Books read in April 2013

Apparently Book groups have taken over my reading life.  Everything I read this month had to do with a book group!

Read
Twice Told
Scott Hunt
A book of short stories written by YA authors inspired by drawings made by Scott Hunt.  Each drawing had two different stories and it was interesting to see what inspired the authors.  In the back, each author talks a little about their process.

The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman
Matt and I read aloud.
This was a delightful fantasy about a boy whose family is murdered being raised by ghosts in a graveyard.  When I put it like that, the book sounds ghastly, but it really was quite sweet and whimsical.

Norwegian Wood
Murakami
Read for Kenton Library Book Group
An interesting view of 1960s-era college-student Japan.  After reading three of his books, I note that Murakami seems incredibly removed from his storytelling while at the same time is able to craft incredibly hot sex scenes.  I find this juxtaposition odd.

Brave Girl
Michelle Markel
Read for Librarian Book Group
A picture book that takes us into the early 20th century advocating for better factory conditions through the eyes of a brave girl.  Though I felt that there was no solid sense of time (how much does Clara age over the progress of the book?) I thought this was a good introduction to factories and the labor struggle.  The illustrations were interesting, using textiles as well as other media to tell the story.

One Gorilla
Anthony Browne
Read for Librarian Book Group
The pictures of the animals were great.  The pictures of the humans were weird.

Eleanor and Park
Rainbow Rowell
Read for Librarian Book Group
Rainbow Rowell’s name falls into the same category as Ransom Riggs (category:  YA authors with names I hope they didn’t grow up with, but suspect they did).  That said, this is probably destined to be a popular YA book and for very good reason.  The setting is unusual (Omaha in the 80s) the characters are interesting (Eleanor, poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks, Park, half-Korean boy who doesn’t fit in the standard of mid-80s Omaha masculinity) what brings them together is perfect (comics, music) and the dramatic tension in the story feels very real (I was quite worried). In short, this is a book to read now.  Go and find it.

Started and did not finish
Son of a Gun
Anne de Graaf
Read for Librarian Book Group.
Seemed interesting, but child solders is not a topic I am motivated to read about.

Postcard from Finland.

Here’s my first art postcard!  It’s from Juulia who is 11 and has great handwriting.  She says, “I hope this card is unbroken when it comes to you.  If here is falled letters, cards says: “Muffini” and that means cupcake in Finnish.

As you can see, nearly all the letters made it to me.

Also, this stamp makes me want to visit Finland in the summer.  Though I imagine their summer beach weather is not much different than the Oregon Coast, temperature-wise.

Two headlines from today’s paper

Reading this, I audibly gasped, mostly because I’ve been waiting for years for male athletes to start coming out of the closet.  Also: same last name!
 
Oh Grant Butler.  A few years ago you decided to experiment with being vegan for a few months and I thought, “I hope you can make it that long without cheese” because cheese is the number one reason I don’t want to be a vegan.  The number two reason is that I don’t think it’s actually a healthy way of eating.  But you, Grant Butler, took to it like a duck to water and now your write columns that amuse me such as this:

Now I don’t mind a good veggie burger now and then, but really, the bun?  The bun is the best part, in fact,  the main reason for eating the veggie burger.  When you get right down to it, I would eat the bun with a bit of butter rather than the veggie burger wrapped in lettuce or what have you.

Three sentence movie reviews: P.S.

I hadn’t heard of this Laura Linney/Topher Grace 2004 effort, but it was free, so why not?  It was a very interesting story (40-year-old woman believes 20-year-old art student is her dead ex-boyfriend reincarnated) and that kept me watching.  I think the whole movie could have explored a bit deeper, but overall, I was engaged the entire time.

Cost:  free because I had a gift certificate to Title Wave Bookshop
Where watched: at home.

Portland Center Stage: Clybourne Park

Clybourne Park is about how neighborhoods change over the years.  Outside the theater was a map of Portland where people were invited to write their comments.
 
Here’s my neighborhood.  The yellow post-it says “the cows used to travel through here.”  I didn’t focus the camera enough to be able to see what the blue post-it said.

As for the play itself, it was very good.  The writing was both funny and uncomfortable, which meant I laughed and felt twisted up the entire time.  That said, I recommend you see it not only for the subject matter, but because over intermission, the crew “ages” the house that is the main setting 50 years and it is fascinating to watch.  That alone is worth the price of admission.

I attended this play to see Andy Lee-Hillstrom (the mashed potato eating actor who inspired my current Lint project) and he was fabulous as Jim/Tom/Kenneth.  But Sal Visccuso was brilliant as Russ/Dan and Sharonlee McLean was also incredible as Bev/Kathy.  I had last seen Brianna Horne as Laurie in Oklahoma and it was fun to watch her transform from “getting along” maid Francine to empowered Lena.  The rest of the cast was also wonderful.

Because of the uncomfortable subject matter Director Chris Coleman had a talk back after every show.  It was interesting to hear about how the actors felt about their characters.  Also worth the price of admission was the essay “The House on Clybourne Street” by Beryl Satter which discussed the only way black people in Chicago were able to purchase a home in the mid-twentieth century.  The essay was a punch in the gut for me.  I understood that things were unfair, but was outraged at how unfair this particular practice was.  Do yourself a favor and read the essay.

I make a pizza.

Matt is out of town and I have the day off, so I will make pizza for dinner.  It’s also the end of the month which means there isn’t much left in the grocery account, so I’m going to make a pizza with what I have.  I picked some asparagus from the garden and sliced that up and sprinkled it on. Then I opened a can of sardines and added them.  There were Lima beans that needed to be used up, so on those went.   I had some leftover shredded mozzarella, which was good.  Then, after I baked all of that, I cracked four eggs on top.

This was a very fine pizza.