tigger board books, of dubious authorship, "inspired by" A.A. Milne. What kid doesn't love Winnie the Pooh? Also, we can learn a lot about what not to be like from the gloomy Eeyore, and also from Pooh, who in this case happened to eat too much honey and get stuck in a door for two weeks (can anyone say glutton?).
21. Prairie Dog Town (A Smithsonian Wild Heritage Collection Book) by Bettye Rogers. This is a great book to read before a zoo trip. We have a prairie dog habitat at our zoo and this explained a lot (even to me!) about how they live in the wild. It follows a little prairie dog who is hungry and goes out on his own to find food and eventually set up a new home away from his family. 
22. Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton. A fun book that you should sing to your kid. You can do the dance too. I do. Stenni does it with me sometimes. I think she just likes to watch me jump around like an idiot instead.
23. The Monster at the End of the Book (Sesame Street) by Jon Stone. This was my dad's favorite book as a kid, and I can see why. It is fun to read and play along with the story. Plus it shows kids that they don't need to be frightened of something just because it sounds scary. Starring "lovable, furry old Grover."
24. Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss. A fun read-along and a chance to make silly noises with your kid. What more do you want? This is one that instantly turns a bad day good, or a pouty kiddo into a silly one. 
25. Cookie's Guessing Game About Food (Sesame Street), no author listed. This one is good because it's like a fun little mini-quiz for kids about different kinds of food. here are only a few questions, but Stenni seemed to really like it.
26. Dressed for the Ball (Disney Princess book), no author listed. I guess it's ok for Stenni to sneak a few princess books in here and there. Little girls will do that, and there' really no harm in it, no matter how bothersome I find it. This one was pretty much fluff, about dresses. That's it. 
27. Just in Time: A Story About Patience (Disney Princess book) by Jacqueline A. Ball. This princess book was much better, because it had a moral: patience is a virtue. Everyone learns a lesson about being patient, namely that it helps you to calm down, to make a plan, and to enjoy things more in the end. This is a particularly pertinent lesson for a toddler, and coating it with candy-princess-fluff makes it a little easier to swallow. 
28. Playful Learning: Rhymes, Songs and Games (A Hands-On Parent Resource), no listed author. We're working through this one as a homeschooling exercise. It's got a lot of songs in it, plus games and activities to go along with it. I don't know that we'll get through the whole thing, but it's a good resource to have. 

So that's the list so far, from the Tuesday after Memorial Day until the present. I'll give another update at the end of July. Come back tomorrow for a review of what I've read, am reading, and hope to read this summer!

Book Week, Day 1: What should you be reading this summer? I have no idea...guides from around the internets

It's finally actually summer, which means that I do get a few chances here and there to read books that I haven't read before that also aren't cookbooks. I got to read (and finish) The Paris Wife while we were camping over two weekends ago, so that was big for me. But summer really lends itself to reading, which is why there are summer reading lists and programs at like every single library in the country. What I read tends to be, um, well I usually shy away from the best-sellers and the James Pattersons and the book club selections...mostly. I tend towards the NPR-recommended (yeah, really), graphic novels, and nonfiction.

So I won't tell you what to read. But here's what I'm going to do instead this week: I'll give you a few lists that some other people (other smart people) have recommended, talk about how the summer of 100 books is going, let you know about a few books I've read lately, tell you what I intend to read, and a few other fun surprises. Today, I'm tackling the "summer reading guides" part, so here goes nothing.

First, a little background on how I read: 
I'm always looking for something new to read, but it takes me a while to get into a book, and I've found that if I'm not engaged by a few pages in I'm not likely to enjoy it in the long haul (though this is not always the case...I do try to go about 50 pages or so before giving up hope completely). At this stage of my life too I have limited time to read and so if I'm not loving something, I'll no longer spend precious minutes of naptime trying to make myself get into something I'm clearly not digging. So instead I like to cast a wide net, have lots of options, and ditch what I can't deal with or get into right that second. Here are a few lists to provide yuo with literally hundreds of choices. Have at it, kids!

• Click on over to Modern Mrs. Darcy for the "Ultimate Beach Reading Guide," which she'll actually e-mail to you so that you don't have to troll around the internets all day. All you need to do is sign up. Plus, her reviews are usually so blessedly honest (she'll tell you if and why she puts a book down and doesn't pick it back up, even if it's a bestseller) that it's pretty refreshing. Highly recommended. 
• Wanna learn something new on your time off? Who doesn't? (Me. It's Summer. But I might give it a go anyhow.) Head to Science Friday's blog and take a gander at some great new and classic non-fiction, plus some sci-fi, if you're into that. I am, sometimes. 
• So do you know what you already like? Then use this handy-dandy guide from PureWow to find something similar from the list of "Literary Doppelgangers." Just click on the book you liked, and a book you might like as well pops up in its place. This is especially helpful if you are taking a last-minute trip and and are on your way to the library and have no direction (literarily speaking, of course), or don't want to do a lot of searching on your own. 
• And of course, Oprah's official summer reading list. This one's from last year (I'm still catching up anyway). I'm not generally the hugest Oprah fan, but I've got to tell you that her lists are great because they give you pretty good little snippets for each book, and there are a lot of good books that make the list every year. It's hard to sort through all of the new books that come out in the world every year unless you've got minions, and O's got them in spades, so I suppose it works.
• Oh, and there are also the classics, as compiled in this list by the Cincinnati Library. Most of these are great standbys, and things you should probably read anyway. But be wary: every year I try to read Anna Karenina (which didn't make this list) and forget that it's totally not beach reading, but by that time I'm stuck with whatever gossip rag magazines my mom and my sister have brought with them, and that's even more disappointing. Just remember that even though something is a classic, that doesn't make it beach reading. Some of these books are better kept for an evening when it's pouring outside and you've got a very large glass of cabernet sauvignon  (or cognac, or seltzer if you're knocked up like me I guess)  to keep you company. 

Also check with you local library. My library mostly has programs for little kids and school-aged folk, but lots of libraries have programs for adults too. The NY Public Library is pretty awesome for that sort of thing, but you know, you have to live in New York and whatnot.