failing miserably, and taking a break

My goals for this week's Weekly Geeks certainly didn't sound all that difficult to attain, and yet at this point I think I'm going to have concede defeat. I'm still nowhere near being caught up on my blog reading : (

And I still need to write a review for We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

And I just don't think I'm going to get either done today.

It's just been one of those especially busy weeks with Max's birthday and trying to finish up the first quarter of school and writing Annie's first quarter report. (The report that I spend waaaaay more time than necessary writing each quarter. Seriously, with the exception of dealing with kid issues, that is all I did yesterday. Why I stress myself so about the damn thing, I'll never know. Okay, that's not exactly true...I guess I do sort of know...it's just my obsessive personality.)

Okay Debi, stop babbling and get to the point already, would you?!!

Point? I'm supposed to have a point?

Sorry, I do think I'm nearing lunacy here.

Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and say that I'm going to be absent from the blogging world for the next week and a half. I just really, really, really need to focus on getting prepared for Annie's next school quarter. Just one of those times in life when I feel like I'm just drowning. I'm sure you all know what I mean. And as much of a stress reliever as blogging is, it's also a bit time suck. :D

Whew...but just think what old google reader will have in store for me on my return...

The Witches...random thoughts

The Witches by Roald Dahl.

I was a big reader as a kid. But you know, I've come to the conclusion that I must have read a lot of crap. I'm only half kidding there. While I really did read all the time, I honestly remember very little of what I read. Now on the one hand, the books I read really weren't crap, after all, they certainly set up a lifelong love of reading. But on the other hand, I find it utterly amazing how few of the children's classics I've actually read. Take Roald Dahl...The Witches is my very first venture into his world. But you know, instead of regret, I think I'll take the attitude of joyful anticipation in knowing there's so many more wonderful books out there for me to discover.

The Witches hooked us (Gray, Max, and I) from page one:

In fairy-tales, witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks, and they ride on broomsticks.
But this is not a fairy-tale. This is about REAL WITCHES.
The most important thing you should know about REAL WITCHES is this. Listen very carefully. Never forget what is coming next.
REAL WITCHES dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. They live in ordinary houses and they work in ORDINARY JOBS.
That is why they are so hard to catch.
A REAL WITCH hates children with a red-hot sizzling hatred that is more sizzling and red-hot than any hatred you could possibly imagine.

Can't you just tell that it's going to be a delightfully thrilling book just from that opening?!!

It is the story of a boy, who comes to live with his beloved Grandmamma in Norway after his parents are killed. His grandmother is an expert on witches, and she begins teaching her grandson about the precautions he should be taking. For one thing, while, as we learn in the passage above, witches look like ordinary women, there are clues that one can look out for. For example, witches always wear gloves because their fingernails aren't of the human variety, but are more like animal claws. Secondly, witches wear wigs, because they are all actually bald.

Witches, by the way, live all around the world in every country. They form a sort of organization, headed by the Grand High Witch. She travels the world, attending a sort of witches' convention which is held in each country, each year.

Now the boy and his grandmother are forced to move back to England because of a stipulation in his parents' will. After the boy finishes up the school year, they plan to spend the summer holiday in Norway. But the grandmother suffers a slight illness, and her doctor insists she vacation closer to home. And this is how they end up at the Hotel Magnificent at the very same time as the witches' meeting in England.

One day, the boy finds himself accidentally locked in a huge meeting room at the hotel with a bunch of women from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Of course, these women aren't who they say they were. In fact, they aren't really women at all. Every witch from England is in this meeting hall. And the boy overhears their diabolical plan for ridding England of its children once and for all...

I honestly can't tell you how much I enjoyed this book. It was a pure delight, but definitely not a delight of the sugar-coated variety. In fact, at the start I worried just a wee bit that it might be slightly too scary for the boys. But it wasn't. No, they loved every word of it! In fact, this is the very first chapter book that I've read to them that Max actually stuck with for each and every page. While he loves for us to read him shorter books, he tends to get bored with the couple chapters a night routine of a longer book. Not this time, let me tell you...he exclaimed that it was his favorite book ever! (Shocking, considering it wasn't even about cats.)

in the dog house

I fear that may be me. Yes, I'm quite worried that Max's teacher may not be overly pleased with me this morning.

See, one of birthday traditions around here is that the birthday-ee gets to choose what to have for breakfast. Maxidoodle chose to have a donut and chocolate-dipped strawberries. What little boy wouldn't want to start his big day with a massive sugar high, right? I mean, you only turn six once.

He did have a good half hour to run around outside before the bus arrived...let's hope that was enough...

it's time...

Have you signed up for the read-a-thon yet? If you answered no, I suggest you hop right on over and do so! It's on October 18th this time around, so actually there's plenty of time to sign up if you're just not sure about your schedule yet. But if I were you, I'd just go ahead and rearrange my schedule and make sure that I could participate!

See how much there is to look forward to...

*Duh! 24 hours of reading!

*A delightful, dedicated, hard-working hostess...Dewey. She really is the best!

*The incredible feeling of community and friendship.

*The chance to win prizes. There's always lots of prizes.

Personally, I've got a few other things that have me extra-excited about this read-a-thon...

*Annie's going to join in with me again.

*Two of my favorite people, Nymeth and Chris, are going to get to read this time! I am soooooo excited about this one!

*And finally, I'm hoping to be reading here:



Except that if all goes as planned, it will no longer look like a war zone, but will have been transformed into a cozy little reading room.

Okay, not that I want to bore anyone with the story, but I feel the need to explain the state of that room. I swear, we're really not that incredibly slobbish as a general rule. But the boys, who had been sleeping on the floor of our room for many months, promised that if they could share a room again, they would actually use it for sleeping. Perfectly fine with us. We decided to turn Max's room into their bedroom and Gray's room into a playroom. So in order to paint what is now their bedroom, we totally emptied it out by just hauling it and dumping it into that disaster area pictured in the photo. So now the boys new bedroom has been painted, we've installed bunk beds, and they are officially now "living" there. (Though there are still some odds and ends to finish up.)

Okay, time to deal with the playroom. Which I really was not looking forward to one iota. That is until Rich and I came up with the brilliant idea of turning that room into a reading room instead! There's an area in our basement where Rich has most of his books housed. We've decided to turn that area into the playroom, and use the room up here for our library. Though I suspect we'll all still have a bookcase in our bedroom, and Rich will still have his office full of textbook-type reading, we're hoping to fit everyone's books into our new cozy, little room. Isn't that just so exciting? Okay, maybe not to anyone else, but it sure is to me! And our goal is to have it done in time for the read-a-thon. Not sure if we'll make it, but we're going to try...

is it still Sunday somewhere in the world?

Yes, as usual, I'm behind with the short story reviews. Oh well.

I am both happy and sad to say that I've finished up Daphne du Maurier's Classics of the Macabre. Happy because it's due back at the library today. But sad, because I am so sorry that I've no more of Ms. du Maurier's short stories on hand to read. I simply can't tell you how much I enjoyed this book! I only hope that I'll enjoy her novels half as much as her short stories.

First story of the week was "The Birds". Yes, the story that Hitchcock's thriller was based on. But frankly, while one can see the connection between the two, they are actually quite different from one another. While I fully admit that I've always loved the movie, it somehow just doesn't seem to stack up against the story. Maybe they're just too different to compare. Anyway, the story is far more frightening than the movie. It has such a personal feel. The terror is tangible. As I said when I wrote about the last story I reviewed ("The Blue Lenses"), it's all too easy to put yourself into the character's place. And then I can't help but wonder how long it will be before I've gone mad.

The next story in this collection, "The Alibi," didn't quite have that same feeling. I believe that's because in this story, our protagonist simply isn't the nicest of fellows to begin with. That doesn't not mean this isn't a great story though. As I know others have said, it can be very hard to talk about a short story for fear of giving too much away. So in general, I'll just say that this is a story of a mid-life crisis gone horribly wrong.

And finally, there is "Not After Midnight." While not my favorite of the lot, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. It is the story of a English teacher, who has taken his holiday in Greece. He wants nothing really to do with the historical sites, nor with his fellow vacationers. He simply wants to paint. But through simple misfortune, he ends up staying in the room of a man just recently found dead, and being drawn into some strange goings-on involving Greek mythology.

Thank you, Daphne du Maurier, for some deliciously eerie hours spent amongst the pages of your book!

geeking...week 18

This week's theme: catch up on something. Anything. We get to choose what it is we most need to catch up on in our own little bloggy worlds.

I have multiple things I could choose from, but I think I'm going to go with catching up with all the posts in reader. I just saw how swollen it was this morning after a few days away...amazing how fast that happens, isn't it?!! Anyway, my goal is to really catch up, not just skim through and mark read.

I'd also like to make sure I'm caught up with my reviews by the end of the week. Not that I'm really behind, or that I'm going to have all that many to write by then. But there will be a few, and I'd like to make sure I don't let them slide.

Well, I guess that doesn't sound like terribly difficult goals, but I'll be happy to finish them. It's shaping up to be a busy week around here with Max's birthday and Annie's first quarterly report to write up.

Good luck Weekly Geeks! May we all get caught up!

getting lucky

No, I have not decided to try to garner an "X" rating for my blog.

Lucky just happens to be the name of the newest member of our happy little family.

See, Maxwell, despite all parental desires to keep him from growing up, seems determined to hit that six-year-old mark. Yes, this he shall do come Wednesday. And well, let's face it, turning 6 deserves a really special present, doesn't it? (And for logistical reasons, Max got to open his special present a few days early.)



What kid wouldn't be thrilled with a cat toy, right? Yeah, it didn't fool him for a second either. After he opened his mouse-on-a-string, it was off to the Lollypop Farm, the local animal shelter. They are so wonderful there, as we learned back when we adopted Baker. They take infinite care to make sure that pet and family are a good match. After talking about your family--kids, other pets, special needs, etc.--they help steer you to the animals who would most likely mesh well into their new family. Max, of course, was the one who got to choose which cats he wanted to meet. (They have little "meet-and-greet" rooms where they bring in the cat or dog to interact with their potential adopters.) Max immediately fell in love with Lucky. The woman thought he might be a good match, so she brought him in, and Max's dream came true. Lucky was immediately as taken with Max as Max was with Lucky. In fact, Lucky was so instantly comfortable with all of us that we knew it was meant to be! The woman said she fully expected to have to bring in five or six cats before finding one that would be even half as receptive as Lucky was. Face it, being plunged into a little room with 5 complete strangers must be unnerving. But you'd have never known it to see Lucky. He rubbed up against all of us, rolled over playfully on the floor, and let all the kids hold him.




You know those times in life that you just have to think, "What on Earth did I do to get so lucky?!!" Well, this is definitely one of those times! (And there was no pun intended...it just seems hard to avoid.)















As for Aldo and Baker, the jury's still out. Lucky is to stay quarantined in our room for 4 or 5 days before mingling. Both for "getting used to" purposes and because he's recovering from a case of kitty pink eye. They do, of course, know of one another's existence, but how the face-to-face will go remains to be seen.

So, if I were listing the good stuff for today, I would definitely have to top that list with a sweet, undeniably affectionate, playful bundle of black and white fur, who in no time stole the hearts of this family.

geeking...week 17, day 7

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
--Mother Teresa

geeking...week 17, day 6

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
--Charles Dickens

Oh yes, I love that one! And of course, it makes me want to add some good stuff...

*baking rolls from scratch (you know that whole domestic goddess-like feeling that comes from yeast and rolling pins)

*two apple trees and a pear tree dripping with ripe fruit

*sweet, supportive friends like Nymeth and Melissa and Trish

*a soft bundle of fur (a.k.a. cat) curled up in your lap as you read

*four phone calls in three hours from a daughter who obviously just likes to talk to you

*a clean bathroom (at least for the next few hours)

*this post by Bellezza!

Yep, so many blessings.

geeking...week 17, day 5

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

(Or more precisely, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley.--Robert Burns)

I just had to pick that as my quote for today's Weekly Geek, because it simply seems to sum up my life these days. Seriously, I thought these week's challenge would be an easy one to follow through with even for a scatterbrain like me. And still I managed to blow it by forgetting to post yesterday.

it's not Sunday anymore, is it?

Well, I'd like to say that I'm just the rebellious sort who wanted to "break the rules" and post a short story Sunday type post on Tuesday, but frankly, that would be a big fat lie. I'm not rebellious. I'm disorganized. I should probably skip it altogether as I only got one short story under my belt last week anyway. But it was such a good one, that I just decided to throw together a short post.

I'm still reading my way through Daphne du Maurier's Classics of the Macabre. And I must say, I am going to be so heart-broken when I finish it. She has definitely taken over, after just three stories, the number one slot on my list of favorite short story writers. So of course it's quite exciting to think about her full-length books out there waiting for me.

Anyway, on to the story..."The Blue Lenses." Wow...I think it's my favorite yet! Marda West has undergone surgery on her eyes. She's been wrapped in bandages for quite some time while her eyes heal. We meet her shortly before the surgeon is to remove those bandages and insert a set of blue lenses. These lenses, which make everything appear blue, are to remain in her eyes for a few days before the permanent ones are inserted. Marda's sight is restored, but at what price? Sorry, but I just can't say more for fear of ruining the story. But this is definitely one very clever, very unsettling story.

You know what I think I love most about du Maurier's stories...the fact that she makes it impossible for one not to relate to the characters. I feel myself trapped in their circumstances, and wondering how I would react. And bottom line, I worry that I would simply go mad.

geeking...week 17, day 3

Beauty constantly surrounds you and awaits your discovery, if you will only walk outside your busy life for a moment and open your eyes.
--Bradley Trevor Greive

a fun little contest

What fun! You really need to check out the haiku book review contest over at Fyrefly's Book Blog. Even if you don't feel like entering (which, of course, is pure craziness since she's giving away a $20 Amazon gift certificate!), you should still go read all the fun entries!

So, how do you enter? You just write a haiku style (5 syllable/7 syllable/5 syllable) book review. Then leave it in the comments on her post. She has several of her own posted. But never fear, you don't have to be as talented as she is in writing them, because the winner will be randomly drawn. Good news for people like me!

So, my entry:

whack-job scientist
creeped me out with his madness
still, I loved the book

(The Island of Dr. Moreau, by H.G. Wells)

geeking...week 17, day 2

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
--Albert Einstein

geeking...week 17

Been a while since I've had my act together enough to participate, but I hope I'm back on track now. I love this week's Weekly Geek theme: a quote a day. Each participant can choose if they want to be more specific than that or not. Not sure what direction, if any, I'll take. But here is today's:

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to this web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.
--Chief Seattle

The Island of Dr. Moreau...random thoughts

The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells.

I read my first book by Wells (The War of the Worlds) earlier this year, and was so delightfully surprised by how much I enjoyed it. While I'm not sure I enjoyed The Island of Dr. Moreau quite as much, the reasons for that have nothing to do with Well's writing. For there is something about his writing that I really adore. I'm not sure if I can adequately explain it, but to me, it seems to have this unique combination of intelligence, beauty, and complete down-to-earthness. (A gift I obviously don't possess, as can be witnessed in the use of "down-to-earthness" as a word.) He just has a wonderful way of using language in a way that is both expressive and thoroughly lacking in pretentiousness.

No, it wasn't the writing that marred my enjoyment of this book. Actually, it was my own weak stomach. There were parts of this book that left me feeling physically ill. Not a figure of speech, but honest-to-goodness sick to my stomach.

The telling of the story begins with Edward Prendick's experience after being rescued at sea after a shipwreck. At the time of his rescue, he has been afloat for some time, and would probably not have lasted much longer out on the open ocean. His rescuers are an odd lot. The drunken captain of this boat is an obnoxious man. He is delivering a fellow named Montgomery, along with his strange companion and several animals, including a puma, a llama, and a multitude of rabbits, to an island seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It was Montgomery who saved Prendick's life, but it seems as if he did so merely as a diversion as opposed to any real desire to help out a fellow human being. Upon arriving at the island, Prendick is put in an impossible situation...the captain won't allow him to stay aboard the boat and Montgomery won't allow him to come onto the island. However, Dr. Moreau, the man truly in charge of the island, relents when he finds that Prendick has some scientific training.

And here is where things truly take a turn for the macabre. For Dr. Moreau is no ordinary doctor, no ordinary scientist. In fact, it turns out that there is a reason why the name was so familiar to Prendick. For Dr. Moreau had been famous in the London news some ten years earlier for his experiments in vivisection. After that, Dr. Moreau had disappeared. And Prendick now finds that he has continued these experiments in earnest here on his own little deserted island. And yes, it is here in some of these descriptions, that I had a hard time pushing my way through.

But I must say that I'm quite glad that I did stick with it. For the book, while horrific, has so much to offer. I don't want to give away what happens during the rest of the book for those who have never read it, but I do want to say that it is not merely a gruesome tale of evil experimentation on animals. It has great relevance even today. For medical and scientific ethics will always be relevant. Though experiments of the sort Dr. Moreau seem clearly abhorrent to us, what about experiments in genetic engineering or in stem cell research? And no, I'm not saying that I think these avenues of research are wrong. And I'm definitely not wanting to start any debate here on my little blog about it. I'm merely saying that I found this book full of thought-provoking material.

Along with the issues of medical ethics, there's much to ponder on the subject of what makes us human. I was reminded a great deal of Shelley's Frankenstein as I read this book, both because of this question and more obviously because of the two obsessed men featured in these stories. (Okay, I admit it...I was also reminded of the episode of Gilligan's Island where the mad doctor scientist takes the castaways to his island where he's doing mind transfer experiments on animals. Hey, I never claimed to be an intellectual.)

So, despite some unpleasant images, I'm quite glad I read this book. And it definitely made for an appropriate R.I.P. read. Finally, I just want to share one line that I particularly loved:

An animal may be ferocious and cunning enough, but it takes a real man to tell a lie.

*****

If you have also reviewed this book, please feel free to leave a link in the comments and I'll add it here. Thanks.

Becky at Becky's Book Reviews

tell me what to read

I do realize I just published my last post, saying that I would shut up for now. I didn't mean to lie. Honest. I didn't. But I'm looking for a little help here. I can't decide what book to read next. I'm almost done with my current read, and just can't decide what to start next. I've narrowed it down to four choices:

*Dracula by Bram Stoker

*The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

*The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason

*Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge

I've decided I'm just going to read the one that gets the most votes. How's that for lazy?!!

babbling idiot

I suspect that would be a fair description of me today. Of course, some might say it's a pretty fair description of me on any day. Sorry, I truly am feeling a bit loopy today. Lack of sleep, nothing more. Thanks to a kiddo with a chronic case of insomnia and a dog, who frankly should be thanking his lucky stars that I'm not serving doggie kabobs for supper tonight, I barely got two hours of sleep last night. I'm not complaining (I get a lot more sleep in general these days than I have in many years), just trying to make excuses for my rambling.

I'll be the first to admit that Rich, my darling husband, is very good to me. Very supportive. Thoughtful, loving, generous. Etc., etc., etc. Still, as none of us are perfect, he makes the occasional blunder. He made one such blunder this morning when he called me from work with "some news". Now at this point I had been up since 12:30am, had single-handedly cooked all children breakfast, got children ready for school, packed lunches, fed and medicated the currently in-the-doghouse dog, and begun the school day with our daughter. The news? It was official...he is again going to co-teach a marine biology class in the Bahamas for two weeks in January. Now, it's not like I didn't know this was likely going to happen. We've talked about it, and I gave my blessing (the no-way-am-I-ever-going-to-keep-you-from-such-an-awesome-opportunity, despite-the-fact-that-it-is-going-to-totally-suck-for-me variety of blessing) to the whole idea. But still...this morning was NOT the ideal time to call me with this news.

Or was it? See, I just read Dewey's announcement about this fall's READ-A-THON! Now, I can say with absolute certainty that regardless of anything else, Rich would have been perfectly willing to haul the boys (Annie, of course, wants to read again) off for the weekend so I can participate. But coming on the heels of his big announcement, I can most assuredly say that I don't feel one iota of guilt about asking him to do so!

Hey, and while I here dumping on my poor, sweet husband, let me just throw a little blame his way, too. You know how I was sort of unofficially participating in J.Kaye's book buying ban challenge. I said, and I really meant it, that I wasn't spending another penny on books for myself until I'd knocked 20 off my TBR piles. Well, I seem to have a bit of a setback. Since books I already had started at the time didn't count towards my 20, I'm now sitting at 0% of the way there. Well, Rich found out about a library book sale a few towns over. I told him I couldn't go because of my book buying ban, but he dragged me there kicking and screaming! (You're buying this, right?) Oh heck, to make a long story short, here's the pile I came away with:



And there are some points to be awarded here, by the way...point for Carl thanks to his wonderful review of Out by Natsuo Kirino, point for Stacy thanks to her wonderful review of The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, and point for Dewey thanks to her wonderful review of The Buffalo Soldier by Chris Bohjalian.

So, you see, when you combine the incredible reviews you all write with Rich's abominable behavior, you understand why I just didn't stand a chance, don't you? That said, I'm going to try again...

Oh, and one more thing before I finally shut up. Many of you have been so sweet, asking about Annie. So here's a quick update on how her class is going. First of all, she absolutely loves it! She comes home chattering away about the things they discuss in class. Words like "rhetoric" and "pathos" and "ethos" and "logos" and "persuasion" come tumbling out of her mouth. Secondly, she hasn't felt as if any of the other students have looked down on her or anything because of her age. And finally, she seems to be holding her own as far as her work is concerned. They didn't receive the initial writing assignment they did in class back. Turns out it was just for diagnostic purposes, not for a grade. But the professor told her in person that he was impressed with both her reasoning and her writing. And she did get back her first essay assignment yesterday, and she received an A-. Overall, so far so good. Hopefully things will continue to go well...it is just the start of the semester after all, but at least it's been a good start.

And now, I really will shut up.

getting around

I absolutely love Raidergirl3's It's Tuesday, Where Are You? Posts, and yet I can so seldom remember to join in the fun. Scatterbrained, that's what I am.

But I'm on board today...

*I'm on one horrifically creepy patch of land in The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells. Shudder.

*I'm hiding behind a screen, trapped in a ballroom full of witches in The Witches by Roald Dahl.

*I'm in a hospital room, awaiting news about a recent eye surgery in "The Blue Lenses" by Daphne du Maurier.

You know, frankly, none of these places are particularly happy places to be. But such is life during R.I.P., huh?

Monday morning musings

*Weekends fly by much faster during the school year.

*I drink way too much coffee. But I doubt I'll cut back anytime soon.

*Gray just may gain some much needed confidence in himself. Most kids are both tying their shoes and riding a bike by age 4 or 5. But Gray, at age 7, was doing neither. The shoe-tying thing was greatly our fault, as we have always allowed the kids to pick out their own shoes. Until last month, Gray's always chosen ones with velcro closures. And it wasn't until last week that we told him that he had to start wearing his new shoes instead of the old, totally-falling-apart ones. Problem being, of course, he didn't know how to tie them on his own. The bike riding thing, well, he just hadn't wanted it bad enough to ever put in any effort. He is waaaay too big of a perfectionist for his own good.

Anyway, on Saturday, he decided he was going to learn to tie his shoes and to ride his bike. And I'll be damned if he didn't do it! We, of course, were very proud of him. But the pride he had in himself was just absolutely priceless!




*Fall is definitely getting the upper hand on summer. And I'm loving it.

*Those Dolphins really tried to give me hope in a better season this year, but ultimately failed. Thankfully, Penn State's keeping a smile on my face.

deliciously dark short stories

One of the many things I loved about R.I.P. last year was short story Sunday, though I did a less than stellar job of remembering to participate on a weekly basis. And while not an "official" part of this year's challenge, I know that at least a couple other people (Stephanie and Somer) are going to post about their creepy short reads...yeah! Though of course, it will be hell on the old wish list. Already added Nocturnes by John Connolly thanks to Somer's post. Anyway, I really do enjoy reading short stories, especially those of the dark variety, so I decided I would try to get a few in each week, too.

Up first were "Don't Look Now" and "The Apple Tree" by Daphne du Maurier. This is the first time I've read any of her work. I was really excited at the prospect of reading Rebecca after reading Chris's review last year. And then was really excited to give Jamaica Inn a go after reading Stephanie's review. But then, as I so often do, I went and scared myself out of actually trying either one of them. I have this thing about "classics"...I get all worried that I just won't "get" them. Despite the fact that I usually enjoy them when I do give them a go. My mind is not always a rational one. Anyway, I actually went to the library to pick up Jamaica Inn right after reading Stephanie's review, but while I was there I saw Daphne du Maurier's Classics of the Macabre. It was an easy decision to pick that one up instead...you know, an easy way to get my feet wet and see if I would really enjoy her writing.

Well, let me tell you, what an idiot I was for ever doubting! I LOVE these stories! Absolutely love them! They are on the longer end of "short stories," at around 50 pages each, but both that I have read so far have gone quickly because it's just very hard to set the book down.

"Don't Look Now" is the story of a British couple vacationing in Venice. They have recently lost their young daughter, and the husband is hoping this trip will help his wife overcome some of her terrible grief. While at a cafe one day, they meet twin sisters. One of the sisters is blind and claims to "see" the couple's dead daughter sitting with them at lunch. The mother is immediately drawn to the sisters, believing the claim. The husband is certain that these women are up to something, playing on his wife's grief. A series of events, some supernatural, some all too earthly, follow that lead the reader on a fast-paced, suspenseful journey to the truth.

"The Apple Tree" didn't have quite the suspenseful nature of the first story, but it was still an enjoyable read. It centers on a man who has recently lost his wife. But as opposed to grieving his loss, he now feels a new sense of freedom. Freedom from a wife he viewed as long-suffering. Though the reader senses some of the responsibility for his wife's demeanor lies directly at his feet. In his backyard, there is an apple tree. And the man begins projecting onto this tree the traits of his deceased wife. As the story progresses we watch his obsession with this tree grow. While the ending is a bit predictable, it is nonetheless a wonderful tale.

The Stand...random thoughts

The Stand by Stephen King

Let me just say from the start that my objectivity when it comes to this book is somewhat in question. Okay, it may be non-existent. I've simply been in love with this book for far too long. As scary as it is to admit, I first read this book nearly 30 years ago. Before that time, I'd certainly had books I'd adored as a kid. But The Stand was the first adult-ish book that just totally captivated me. I'd read a couple other Stephen King books prior to this, and really loved them, but even they hadn't prepared me for the experience I would have with The Stand. It was so much more than a great book to me. There have certainly been other books that have drawn me into them so much that I feel I'm living them, but none before or since has done that so completely as The Stand. Around this house, we speak of the characters in this book as if they are real people. For in my mind, they are so alive that I simply can't banish them to the world of fiction.

Somewhere along the line I lost count of how many times I've read this book. Minimum count is six. But I think it's really seven or eight. This time around I read the "complete and uncut" version. It's the version I recommend, as it has all of the story King originally wanted told. Yes, it adds hundreds of pages to an already lengthy book. And yes, the book I originally fell in love with was the originally published shortened version. And at this point, after having read both more than once, I'm not even 100% sure of all that is missing from the shortened version. But I do remember being amazed upon first reading the uncut version...I couldn't believe that the publishers had made King cut so much "good stuff".

Anyway, what is the book about? Ultimately, I suppose it boils down to your basic good vs. evil story. But really, that doesn't do this book justice at all. While it is as simple as that, it is also so very much more complicated than that. The powers that be in the good old U.S.A. had cooked up some very nasty germs. Human error and human terror ultimately result in said nasty germs finding their way out of super-secretive government facility, where they manage to wipe out in the neighborhood of 99% of the human population. We witness government denial, militaristic clamp-downs, and the basest of human behaviors as society falls apart. But we also meet the people who will make sacrifices through the coming months that will help the human race survive. These people are not of the too-good-to-be-true variety. No, they are good people, but they are real people, people with weaknesses, people who make mistakes.

There's way too much to the book to explain everything, so it will sound terribly simplistic when I say that the survivors of the plague in the U.S. end up in two camps, the "bad guys" in Las Vegas and the "good guys" in Boulder, CO. Please just trust me that it is not nearly so simplistic. And the whole idea of "good guys" and "bad guys" is not nearly so simplistic either. Tom Cullen, who just happens to be one of my favorite people in the book, is a mildly retarded man with an extraordinary gift of understanding. At one point, when he is trying to get back to Boulder, or "the free Zone" as they call it, he thinks about the differences.

He lay in the shade of the big rock and watched the sky darken. The stars began to peep out. He thought about Pringle's Potato chips and wished he had some. When he got back to the Zone--if he did get back to the Zone--he would have all of them he wanted. He would gorge on Pringle's chips. And bask in the love of his friends. That was what was missing back there in Las Vegas, he decided--simple love. They were nice enough people and all, but there wasn't much love in them. Because they were too busy being afraid. Love didn't grow very well in a place where there was only fear, just as plants didn't grow very well in a place where it was always dark.

As I said, this story is just too big to summarize adequately. It's good vs. evil. It's human frailty. It's love and sacrifice. It's society crumbling. It's struggles with rebuilding a society, and questions about whether that's even a good idea.

Stephen King has multitudes of fans. *Raising my hand* (Though I freely admit it's been a very long time since I've read anything by him other than a handful of short stories.) But he also has many detractors. And while I certainly realize that not everyone enjoys the type of stories he writes, horror stories, stories with supernatural elements, sometimes stories with a bit of gore. I can certainly understand that. But I've never quite been able to understand those people who claim that the man simply can't write. I guess my standards for good writing just differ from some of the experts on such matters. But to me, good writing is as simple as telling a great story, making characters truly come to life, and making me "feel" something in a powerful way.

Yes, I do agree that there are those with a tremendous gift with words. People who can make words sound like music. Ray Bradbury comes to mind. And in mind, Stephen King isn't quite that type of writer. Though I don't think he's entirely lacking in this gift either.

From here you could actually see Gary, because the industrial smokes that usually poured from its factory stacks were absent and the air up that way was as clear as it was down here. Chicago was a dream wrapped in summer haze, and there was faint blue glint to the far northeast that was either Lake Michigan or just wishful thinking.

But while it is a delight to read the words of a lyrical author, I don't believe that is the only kind of author that can qualify for that subjective category of "good writer". Yes, I do know that I have no "qualifications" for judging good writing. I have no literary degree, and can't even intelligently discuss books in the way so many people can. (Just reading my reviews gives proof of that.) I just come at it from the point of view as your average reader.

I said earlier that what really makes a book for me are a great story, real characters, and an emotional connection. So, it is easy for me to see why this book continues to be my favorite book ever. First, I'm a sucker for a great post-apocalyptic tale, and The Stand is truly the ultimate story in this genre in my eyes. It's just a great story. Despite its 1,153 page length (in my hard cover version), it never slows, it never feels too long. Though at times it does get a bit heavy to hold. :) Secondly, as I mentioned earlier, the characters in this book are so well-developed, are so utterly human, that I truly feel I know them. I most certainly love many of them despite the fact that my brain tells me they're only fictional. And finally, we come to that emotional connection. Yes, there are many, many books that make me cry. This is definitely one of them. And there are many, many books that make me smile because they touch some very special part of my heart. Again, this is definitely one of them. There are books that scare me. Again this one qualifies. Stephen King makes me "feel" so much throughout the course of this book...from the utter terror of Stu's escape from Stovington to the horror of Larry's journey through the Lincoln tunnel to the revulsion of Lloyd's existence locked in a jail cell when no one else there remains alive to the innocent jubilation of Tom when he finds the bike that Nick fixed up for him to the heart-breaking agony when Larry, Glen, and Ralph have to leave Stu...I could go on forever. But I won't, as I'm fairly sure I've already gone on far too long as it is.

*****

If you've reviewed this book, please feel free to leave a link in the comments and I'll add it here. Thanks.

*****

I started this too early to use it for the RIP Challenge, but it would make a great read for it! It does "unofficially" count towards my End of the World, Chunkster, Decades, and A-Z Challenges.

let me apologize up front

Not sure what's wrong with me lately. I'd say I'm in a bit of funk, but that's not quite it. Nothing is really wrong, and I certainly have nothing to complain about. Just been feeling disjointed and out of whack, if that makes sense. Can't seem to keep things organized, despite my compulsive list making. Anyway, I'm betting this post will reflect my general feelings of disorganization. So, I don't blame you one iota if you decide not to trudge your way through this one...seriously. (But I do hope you'll read the next paragraph.)

I just want to thank everyone for their incredibly sweet comments on the last post. You were all so very kind to one sappy old mom! And I so very much appreciated that. :) And I should tell you that this sappy old mom felt so much better when she talked to her daughter on the phone after her class. My goodness, the pure excitement in Annie's voice when she told me about how her class had gone knocked all those selfish "you can't grow up" thoughts right from my head. Her enthusiasm truly was priceless! And by the way, I'm sorry if I misled anyone. Annie hasn't started college full time or anything like that. She's just taking one class at the community college. Though it is an Honors Level Advanced Composition course that I think would kick my butt. Just hope it doesn't kick hers! She showed me the writing assignment they had to do in class that first day, and whew...all I can say is "better her than me!" I'll be anxious to see what her professor had to say about it (I think they're supposed to get them back today). I really hope she did okay, as I'd hate to see her get discouraged right off the bat.

*****

And what about my sweet little guys? I didn't have any back-to-school photos to post yesterday morning, because they wouldn't let me take their pictures. No, my little guys definitely do not have their sister's outgoing, try anything personality. Two very shy little boys who hate the unknown. They were extremely anxious yesterday morning, and the last thing I wanted to do was cause them any more stress by insisting they have their pictures taken. I even had to carry poor little Maxidoodle onto the bus, just as I did on the first day of kindergarten last year.

But their faces were lit by smiles when they arrived home. They'd both had a good first day. As Gray said, "It was good; it wasn't wonderful." Believe me, that's high praise coming from him! And they both allowed me to take their pictures after school, so technically we've still got those obligatory "first day of school" photos to be scrapbooked.




*****

And speaking of scrapbooking, I'm pretty darn sure I have the best husband on the planet. He's definitely the best husband for me! :) Anyway, he took over all kid duties on Saturday so I could spend the entire day scrapbooking. It's been a long time since I've spent any real time scrapping, so it was quite a treat. Maybe one of these days I'll even get my finished layouts posted on my craft blog.

*****

On the book front, I did something I rarely do...I gave up on a book. It was a book (Fiscal Pear and Shimmer in the Call of the River Whale) that I was reading to the boys. It started out okay. In fact, Gray was really loving it, in part due to the fact that he is a true fan of the pear (seriously, I think they rate above Smarties on his list of favorite treats) and having a book with a pear as a main character is definitely unique. But as we continued, we just found the story extremely hard to follow. Gray, Max, and I all eventually agreed that we just didn't want to stick with it. I honestly can't recommend reading it or avoiding it, because we didn't finish it and therefore don't have the full picture.

We didn't want to end our reading last night on a down note though, so we started a new book, The Witches by Roald Dahl. Oh my, and are we ever in love with this one!

I'm still working my way through The Stand: Complete and Uncut. Have finally passed the 1,000 page mark. Not sure why it's taking me so long to read it...just too little time to read lately, I guess. But hopefully I'll finish soon so I can jump into some of my RIP reads!

*****

Well, this is quite a day for me...for the first time since Annie was born, all my munchkins are off in school. (Actually, that's not quite true...Annie went to preschool 2 mornings a week during part of the time I was pregnant with Gray, but I was too sick to enjoy the alone time.) Anyway, it shall be that way every Tuesday and Thursday for the next few months. Maybe I can now get a bit caught up on lesson planning, and maybe my poor family won't have to live in such pig sty anymore. :) But on slate for today is painting the boys' bedroom. Ugh...I hate painting. They've decided that they want to share a room again, so we're going to turn Max's room into their bedroom and turn Gray's room into a playroom. We already went out and found some bunk beds that we could sort of afford. Heck, any price would be worth it if they'll actually sleep in them and aren't both sleeping on the floor of our room anymore. :)

*****

And thus concludes this even-more-rambling-than-usual post.

the downside of fall

Love fall. Really, truly do. Except for one thing. Back to school. What can I say, I just love having my kiddos around. Despite the fact that, yes, they do drive me crazy from time to time. They wouldn't be kids if they didn't, right?

Maybe I shouldn't admit this. But I cried this morning. Yep, sat down and had myself a big old cry. This is why:



Not quite 11 1/2 years ago, 5 lbs. 2 oz. of beautiful baby girl entered this world and completely stole my heart. She may have grown by 80 pounds, but she's still got my heart and she's still my baby girl. So why do I now have this photo of her heading off for her first college class?!! I know it's the right thing for her, so why is it so hard for me?!! I know, I know, I know that they're supposed to grow up. But why do they have to do it so fast?!!

But despite the fact that I may not have been ready for this, I do, of course, wish her nothing but the best! I hope that this is a fulfilling, challenging experience. I hope that she hasn't bitten off more than she can chew. I hope that she'll be accepted by her fellow students. I hope that this serves to feed her love of writing and of learning.

And selfishly, I hope that she stills needs her mommy now and then.

(Stay tuned for more tears tomorrow when I have to send the boys off for their first day of school.)