Life: It Goes On - June 16

It's College World Series time and Omaha has, once again, gone baseball crazy. Every year there's one team that really wins the heart of the fans here, but we're known for supporting all of the teams that make it to Omaha and making their fans feel welcome.


The Big Guy is spending most of the weekend in his hometown celebrating his 35th high school reunion. He grew up in a fairly small town and had a particularly close class and they get together every five years. Works out as a great Father's Day gift - we let him go off and do his thing all weekend with our blessing. The bonus for us? It's ever so quiet here!



Here's What I'm:

Listening To: I'm starting The Lady And The Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier this week for drive time. I think it's be a nice change of pace from what I've been listening to lately. Plus, when I'm done, that will be a book I can move off my bookshelf.

Watching: Miss H and I watched Pitch Perfect Friday and Silver Linings Playbook yesterday and enjoyed both of them. I'll definitely be picking up the book Silver Linings Playbook.

Reading: Oh so many things - my reading ADD has gotten a firm hold on me. I'm trying to sneak in a couple of books before I pick up my next book for review as well as continuing to read Under The Dome.  Right now I'm reading Lulu In Hollywood by Louise Brooks which my parents gave me for Christmas. Those of you who read The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty will recognize Brooks' name.

Making: More granola - we raced through a couple of batches in less than a week and a Key Lime cheesecake for the special dads in my life.

Planning: On finishing up a revamp of Miss H's room this week. She had some new things to hang on her wall. Of course, that meant that we had to rearrange, paint some frames, replace some furniture. You know, all of the things you have to do before you can hang a new picture. Well, in our world anyway.

Grateful: Mini-me was able to go back to his own place on Wednesday.

Loving: The rain. Friday evening we had torrential rains and Saturday morning we had a lovely relaxing rain. Either way, I love to watch it and listen.

Thinking: That puttering around the house, changing things up, putting a coat of paint on something, makes me ridiculously happy.

Looking forward to: Spending time with The Big Guy's siblings and cousins this weekend and a family reunion on my mom's side as well.

Happy Father's Day!

Lit: June Is Audio Month

June is audio month, or at least that's what I read all over the blogoverse. I can't seem to find any group that wants to claim credit for naming it thus or any official site. Still, I've been so enjoying listening to books this past year I wanted to play along.

I popped in the last disk of Gods In Alabama today, excited to be nearing the end. Then I realized I only had one more audio book in my car. What if it isn't what I'm in the mood to listen to tomorrow? Would I, gasp, have to listen to the radio? Ok, that may be a bit dramatic - you all know how much I love NPR, it's definitely not the end of the world if I have to turn that on! Still...

Suddenly that little cartoon light bulb went on over my head. Today is Thursday, the weekly book sale at the library. An hour after I got off of work, I walked out of the library with five new (to me) audio books. Three I actually have in paper form but just haven't read yet. It seems wasteful to pay twice for a book but it seems to be the only way I'll get to some books. Here's what I picked up today:

Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
The Lady and The Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrota
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

I tried very hard to stay away from actual books but you know I spent a good half hour browsing those shelves. I was very good and only picked up two books: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (all your fault, too many of you had raved about it) and No Time To Wave Goodbye by Jacquelyn Mitchard (The Deep End of The Ocean is one of my all-time favorite books so I had to have this follow up).

In the next couple of weeks, I'll be posting reviews of the audio books I've been listening to for the past couple of months. I'm interested in hearing your thoughts about audio books as well so next week I'd like to have that discussion with you as well. Can't wait to hear about your favorite narrators, when you listen, and what kinds of books are your favorites on audio!

Our Held Animal Breath by Kathryn Kirkpatrick

Our Held Animal Breath by Kathryn Kirkpatrick
Published: September 2012 by WordTech Communications
Source: the publisher and TLC Book Tours in exchange for this review

Publisher's Summary: 
Our Held Animal Breath is a collection of poems grappling with the failure of human political and social structures to effectively address the dilemmas of our crucial historical moment. Registering an eco-feminist consciousness, the narrators of these poems expose the intertwined vulnerabilities of women, animals, and the land to masculinist agendas of mastering nature for profit.  

My Thoughts:
During last years' Bloggiesta, I had the pleasure of interviewing Serena of Savvy Wit and Verse.  Serena is the host of the Dive Into Poetry Challenge and the Virtual Poetry Circle. Talking with her reminded me of how much I used to enjoy poetry and pointed up how little of it I pick up these days. So when I was offered the chance to read and review Our Held Animal Breath, I didn't hesitate in saying "yes."

In Our Held Animal Breath, Kirkpatrick's poems are divided into three sections. In the first section, Kirkpatrick uses her poetry to skewer mankind for crimes against nature, animals and women. In the second section, Kirkpatrick takes a more personal turn, primarily dealing with loss and friendship. Finally, Kirkpatrick offers some hope, an out if you will, for mankind.

I often forget, when I haven't read any poetry for a while, how deeply personal it can be. By the end of  the first section, Kirkpatrick has made her opinions about war, the environment, the treatment of animals being raised for consumption and the misuse of our natural resources abundantly clear. "At The Turkey Farm" is quite difficult to read:

"When we eat them do we take in their longing 
for the unentered meadow, their sadness
for the sky they cannot fly into?
Perhaps we become them, soldered to brutal
twilight as their suffered bodies enter our own."

In "How To Lose A Democracy" Kirkpatrick addresses the effects of commercialism and human self-centeredness.

"First, believe you can have
whatever you want,
whenever you want it."

I enjoyed the variety of styles in Our Held Animal Breath and the range of emotions. It is certainly a thought-provoking collection and, quite against my usual rule against such a thing, I've made notes on almost half of the poems. I'm not sure that I would pick up another collection of Kirkpatrick's poems; while these certainly made me think, they didn't speak to me in the way that other poetry does.

For other opinions, check out the full tour. About Kathryn Kirkpatrick: Raised in the nomadic subculture of the U.S. military, Kathryn Kirkpatrick was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and grew up in the Phillipines, Germany, Texas and the Carolinas. Today she lives with her husband, Will, and their two shelties in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, and she currently holds a dual appointment at Appalachian State University as a Professor in the English Department and the Sustainable Development Program. She has a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Emory University, where she received an Academy of American Poets poetry prize. 

When She Was Gone by Gwendolen Gross

When She Was Gone by Gwendolen Gross
Published March 2013 by Gallery Books
Source: my copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for this review

Publisher's Summary:
What happened to Linsey Hart? When the Cornell-bound teenager disappears into the steamy blue of a late-summer morning, her quiet neighborhood is left to pick apart the threads of their own lives and assumptions. Linsey’s neighbors are just ordinary people—but even ordinary people can keep terrible secrets hidden close. There’s Linsey’s mother, Abigail, whose door-to-door searching makes her social-outcast status painfully obvious; Mr. Leonard, the quiet, retired piano teacher with insomnia, who saw Linsey leave; Reeva, the queen bee of a clique of mothers, now obsessed with a secret interest; Timmy, Linsey’s lovelorn ex-boyfriend; and George, an eleven-year-old loner who is determined to find out what happened to his missing neighbor.  

My Thoughts:
That first sentence of the publisher's summary will make you think this book is about Linsey Hart and finding out what has happened to her. But read further and really pay attention to the title of the book and you'll find that the book is less about Linsey than it is about what happens in her neighborhood in the time she is gone.

Gross peeks into the windows of several houses in Linsey Hart's neighborhood and tells the stories of their inhabitants, exposing dirty little secrets including bullying, illicit affairs, and teenaged rebellion. Those who don't live in the suburbs like to portray them as homogeneous, every resident fitting into a tidy little stereotypes. But Gross knows better. She knows that beyond those manicured lawns live real people, with real problems that are at once unique and universal. Gross treats her characters with affection even as she exposes their flaws.

I flew through When She Was Gone, enjoying the alternating points of view as Gross moved from household to household, from character to character. Book clubs will find plenty to discuss here including questions of fidelity, faith, and loss.  

Life: It Goes On - June 9

Thank you all so much for your kind words and encouragement last week (and on Facebook and Twitter!). We sprung Mini-me from the hospital on Thursday. He is staying at home until he gets his strength back so I get to mama him for a couple more days.He is otherwise completely recovered.



My house and I are still playing catch up after a week largely away from home. I've hardly left the house all weekend and it's felt great - plenty of cleaning, organizing, cooking, and reading.


Here's What I'm:

Listening To: Nature. Friday night I spent the evening sitting on my patio, reading, enjoying a glass (or two!) of wine and enjoying the songs of the birds. Yesterday, it rained much of the day but we were able to leave the doors open so we could listen to it.

 
Watching: Hospital monitors for much of the week still. Most of the time, Mini-me didn't want the t.v. on which was fine with me. When he did, Cartoon Network was about as focused as he could be.

Reading: Too many things at once. I'm enjoying everything I'm reading right now but it's hard to keep up with everything. I'll finish The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry this week, which I'm reading for book club, then I'll start She Rises for a TLC book tour review. The Under The Dome readalong continues into July.

Making: I have been having fun in my kitchen this weekend. Yesterday I made broiled corn (so easy and so delicious) and steak salad, two kinds of granola using a new base recipe, and steel-cut oats. Today I'm making a chocolate bundt cake.

Planning:Yet another reorganization of my books. I reorganized the non-book stuff on the bookcase in my bedroom yesterday which freed up some room. Of course, that half a shelf means that my entire book collection needs to be rearranged!

Grateful: For all of the support and love our family has gotten this week. As much as I know modern medicine saved Mini-me, what kept me going, doing what I needed to do, were your thoughts and prayers.

Loving: Having pots of herbs right outside of my kitchen again.

Thinking: It's about time to have a party.

Looking forward to: A nice quiet week!

Lit: Uniquely Portable Magic: Pride & Prejudice, a Read-a-Thon, and First Sentences

Greg (of The New Dork Review of Books) had a great review of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice this week. He makes excellent points on why the book is one men should read but anyone who hasn't read the book yet should take a look at Greg's review. Then you should definitely pick up the book and give it a chance (psst...don't tell anyone I say this but you have my permission to skip over any of the long descriptive sections).

June's question, over at The Classics Club, is "What is your favorite opening sentence from a classic novel (and why)?" Now I know you're going to expect me to say this:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." - Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

But I'm not going to, as much as I love that sentence. Even though I've never read Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, I think it's opening line is my favorite, conveying all of the possibility of life, the broad spectrum of humanity. It seems more apt today than ever as our country seems to be so torn.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was an age of wisdom, it was an age of foolishness, it was an epoch of belief, it was an epoch of incredulity, it was a season of Light, it was a season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."   

It's been a stressful week at Chez Shepp, so when I saw this upcoming readathon on Andi's blog (Estella's Revenge) just as The Big Guy switched the channel to "Grease," I knew it was just the thing I needed to have to look forward to. Hosted by  Readathon Central and Reviewing Wonderland, the Summer Lovin' Read-a-Thon is the first week of July. This girl has a four-day weekend that week and nothing major on the agenda so I'm looking forward to a relaxing week with plenty of time for reading!

Life: It Goes On - June 5

Saturday I wasn't so sure life would go on. Following a relatively routine surgical procedure, the antibiotics Mini-me was taking prior to surgery turned on him, wracking havoc with his body, causing him to become life-threateningly dehydrated. He could not give his birth date; in the emergency room they were almost entirely unable to find a vein to put i.v.'s in.

All of the times I have said "this is the scariest thing that has ever happened to me put together do not come close to the terror I felt at the thought of losing one of my kids. Of all of the things I am, being a mom truly is the thing I am most proud of but how would I define myself without all of them? Four days later, Mini-me was finally released from the ICU. We still don't know when he will come home.

8 bags, 4 i.v. lines - scary stuff!

I will probably be away from the blog and commenting on other blogs for the rest of the week. Between work and hospital, I'm rarely at home. I'll use my Nook to keep up with blogs but I hate trying to leave comments on it.

Here's What I'm:

Listening To: Gods of Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson. Just getting started but I'm not sure I'm going to enjoy the narration.

Watching: That monitor on the left. I learned a lot about all of those numbers that show up and what they should be this weekend.

Reading: Under The Dome by Stephen King. Dang, King kicks the action off early and often in this one!

Making: Nothing. Thank heavens for my sister and a dear friend who have kept my family in meals the past few days.

Planning: Once again, we are living a fluid life with no plans.

Grateful for: Amazing technology and great medicines but mostly incredible, caring nurses.

Loving: Our wonderful support team of family and friends. It's times like these that remind me how very blessed we are.

Thinking: Life will go on but we will never again be the same after seeing how quickly everything can change.

Looking forward to: Bringing Mini-me home!