Thoughts from Alison that might at least entertain you!

For the love of children's literature

I can truly hardly wait for the opening of Where The Wild Things Are (the movie) next Friday, October 16th!  The trailers are amazing looking - touching, funny, and fantastic.  They are enough to make me weep a little on their own.  Just think what the movie will do?!?

I can't find a legal trailer to import here, but the link above will take you to the Warner Bros. site for the movie, and the full trailer is there.  Check it out - you might get excited too!

Oh, Books!

Good evening Friends!

I'm on a bit of an adventure, and I find myself wanting to share parts of it with blogging.  I'm thinking a lot about books I read when I was a child.  Some of you will know that I have a bit of a thing about children's books, as evidenced by my rather large collection of books written for children - and my lack of children!  I'm interested to know what books you remember vividly from when you were young.  A few of the most vivid ones for me are listed below:

Some books I feel like I used to read over and over and over - and still read on occasion include Millions of Cats (Wanda Ga'g), The Velveteen Rabbit (Margery Williams - illustrated many times over by lots of illustrators, and I own at least two different illustrators' versions), Goodnight Moon (Margaret Wise Brown, illustrations by Clement Hurd), Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak - and I simply can't wait for the movie to come out soon!!), and the list goes on and on.  I also grew up on a number of series books/novels, mostly ones that my mom had all of her original copies of.  Lots of mystery series here, including Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, The Hardy Boys, and also Little House on the Prairie.  There were also, of course, all the requisite horse books/series: Black Beauty, The Black Stallion, Misty of Chincoteague!

Two picture books hold as probably my all-time favorites:  Jennifer's Walk by Anne Carriere (out of print, and sadly I don't think I own it any more), and The Maggie B. by Irene Haas.  Yes, John and I have a cat named Maggie B!  I can still recite most of the book - it was so much a part of my reading life.  "This is a story of a wish come true.  Margaret Barnstable wished on a star one night - 'North Star, star of the sea, I wish for a ship named after me, To sail for a day alone and free, With someone nice for company.'  And then she went off to bed."  She wakes up on her very own little ship - The Maggie B.  I'll tell you the rest of the story sometime if you wish, or at least loan you one of my two copies if you'd like!

I also have a book I love - it's so used it's falling apart - but can't remember for the life of me who/where it came from.  "Two Chanticleers" is a collection of Ukrainian folk tales with beautiful illustrations.  It was published in Kiev in 1975, and has both the original language (Ukranian?  Russian?  I'm not sure) and English translations.  Mom, do you have any recollection where this came from?  I have a feeling it was a gift from someone who might have actually been to Ukraine.

My life and my personality have been so formed by books - especially the dozens on dozens of books I loved as a kid.  I mean seriously - who knew that as an adult, reciting memorized lines from The Maggie B. would make me cry?!?  I suspect there is a child in me who will never grow up, and I'm really good with that.  Keep reading, friends, and by all means read to your children.  And share thoughts or info on the books that have formed you if you wish - I'd love to read your lists and maybe some of your favorite books.

Be Well and Keep Reading, All!

Amazon

Call me crazy, but it seems that perhaps Amazon.com would sell more stuff if their "add to shopping cart" function worked.

Sunday Morn (Just Barely)

Well... so much for me being "back here" as I intended, eh?  I guess I should feel good that I'm managing to add a new post within a week (only just) after my last post, but my thought was that I would be oh-so-prolific this past week.  Not so much.

John is now fighting a bit of a cold, and I'm still at the tail end of whatever I picked up last weekend.  We've spent a lot of time sleeping, and not doing much else this weekend.  We managed to buy cat litter yesterday!  We'll see what today brings.

The Girls and I had a new veterinary adventure this week with Dr. Sweet.  This visit went much better than our last visit all together.  The good Dr. has added a new vaccine to the Girls' regimen this year that required a booster shot.  I packed the girls up quickly and tried not to let on that we were headed for the Vet, but if you've ever put a cat in a carrier, you know that they know as soon as you pick them up!  Maggie B was still hissy and cranky at the office, but she recovered quickly once we got home.  Tori was fine as usual.  She's become a pro at visiting the Dr. at this point.  (As a diabetic cat, she seems to actually recognize that visiting the Dr. helps!)

I've been reading a gift book from my husband for the last few weeks, and I find I'm having trouble ending it at this point.  I'm reading "Born Standing Up" by Steve Martin - a memoir of his stand up comedy career.  Many of you probably don't know that I'm mildly obsessed with Steve Martin - he's the "pipe dream" celebrity I'd give nearly anything to meet!  The book is terrific.  It's not all laugh-out-loud funny like Martin's stand up was, but it's a very well written "normal guy's" take on how he got to be where he was in comedy.  Of course I'm laughing a lot too.  I'm only having trouble finishing the book at this point because I don't want to stop reading it!

After I finish this one, I have no fewer than 4 more books waiting to be started including a Harry Potter (#4, I think?), a book about buying a home, a few others I can't even remember at the moment, and more than a couple of magazines.  Hmm... what am I doing down here typing in the dungeon?!?

Happy Sunday, Friends - Be Well and Be Taking Care of Each Other!

New Book

Good evening, Friends!

I'm here in the wee hours of the night after a late night at the club, and with nothing of note to share!  I thought I'd pass along news of my newest favorite book in lieu of something informative:

Many of my readers will know already that I collect children's books.  You may wonder why, and I don't have an answer.  (Actually I do - I love the illustrations, I love the stories, and basically I love children!)  I heard an interview on NPR earlier this week with Steve Martin (the one famous person in the world I would give almost anything to meet) and Roz Chast about their new book, The Alphabet from A to Y with bonus letter Z!  I have now officially become obsessed with this book, and I have it to share if anyone would like to read it!  The poetry (incredibly funny and beautifully written couplets by Martin) is accompanied by hilarious drawings by Chast - a cartoonist for The New Yorker.  Half the fun of the book is searching the illustrations for the layers of items Chast has buried in each that start with the letter of the page!

For the bulk of this ridiculously busy week (more to follow), I have had the couplet for the letter B in my head, and it makes me chuckle every time:

Bad Baby Bubbleducks beat up his bed

With bashed-up bananas and old moldy bread.

It's hard for me to express how brilliant this book is, but it's up there with my favorites (which are many, and all entertaining!) after only a few days.  Please check it out.

As for the busy week:  I have managed to share exactly one meal (which is very important to me) with my Beautiful Husband this week!  A convergence of the need to hire a new assistant (almost done!) at work, the beginning of a special event month at The Ark, and my interest in making sure things run smoothly has meant that I'm working a lot this week, and a lot of nights!  The light at the end of this tunnel is visible, however, and it won't be this way forever.

In the meantime, at least I have Bad Baby Bubbleducks (with the beatnik holding balloons, the ballerina, several balls, and some bongos in the illustration) to help keep me sane.

For the longer term, I have every intention of fitting a visit to the Grand Rapids Art Museum into my life before the end of January to see the Chris Van Allsburg book illustration exhibit.  (This is the author who wrote The Polar Express and Jumanji, along with about 20 other children's books!)

For the shorter term, Husband - I plan to spend the entire day Saturday with you!l

For the slightly longer shorter term, Friends:  I plan to remain in touch with all, head into the holiday season with enough family and friend connections to sustain me, and do a good job at work!  Be well and Be Taking Care of Each Other, All!

What I'm Reading

Hi Friends!

I've been reading more novels in the last few months than for what seems like the last several years.  I've found myself sticking more to magazines (Cook's Illustrated and Real Simple!) and a few older favorite books that I touch base with once in a while, but not very many "just fun" things.  I set out to change that (probably just a phase...) a couple of months ago, and here are the results so far.  I've read 3 things lately that I recommend (and own if anyone out there wants to borrow), all for different reasons:

If you want something light and a little bit silly, how about a hilarious murder mystery?  I've read Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot, and it is terrific!  Like I said, light and kind of silly - and yes, a very funny murder mystery.  This is actually the second book in the series - I haven't got my hands on the first one yet (Size 12 Is Not Fat).  Heather Wells is the lead character - she's a 30-ish former teen pop star.  Think Britney Spears, or if you're around my age, Debbie Gibson or Tiffany.  As a "washed up" pop star at this point in her life, Heather is an assistant to the director of a college dorm in NYC.  The story goes that someone is murdered (read it if you want to know who!), and Heather is sort of forbidden to get involved in the investigation, but she can't resist, solves the crime, and just generally saves the day.  Really fun, and it reads quickly!  Meg Cabot, by the way, is also the author of the Princess Diaries series which the Julie Andrews/Anne Hathaway movies came from.

Next I read Wicked by Gregory Maguire.  This is the book that spawned the Broadway Musical.  Think back on the Wizard of Oz...  This is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West.  Where she came from, what her life was like, how she got to be wicked...  and even "was she really wicked?"  It's a wonderful story that ties in beautifully with the Oz story - lots of "Ohhhhh, so that's why that happened in the Wizard of Oz!" moments.  (Even though the author is contemporary and completely removed from the original work.)  If you've ever pondered the origin of evil, or even the existence of evil, and if you've ever enjoyed SciFi or fantasy literature - check this one out!

Lastly for now, I just finished Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum last week.  This one is harder to sum up so I'll use the blurb from the book:  "For fifty years, Anna Schlemmer has refused to talk about her life in Germany during World War II.  Her daughter, Trudy, was only three when she and her mother were liberated by an American soldier and went to live with him in Minnesota.  Trudy's sole evidence of the past is an old photograph: a family portrait showing Ann, Trudy, and a Nazi officer.  Trudy, now a professor of German history, begins investigating the past and finally unearths the heartbreaking truth of her mother's life.  Those Who Save Us is a profound exploration of what we endure to survive and the legacy of shame."  This is simply an outstanding book - take the time to read it!

Earlier this evening I started reading Son of a Witch, also by Gregory Maguire - a sequel to Wicked.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Peace, Dear Friends.  Take care of each other and Be Well!