Literature Love!

Lately, Bear and I have been getting back into our "reading dates", which are long periods of time spent in the same room not talking to one another, reading our separate books.  Recently I wrote about how Border's is going out of business, and our subsequent score on new reading materials.  Well, we've been wasting no time in getting our nerd on!

I finished another Charles de Lint novel, The Onion Girl, first.  It was all about the trials of this character Jilly Coppercorn, who is a recurring character in his Newford series.  I had read in circles around her, never figuring out exactly WHAT happened to her, but finding allusions to it in several other books.  It was driving me crazy!  I was SO HAPPY to finally put that mystery to rest!

Then, because of my current infatuation with the Focus Features film version of Pride and Prejudice, I opened the box set of all Jane Austen's works I bought.  I am now reading the novel.  I usually have a particular distaste of "classic literature", with the exception of Kafka's Metamorphosis, I always had a problem reading them through.  I hate stumbling upon "-------shire"  or, "said Lord -----------" censorships.  I tend to fill in the blanks myself with "Dashshire" and "said Lord Dashing", just to keep from going insane with all the loss of context!

The odd thing is, I own a shelf full of classics.  I have read a few, because occasionally I feel that to be truly academic, one must occasionally peruse the works of great authors, but I can't say I ever enjoyed them.  Bronte's Jane Eyre infuriated me as it simultaneously bored me to tears (although Focus Features is making a new film, apparently!).  Alcott's Little Women was never as engrossing as I thought it ought to be.  Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer were not nearly as gripping as I remembered the stories being.  All in all, I found classic literature to be overwhelmingly disappointing.  Through all the flowery language I struggled to find purchase on the actual plot, and found myself slipping into confusion of detail.  So many words are no longer in the modern vocabulary, so I had a particular struggle in ascertaining meaning from the many lengthy paragraphs I had read.  And to be honest, halfway through a stanza it was not uncommon for my mind to have wandered somewhere else, thus the meaning of the pages I had "read" was completely lost on me, and I could not recall any of the particulars I should have made note of.

Ironically, I write in a style similar to many of the very authors I complain of.  I love the challenge of vocabulary, and amuse myself by using uncommon terms in my daily conversations.  There is no reason for my strong distaste in classical literature, when all these things are considered.

Anyway, I have been completely engrossed with Pride and Prejudice, and am nearly finished reading it already!  I picked it up Saturday night around 9pm, and read until almost 6am.  All day Sunday I alternated between reading, and watching the movie while folding laundry and cleaning the house (or listening to the soundtrack... yes, I am a geek).  Tonight, when things die down at work, I will be back to reading again.



What book have you picked up recently and discovered, much to your surprise, you liked?

Etsy Monday: Our Unnoticed Neighbors

Recently, I've had multiple encounters with some of our areas numerous homeless people.  I know there is a tent city behind the Walmart, but I never really think of it.  I, like so many others, treat the men and women holding their signs on the side of the road with suspicion mixed with pity.  It's so easy to do.  To think, "they only want my money to buy booze or drugs", to assume they deserve the life they're living.

But some of them are people with mental disturbances who can't get, or won't take, their medications.  They are unable to function in society and may not have someone to assist them and support them, financially or emotionally.  Some of them are veterans, still convinced that every helicopter that flies overhead is a threat.  Some are victims, abused by people who should have loved them, clinging to the shadows of society because the hell they may find there is still better than the hell they ran from.  Some are just people down on their luck.  Others choose to live that way, finding freedom in the fringe of society.

Recently I learned that some shelters only offer free boarding for a limited time, like thirty days, and then the person must pay a rent to stay there.  The man who approached Bear and I after dinner last night showed me an official looking piece of paper, stating "homeless shelter rent", festooned with signatures.  Bear stated that we didn't carry cash, and we walked away.  When we got to the car, I realized I had been clutching a box of leftovers the whole time.  Tossing my purse in the SUV, I told him I was turning back to offer the man a meal, since we had no cash (and honestly, would we give cash to him anyway?  He could have been lying... especially since I was pretty sure shelters didn't require rent at the time).  He accepted the remainder of my prime rib dinner, which I really hadn't eaten much of at all.  I realized the gentleman next to him appeared to also be homeless.  I hoped they would share the meal.  The only things they had were their bedraggled clothes, which looked slept in and threadbare, and two cups of water from WaWa, probably another bit of charity.  On the way home, I thought I should have gone back in and asked for some cutlery for the men to eat the steak without chewing on it.

I kept thinking about the man who approached us all night, while I was reading Forests of the Heart and watching True Blood... his face kept swimming around in my mind.  He approached Bear, not me.  He couldn't look either of us in the eye.  He shuffled his feet and his shoulders were stooped, shoulder blades pushed in, folding his chest into itself.  His body language implied he was ashamed, his plea for something we were in a position to give him, but didn't.  It broke my heart.

But it's still difficult to hand over money to the homeless.  I don't want to help them achieve oblivion at the bottom of a bottle.  I don't want to give them access to a dealer's wares, in which they will only find another oblivion.  But I do want to help.

Today's Etsy dump is all related to the homeless.  Some of the artists donate all proceeds to local homeless shelters.  I am personally working on something to help raise awareness and maybe some support for the homeless in my own area.  I hope this makes you think about those where you are.  I realize these are hard times for many, but no matter what troubles we find ourselves in, chances are theirs are worse.  And we can always help them out, be it in supporting a shelter, volunteering in a soup kitchen, or even simply spreading awareness.  Perhaps some of you will help by purchasing one of the items below?

via: jujuru

via: homelessdesignlab

via: neilmolinaro

via: neilmolinaro

via: mosaickedphotography

via: ianmantas

via: dorataya

* This cashmere cardigan's proceeds go to help the homeless.

* Purchase a button bag, help provide mittens to the homeless.

* MisiZiibi has many greeting cards and other wares who's proceeds help the homeless, as well as some other causes.

Happy Monday!  xo

Etsy Monday: What I Read this Weekend

It's that time again, the beginning of a new week.  This past weekend was a good one; I took some head shots for the Local Theatre's upcoming production, had a newborn baby session with a lovely client family, went to the Local Tavern for some beers and karaoke, went swimming at midnight at a friend's house, and spent Sunday relaxing with Bear and reading our new books.

We have only one bookstore where I live, and it happens to be a chain Border's store.  Of course, everyone who wanted to buy books had to go there, since the Barnes & Noble closed down over a decade ago and the only other book store is a small hole-in-the-wall used paperback shack that has no real organization method besides genre... not even alphabetized by author or title!  Naturally, since my Bear built me custom bookshelves to house all my literary wealth, old journals (I've kept books on my life since age six, so there's a whole shelf of them), and my own attempts at fiction writing, the great powers saw fit to shut down Border's.  Now, I know I can purchase books online and have them shipped to my doorstep.  I know I can buy books online and download them to my computer.  Neither option gives me a place to escape to and peruse shelves of diversions I have yet to explore.  I can't go to Amazon.com and pick up a book, feel the binding, smell the pages and ink that hold the promise of adventure.

Part of the magic in bookstores is the kinetic experience.  Feeling and smelling and seeing and hearing and connecting to the literary world.  The internet is great, but it lacks the reality and connectedness I crave.  Especially with books.

You will never see me with a digital reader.  I can't find the same comfort with a tablet as I can with a paperback.  I can't correct grammar mistakes when I come across them, because I am that nerd who corrects those things in her books.  I can't bring a mechanical object into my bathtub to enjoy a story while soaking and drinking something delicious, listening to composers whose music I feel enhances the mood of the story.  And heaven forbid I fall asleep and roll over on a Kindle or it drops to the floor.  Because at night the one sure way to fall asleep for me is to occupy my brain with the trials and turbulence of some other reality.  Not that my reality is bad.  It's just easier for me to doze off when I am distanced from all the things directly related to ME.

Anyway, off the tangent, Bear and I often have "reading dates".  These are times when we sit there together and read our respective books.  We don't talk a lot, sometimes we hold hands, and we slide into our own little worlds, constructed in the imagination of the author, inhabited by us.  We sometimes take a breather and discuss the goings on in our own stories and any revelations we may have had, and emerge again under the spell of great literature.  These are some of my favorite "dates", and we never physically leave the couch.

This past weekend, Bear went to Border's and bought on sale almost every title they had under Charles de Lint's pen for me.  I chose to read The Mystery of Grace first, the most recent release I had been dying to read since it was first announced that the book was forthcoming.  It was fabulous and I couldn't put it down.  Granted, the novel is only about 270 pages long, so I picked it up Sunday afternoon and finished it before leaving for work this morning.

The story revolves around Altagracia "Grace" Quintero, a tattooed part Mexican part Italian female mechanic with a love of Ford Motor Company and hot rods that is only rivaled to her love of her recently deceased Abuelo.  Grace is dealing with this recent loss, an incredible blow to her entire outlook on life, that leaves her stumbling back to her old smoking habit for comfort.  This small addiction's resurgence leads her to the local grocery on the corner, a block away from the historical, if not odd, transplanted building in which she rents an apartment.  At this grocery, intending to feed her addiction and spend a quiet night in, Grace learns of her new fate...

via: caterangel

The story begins with Grace spending an intimate evening with a new aquaintance, John.  They met one night at the Halloween Witches' Ball and left together; inexplicably smitten.  Neither of them has ever fallen so fast and so completely, nor shared so much personal information with a stranger so comfortably.  This confidence they made in each other seemed so genuine, which is why John can't quite figure out why she disappeared from his apartment without a word... had she even been there?  Halloween in the desert town was a time of sugar skulls and votive candles, and the anniversary of John's brother's death; a loss he blames himself for.  Had he imagined Grace as a side effect to his yearly attack of grief?

via: PnsNNedis

Grace wakes up in her apartment, and all is the same.  Following a horrible nightmare about the grocery down the block, feeling the impact... but she was home.  Safe.  Except there was a person in her bedroom who she didn't know.  And when the woman speaks, nothing she says makes sense.  Grace wanders the quiet street; all the buildings look the same, the air is fresh and still.  Her Fairlane is missing.

via: JakeLieberman

John waits for Grace outside the grocery on a late May evening, leaning up on a hot rod.  He knows she will be there.  Grace opens the door to the street and stares at John, disbelief mixed with relief expressed on her face... but being here is dangerous for her, and going back may be even more perilous still...

via: AprilMayPhotography

I can't give away the plot, really, because then what good is reading the book to find out?  Charles de Lint is my all-time favorite author, and his stories are absolutely riveting.  Magic and reality fit seamlessly together to weave a convincing world, not unlike ours.  The line between this world that we all accept and another world we don't understand is so fine in places and at certain times, that we rub elbows with things we don't often accept as real.  And sometimes when you think you've seen a face or a figure out of the corner of your eye, you discover that you really did.  If you're like me at all, you will find yourself constantly questioning the world after reading one of De Lint's novels.  His stories are so convincing, his characters are so human, that you can't help but feel that, if only when the pages lay open before you, the world he creates is an actual place.  You have only to suspend your disbelief to be there, too.

Happy Monday!  Has anyone else read a really wonderful book lately?

Subtle Changes...

Or drastic ones?  I revamped some features on my blog.  Firstly, the background.  It's now a picture of some sort of fabric I took with my iPhone once using the lomo app.  It's visually interesting and colorful without being as jarring as the orange background already available via blogger.  I also got rid of the navigation bar at the top of the screen.  It was driving me nuts aesthetically.

Secondly, I added links to my other accounts on Tumblr, Twitter, and Flickr (on the right sidebar).  I am posting my 365 Grateful project to Tumblr as I take the photos (via my trusty iPhone), if you feel like tracking daily instead of waiting till Fridays when I will be posting the images here.  I don't use my Flickr as much as I used to, but I intend on changing that!

The original designs, before cropping them down and making them smaller buttons.

Thirdly, I moved the buttons to many blogs that I follow to their own page "Blogs I Love".  I felt my sidebar was getting too cluttered.  Does anyone know of a way to move my list of blogs I follow via GFC/Blogger to the page instead of as a click-and-drop widget available under the design option?  I'm not a very good coder...yet.

It's been pretty rainy here, but tomorrow is supposed to be sunny!  This makes me happy because, well... my sunroof on my car is jammed slightly open, so every time I park my car I have to stretch a sheet of plastic from the passenger door to the drivers, and close the doors on it to keep it in place.  Not only is it pretty cheaptastic, all the pollen sticks to it and gets to sit on the passenger side of my car as I drive from point A to B.  I am allergic to this pollen, as well as the subsequent mold collecting in my car from any moisture that gets in, so I am hoping to get someone to fix it tomorrow.  I also have to change the motor in the passenger side window (which is currently dead and the window is held up by a bolt wedged under the glass inside the door... wow, my car is a POS!).  Hopefully, the rain will hold off until my garage-less car is better prepared to handle it!

In the meantime, here are some goodies on the interwebs my dears!

This relaxing "bathtub tea"... what a brilliant idea!  I am all about making this. If only I had a beautiful old claw foot tub to relax in, so I could soak up to my cheekbones in warm water (I find modern tubs are disappointingly shallow, unless of course you can afford a lovely spa tub...)!

via: radmegan (in words & pictures)

There is an AMAZING giveaway going on over at One Pearl Button right now!  OPB has been an active blog for 4 years now!  That's a huge commitment!  I am secretly hoping that I will win it, but I seem to have no luck in giveaways.  If you want to enter, click on the link under the photo and follow the instructions!  And good luck... I guess... :)

via: OnePearlButton

I am a HUGE literature nerd, so I am taking this moment to share what I am currently reading: Memory & Dream by Charles de Lint.  Charles is my absolute favorite author of all time, and has been since high school, when I picked up The Blue Girl in 2004, the year it was released.  I have since read about fifteen of his novels.  No, that's not right.  I have DEVOURED them.  I even have Bear hooked!

via: the CdL cover gallery

I purchased this novel from Borders to help cope with my own depression and grief associated with losing someone I love, since the novel is about that... and magic.

The story follows an artist named Isabelle, Izzy for short, who studied under the reclusive but brilliant prestigious artist Vincent Rushkin. Rushkin passed on his technique to painting images with soul to her, bringing magic and wonder in Izzy's life, as well as confusion and great responsibility. Izzy's best friend and roommate in her college years, Kathy, is a brilliant writer and Izzy's biggest fan.  Unfortunately, tragedy strikes, and Izzy returns to her childhood home far from Butler U., her memories, and the paintings she loved to create.  She changes her style dramatically from realistic surrealism to abstract studies of shape and color, the only kind of paintings she produces twenty years later.  A close friend of Izzy's and Kathy's from college, Alan, reaches out to Izzy in her solitude, asking her to illustrate some of Kathy's writings he wishes to publish, in her old style, the one Rushkin helped her to realize.  Izzy is faced with the promise she once made to her friend, the return to the city that holds all her memories and demons, and the possibility of seeing Rushkin again, with whom she parted on less than amicable terms.  But mostly, she is faced with the terrible possibility of the outcome of unleashing the magic of her brush again, and the reciprocations that could entail...

Needless to say, I am enthralled.  I am ALWAYS enthralled with his works.  You can learn more about CdL by visiting the WordWood online (a site originated in the novel Spirits in the Wires, nonetheless!  I was so excited when I tried looking up the link for fun and discovered it was a real site made by super fans like me!).

Anyway, I highly recommend checking out his works.  If you aren't into the fantasy genre already, try checking a book of his out from your public library first.  I find even those who aren't diehard fantasy nerds fall under his spell, but it never hurts to spend time at your library!  If you ARE a fantasy geek like me, you can go buy one of his works.  You probably won't regret it!

Have a wonderful Thursday.  Is anyone else reading something wonderful or have a brilliant author to rave about?  I'd love to know!