Stalking the Books Back

So many great books, so little time…

I drafted the post below this one months ago, I think before Christmas. I ended up reading the entire trilogy (Collins’ Hunger Games) at least three times… Very good. It’s been my numero uno suggestion to friends— even the ones that don’t like to read much except for HP, Twilight, yada yada. Can’t wait for the movie!

Mofurkey I just wrote and wrote and then accidentally deleted this paragraph.

The gist: I don’t remember a LOT of the books I’ve been reading lately but I do remember Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Games- recommended to my by a lovely lady who helped me make a tile for the walls of Hallmark. It was great and smart- read it. Also Enchanted by O.S.Card which is a book I picked up knowing I had read it years earlier (either given to me by my eldest sister willingly or smuggled from under her bed when she was busy, who can remember). Anyway I finished it about ten minutes ago and I must say both books were great. Card writes primarily, compellingly, from the hero’s perspective, which is a little refreshing. And Enchanted was a modern explanation of Russian “Sleeping Beauty” it was awesome— very intelligent and interesting and Ivan, the main character, is this Jewish scholar, there is also a nice princess, and an enslaved bear god that’s pretty funny. 

 I can’t believe it I just deleted another portion of this CURSE WORD draft. I’m not going to bother with being nice and bequeath you with adjectives because I just did that and now I’m fed the adjective up.

I’m still reading Loving Letters from Ogden Nash because it is so good and sweet and carefully, painstakingly thoughtful that I want to savor every word. It’s compiled by Nash’s daughter Linell Nash Smith and the first half of the book is hundreds of letters written to the future Mrs. Nash— some lucky minx named Frances Leonard who Nash wooed over space and time with mostly hilarious, always adoring and very sincere love letters. The man was shameless when it  came to his affection. There are just too many quotes to pick from but the entire book could be used as a manual on how to get a gal.

Here is an excerpt from the middle of a letter to Ogden’s wife that I am on, it is after Ogden and Frances have been married a while; they are the parents to two little girls. If you must know, you detail-hungry reader, the letter is dated February 4, 1942.

“…Your packing was perfect, and I have never had such an easy trip so far as clothes are concerned. Anyone else could see that that I have been packed with skill, but I know more than that; I have been packed with love. It may be odd to find romance in an undershirt or a pair of socks ready to the hand— but after all, that is just one of the reasons I adore you; the way you transmute the most ordinary, prosaic things into your own shimmering self.

I am grateful, and entranced forever. And incidentally, I love you.” p. 226

Probably not the best quote to choose because his writing is usually more quirk-filled but I thought it was quietly, simply nice. He has a way of saying things. Ogden and Shakespeare are sitting on the same branch in my mind.

This poem, entitled To My Valentine is on the same page as the last quote. I’m sure it was written for his wife, and later it was used for a song on Broadway in “One Touch of Venus”. 

More than a catbird hates a cat,
Or a criminal hates a clue,
Or the Axis hates the United States,
That’s how much I love you.

I love you more than a duck can swim,
And more than a grapefruit squirts,
I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,
And more than a toothache hurts.

As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea,
Or a juggler hates a shove,
As a hostess detests unexpected guests,
That’s how much you I love.

I love you more than a wasp can sting,
And more than the subway jerks,
I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,
And more than a hangnail irks.

I swear to you by the stars above,
And below, if such there be,
As the High Court loathes perjurious oathes,
That’s how you’re love by me. 

I appreciate all the time and effort Nash took to make his family love him so. He cared about their happiness— constantly using his power with words as a means to amuse, show affection, and brighten their day. He wrote silly poems about the girls, lovely valentines, weird rhymes about their dog, etc. I am so in love with his ability to connect, sway, and punctuate the little moments of day to day life. My dad used a camera at every sulk, tantrum, Halloween, whathaveyou. Ogden wrote a poem in the same way. How lucky to have parents that capture and care!

I hope to be the same way with my own family some day. I’ll try to be more like him to the fam and friends that I have but so far I’ve sent a doll with my likeness to my old roommate that I sewed full-hearted and no-talentedly.. Hope it didn’t scare her too much! I’ll do better, guys..

One more thing— reading such private letters from strangers— it should feel awkward but I haven’t yet. I guess I’m excited that such good, honest, talented and hilarious people exist in the world. And most amazingly (to you wary-knickers out there) this book is so cohesive- it still manages to tell a marvelous story as you glimpse into the exciting lives of the Nash’s. Read it, damn it!

p.s. major points and finger snaps to my librarian grandma Jean Moline otherwise known as Mi to the family. She hooked me up with the Pocket Book of Ogden Nash in probably fifth grade… I still have it.

Can’t sleep, read a book.

Last night I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins from start to finish. My back hurt, so, yeah..

Unwise Purchases

a poem by George Bilgere

They sit around the house
Not doing much of anything: the boxed set
Of the complete works of Verdi, unopened.
The complete Proust, unread:

The French-cut silk shirts
Which hang like expensive ghosts in the closet
And make me look exactly
Like the kind of middle-aged man
Who would wear a French-cut silk shirt:

The reflector telescope I thought would unlock
The mysteries of the heavens
But which I only used once or twice
To try to find something heavenly
In the window of the high-rise down the road,
And which now stares disconsolately at the ceiling
When it could be examining the Crab Nebula:

The 30-day course in Spanish
Whose text I never opened,
Whose dozen cassette tapes remain unplayed,

Save for Tape One, where I never learned
Whether the suave American
Conversing with a sultry-sounding desk clerk
At a Madrid hotel about the possibility
Of obtaining a room,
Actually managed to check in.

I like to think
That one thing led to another between them
And that by Tape Six or so
They’re happily married
And raising a bilingual child in Seville or Terra Haute.

But I’ll never know.

Suddenly I realize
I have constructed the perfect home
For a sexy, Spanish-speaking astronomer
Who reads Proust while listening to Italian arias,

And I wonder if somewhere in this teeming city
There lives a woman with, say,
A fencing foil gathering dust in the corner
Near her unused easel, a rainbow of oil paints
Drying in their tubes

On the table where the violin
She bought on a whim
Lies entombed in the permanent darkness
Of its locked case
Next to the abandoned chess set,

A woman who has always dreamed of becoming
The kind of woman the man I’ve always dreamed of becoming
Has always dreamed of meeting,

And while the two of them discuss star clusters
And Cézanne, while they fence delicately
In Castilian Spanish to the strains of Rigoletto,

She and I will stand in the steamy kitchen,
Fixing up a little risotto,
Enjoying a modest cabernet,
While talking over a day so ordinary
As to seem miraculous.

(Source: georgebilgere.com)

Um, I chose a book about death…

Willingly. I’m jumping into P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern. Great movie, made me cry which is nice plus whatsherface oh yeah Hilary Swank was awesome and adorable in it plus Gerard Butler is so magical it’s an adventure to mourn his loss. I’m shrugging on my role of sympathy editor and just rolling with this one. Chalk it up to curiosity (I was obsessed with Titanic-set fiction when I was a kid) or morbidity, I’ve never experienced a loss myself, so what they hey. Let’s read one more book where the significant other dies.

But first, let’s talk AWESOME young adult books that changed me and entertained me.

I’m rereading the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery for the nth time. Why? Because Anne Shirley is an inspiring creature that feels everything, says everything, and is still admirable. Rereading these books is like slipping into a better version of myself for a few days. She’s driven and so, so good. I love Gilbert Blythe. I’d like to find a Gilbert Blythe..

J.K.’s Harry Potter series. Love the friendship, love the humor.

Pride and Prejudice

Louise Rennison’s Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snoggings, the series of books that tell of the many insane and normal adventures of a British girl named Georgia Nicholson. Hilarious and absolutely perfect. This is my favorite series ever to reread, and I began my relationship with these books when I was in 8th grade. Sooo funny. I still cry from laughing when I read this author. Also, I get giddy and want to stand up and race around the block or dance madly. There’s nothing normal about being a 14-year-old girl and apparently, there is nothing normal about me as a 22-year-old because I still relate perfectly to this gal.

Dealing with Dragons Series by Patricia C. Wrede

Of Two Minds/More Minds by Carol Matas and Perry Nodelman

Song of the Lioness and other quartets by Tamora Pierce

The Little Pocket Book of Ogden Nash

Holes by Lois Sachar

The Princess Diaries Series by Meg Cabot

Caroline B. Cooney’s The Face on the Milk Carton Series

Edward Bloor Tangerine

Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer and accompanying books

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

that’s all for now.

The books are changing.. with the leaves!

I just played some pick-up ultimate frisbee with boys and got my foot smushed. Oh well, gotta stick with it! Yesterday I played billiards. It’s been a good week!

Also, I made truffles for my work team.. Yummm.

And in the last week as I become more adventurous in KC, the books have been changing too. I have two depressing/excellent recommendations to make, but I’m saving them for a dark day.

Last weekend I read Girl’s Poker Night by Jill A. Davis twice, it was just that delightful. I laughed out loud a bunch and the thought process was super fun to follow. Needless to say it went further than romance and girl dishing, the friends felt real, the problems were relevant. I love being surprised by a book, don’t you?

It flew by, I loved it; 4 panda thumbs up. Or rather, one engaged British Prince’s thumb up!

P.S. Jay-Z’s book Decoded came out today. Let’s read it together, shall we?

P.P.S. if you haven’t read ALL SEVEN harry potter’s what the heck are you waiting for movie 7 part 1 comes out on Friday. No excuse.

Death has been stalking me…

I moved to Kansas City last summer to work as a humor writing intern and now am the editor of Sympathy, Baby, and Encouragement cards at Hallmark. Lately I have been stalked by the books I read. I’ll go to my Plaza library and select books every week thinking I’m getting poetry, a delicious Kathy Griffin or Chelsea Handler biography, or trashy beach read and instead end up with a book about death. Book after book! Some good, some bad but it just kept happening. Wouldn’t you be nervous? So that is the premise of this blog..

Two nights ago I grabbed a book to read thinking yesss the cover is some girl running in a dress, this is going to be the good stuff, light and fluffy.  In the first two chapters the heroine’s mother, father, and brother die in a horrible car crash. I thought- NO! Give me a break! I had checked out the book thinking it would be a break from work- from planning sympathy cards, only to get more death. But when it ended I didn’t want it to be over. Who doesn’t love getting lost in a good read? At 3AM like a crazy person I was trying to find contact information of the author to congratulate and thank her.

The book was Kathleen DeMarco’s Cranberry Queen. It was short and thoughtful and got to the point in a beautiful way. 

If books have been picking me, well maybe that’s okay. Books can go ahead and bring their worst if they are well-written and accessible and most of all, make me feel like a crazy person by reacting out loud in my empty apartment like DeMarco’s. Being entertained, getting inspiration, and losing yourself in a book can be so delicious. It can actually be finding yourself.

This is about books and writing, and always always humor. Hopefully you can get a not-awful recommendation out of it and be a little entertained. I’ll try to be brief.
Love, Anne