miranda lambert, "over you":
my sister has been telling me how great miranda lambert is for a long time, and i've been slowly coming around to it. ugh, YOU WERE RIGHT, BECKY.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
i got an iphone!!! sure, i'm a good five years behind some of my friends, but whatever. i'm here! i've made it! and it's glorious.
if you also have an iphone and would like to play "words with friends" or "draw something" with me, that would be amazing and you should leave a note in the comments. last night i laughed a LOT at the drawings my sister made and it felt like we were sharing a joke in the same room. i also played words with friends and texted with a friend in new hampshire and one in northern ireland. a lot of people criticize technology for distancing us from person-to-person interactions, which i agree are the best kind. but last night i felt an incredible connection to these two far-away friends that made me SO. HAPPY. i can't see them in person, but this little phone brought them to me so we could play scrabble together. life is good.
if you also have an iphone and would like to play "words with friends" or "draw something" with me, that would be amazing and you should leave a note in the comments. last night i laughed a LOT at the drawings my sister made and it felt like we were sharing a joke in the same room. i also played words with friends and texted with a friend in new hampshire and one in northern ireland. a lot of people criticize technology for distancing us from person-to-person interactions, which i agree are the best kind. but last night i felt an incredible connection to these two far-away friends that made me SO. HAPPY. i can't see them in person, but this little phone brought them to me so we could play scrabble together. life is good.
Monday, April 23, 2012
caine's arcade
hat tip to willis for finding this!
watching this video IS the best 11 minutes you'll spend all day. i'd thought i'd just watch the first two or three minutes, but i couldn't stop. i emailed willis with my thoughts as i watched:
"You get 500 turns with a fun pass."
This child is ADORABLE. I love him!!!
"The check mark button" - you know, square root, check mark – all the same.
This dad is amazing for supporting all this.
The tickets!!!
I am now 8 minutes in. And crying.
watching this video IS the best 11 minutes you'll spend all day. i'd thought i'd just watch the first two or three minutes, but i couldn't stop. i emailed willis with my thoughts as i watched:
"You get 500 turns with a fun pass."
This child is ADORABLE. I love him!!!
"The check mark button" - you know, square root, check mark – all the same.
This dad is amazing for supporting all this.
The tickets!!!
I am now 8 minutes in. And crying.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
LOVE this: rubber stamps i wish i had for grading freshman composition papers.
i need every one of those stamps.
i need every one of those stamps.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
i am loving the following things about new york:
how beautiful columbia is.
how you can feel all the past generations of teachers who have made their way through teachers college. i think it's the creaky wood floors that do it.
that the housing people said they are 99% sure i will get on campus housing (yesssss).
that columbia is far enough north in the city that it isn't super busy.
that the people in my program seem nice and like they will be my friends.
that i was a bad ass public transportation rider and didn't get lost.
the weather - it's gorgeous here this weekend.
seeing my summer friend talia who will become my real life friend talia!!!
drinking mojitos on an outdoor patio.
eating shake shack on an outdoor patio.
outdoor patios.
walking through central park with my sister who giggled with me at the little league teams, dogs, and bad fashions we saw.
this city feels right. so excited to move here in august!
(less fun things: blisters from walking so much and bad smells everywhere.)
how beautiful columbia is.
how you can feel all the past generations of teachers who have made their way through teachers college. i think it's the creaky wood floors that do it.
that the housing people said they are 99% sure i will get on campus housing (yesssss).
that columbia is far enough north in the city that it isn't super busy.
that the people in my program seem nice and like they will be my friends.
that i was a bad ass public transportation rider and didn't get lost.
the weather - it's gorgeous here this weekend.
seeing my summer friend talia who will become my real life friend talia!!!
drinking mojitos on an outdoor patio.
eating shake shack on an outdoor patio.
outdoor patios.
walking through central park with my sister who giggled with me at the little league teams, dogs, and bad fashions we saw.
this city feels right. so excited to move here in august!
(less fun things: blisters from walking so much and bad smells everywhere.)
Thursday, April 19, 2012
good sports writing always makes me cry. this is some GREAT sports writing - it's a five part series about a girls' basketball team at a school run by the county's juvenile court. heartbreaking.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
every sunday night i have an incredibly hard time falling asleep.
i should start by saying that normally i have zero difficulty falling asleep. i get in bed, i read my book for 10 minutes, i turn off the light, and that's all she wrote. often i wake up and it's clear i didn't move at all during the night - the covers are all in the same place as when i went to sleep.
perhaps it's just in comparison to this glory that sunday nights seem so bad. on sunday nights i toss and turn - left side to back to right side to back to left side to back to right side. i look at the clock every 10 minutes or so as i make my turn. it's common for me to watch a whole hour go by while i try to fall asleep.
i am well-rested most sundays, so perhaps that is the issue, but i usually have a 90 minute yoga class during the day, so it's not the lack of exercise that's keeping me awake. yes, i'm thinking about the week ahead, but i'm not worrying about anything in particular. i try to stay up a little later on sundays so i'll be a little more tired and thus kick this cycle, but that doesn't work. it's not caffeine, since i don't drink much diet coke at all any more.
ugh.
does anyone else share this problem? any good suggestions for how to fix it?
i should start by saying that normally i have zero difficulty falling asleep. i get in bed, i read my book for 10 minutes, i turn off the light, and that's all she wrote. often i wake up and it's clear i didn't move at all during the night - the covers are all in the same place as when i went to sleep.
perhaps it's just in comparison to this glory that sunday nights seem so bad. on sunday nights i toss and turn - left side to back to right side to back to left side to back to right side. i look at the clock every 10 minutes or so as i make my turn. it's common for me to watch a whole hour go by while i try to fall asleep.
i am well-rested most sundays, so perhaps that is the issue, but i usually have a 90 minute yoga class during the day, so it's not the lack of exercise that's keeping me awake. yes, i'm thinking about the week ahead, but i'm not worrying about anything in particular. i try to stay up a little later on sundays so i'll be a little more tired and thus kick this cycle, but that doesn't work. it's not caffeine, since i don't drink much diet coke at all any more.
ugh.
does anyone else share this problem? any good suggestions for how to fix it?
Sunday, April 15, 2012
what i'm listening to right now
"somebody that i used to know," by gotye
(yes, this video is BIZARRO.)
when i first heard this song on the radio i thought that it might be a men at work song. perhaps it just sounds really australian. i didn't know what was a thing...and maybe it isn't. but i love this song nonetheless and i'm listening to it on repeat.
(yes, this video is BIZARRO.)
when i first heard this song on the radio i thought that it might be a men at work song. perhaps it just sounds really australian. i didn't know what was a thing...and maybe it isn't. but i love this song nonetheless and i'm listening to it on repeat.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
on running
i have started running again. i can't believe it either.
a history of miss claire's running:
i peaked in 8th grade. i ran track in 8th grade because...i have no idea. but i didn't hate it, and in one meet i came in 3rd place in the mile. my time was 7 minutes and something. i liked track. weird.
okay, i didn't peak in 8th grade. i peaked in 8th and 9th and 10th grade when i was on a traveling soccer team and we had intense practices that began with a long 20-30 minute run. i could do these runs, which shocks me now. in high school i was the...least skinny kid on the team. i remember our coach - whose last name was faggett. YES. coach faggett. i believe it had two t's. he was one of the only black professionals in town and he was very religious and he had a cute daughter. this is all i remember about him - our coach would run with us, and at the beginning of each season he would end the run out of breath, commenting that he hated being in shape in his legs but out of shape in his lungs.
i continued to play soccer through high school and then played rugby in college.
in college we did a lot of running, but i wasn't exactly in the best shape of my life. there was a fair amount of beer drinking and papa john's pizza consuming, as well.
i graduated from college and stopped running. for a while i just stopped exercising in general because (a) new hampshire was cold, (b) i hadn't discovered yoga yet, and (c) i thought that the only good workout was a run, and if i didn't want to run i just didn't work out.
later i discovered yoga and lifting weights and walking, and those have become my workout staples. i'm a very consistent 3 times a week exerciser because it's something i enjoy doing.
and then two weeks ago i decided that i wanted to get in better shape. i've added in some no pressure running into my walks. the key is that there's no pressure - no one's forcing me to run. this is really important to me.
the first day i ran for 5 minutes and 30 seconds of an hour long walk.
the next time, 6 minutes.
the next time, 7.
the next time 8. i had to lie down after that one. it was really hot. i'll blame it on the heat.
then 9, 10, 11, 12. today i ran for 13 minutes - five 2-3 minute intervals.
(yes, i am calling it interval training to feel better about myself.)
um, running is fun. I FORGOT. when you don't attach all these expectations to it, running is fun. lady gaga and i having a good time.
my shins hurt at the start of each run, but my lungs are the ones out of shape. i think about coach faggett every time i finish running and have to work to catch my breath.
should you be impressed with what i'm doing? obviously not. running for 13 minutes - and not even in a row - isn't much to write home about when i have friends running marathons (yay morgan!). but all of this has been such a good reminder to me to push myself a little bit. that it's fun to set goals. and this april in atlanta has been incredible - it's cooler than late march was, with highs in the mid 70s instead of the mid 80s. being outside is awesome.
a history of miss claire's running:
i peaked in 8th grade. i ran track in 8th grade because...i have no idea. but i didn't hate it, and in one meet i came in 3rd place in the mile. my time was 7 minutes and something. i liked track. weird.
okay, i didn't peak in 8th grade. i peaked in 8th and 9th and 10th grade when i was on a traveling soccer team and we had intense practices that began with a long 20-30 minute run. i could do these runs, which shocks me now. in high school i was the...least skinny kid on the team. i remember our coach - whose last name was faggett. YES. coach faggett. i believe it had two t's. he was one of the only black professionals in town and he was very religious and he had a cute daughter. this is all i remember about him - our coach would run with us, and at the beginning of each season he would end the run out of breath, commenting that he hated being in shape in his legs but out of shape in his lungs.
i continued to play soccer through high school and then played rugby in college.
in college we did a lot of running, but i wasn't exactly in the best shape of my life. there was a fair amount of beer drinking and papa john's pizza consuming, as well.
i graduated from college and stopped running. for a while i just stopped exercising in general because (a) new hampshire was cold, (b) i hadn't discovered yoga yet, and (c) i thought that the only good workout was a run, and if i didn't want to run i just didn't work out.
later i discovered yoga and lifting weights and walking, and those have become my workout staples. i'm a very consistent 3 times a week exerciser because it's something i enjoy doing.
and then two weeks ago i decided that i wanted to get in better shape. i've added in some no pressure running into my walks. the key is that there's no pressure - no one's forcing me to run. this is really important to me.
the first day i ran for 5 minutes and 30 seconds of an hour long walk.
the next time, 6 minutes.
the next time, 7.
the next time 8. i had to lie down after that one. it was really hot. i'll blame it on the heat.
then 9, 10, 11, 12. today i ran for 13 minutes - five 2-3 minute intervals.
(yes, i am calling it interval training to feel better about myself.)
um, running is fun. I FORGOT. when you don't attach all these expectations to it, running is fun. lady gaga and i having a good time.
my shins hurt at the start of each run, but my lungs are the ones out of shape. i think about coach faggett every time i finish running and have to work to catch my breath.
should you be impressed with what i'm doing? obviously not. running for 13 minutes - and not even in a row - isn't much to write home about when i have friends running marathons (yay morgan!). but all of this has been such a good reminder to me to push myself a little bit. that it's fun to set goals. and this april in atlanta has been incredible - it's cooler than late march was, with highs in the mid 70s instead of the mid 80s. being outside is awesome.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
making mozzarella
so...making mozzarella is easier than making ricotta. easier, i say! you don't have to heat the milk to as high a temperature because the rennet separates the curds and whey at a lower temperature. at least, that's what i've decided rennet's purpose is. (rennet is traditionally made from calf stomachs (GROSSNESSSSSSS), but the cheesemaking kit that becky got me for christmas has vegetable rennet tablets, which pleases me.)
so...heat the milk, add rennet, heat it a little more.
as soon as you add the rennet, this happens. magic!!
scoop out curds.
microwave for 90 seconds, kneading occasionally with a spoon (it's too hot to do it with your hands) and pouring off excess whey. add salt and keep kneading. mozzarella!!!
now, this was not the most delicious mozzarella i've ever eaten. it was good, but i'd have to take grocery store fresh mozzarella over this. i'm not sure why mine didn't turn out as well as i'd imagined it would, but one possibility is that i kneaded it too long. the directions said that the more you knead it, the firmer it gets. i saw this as a plus, since it was pretty runny initially, but i may have kneaded too much, resulting in the firmer cheese that i ended up with. hmm. perhaps i will try again at some point and knead it less.
all in all, though, a delicious dinner!
so...heat the milk, add rennet, heat it a little more.
as soon as you add the rennet, this happens. magic!!
scoop out curds.
microwave for 90 seconds, kneading occasionally with a spoon (it's too hot to do it with your hands) and pouring off excess whey. add salt and keep kneading. mozzarella!!!
now, this was not the most delicious mozzarella i've ever eaten. it was good, but i'd have to take grocery store fresh mozzarella over this. i'm not sure why mine didn't turn out as well as i'd imagined it would, but one possibility is that i kneaded it too long. the directions said that the more you knead it, the firmer it gets. i saw this as a plus, since it was pretty runny initially, but i may have kneaded too much, resulting in the firmer cheese that i ended up with. hmm. perhaps i will try again at some point and knead it less.
all in all, though, a delicious dinner!
Monday, April 9, 2012
more census fun
i found my other grandma!
things we learned: my great-grandparents (her parents) were RICH. my grandma norma's family had lost their home in the depression and were living in a rented apartment - not uncommon. my mom's mom's parents still owned their home, worth $30,000 - and had a live-in servant. CRAZINESS.
then i went on a census expedition to find who lived in the house i grew up in. (pause: i promise i do have a life. this is just consuming SOME of it.) my dad knew the name of the people who lived there at the time, which was CRUCIAL. for my grandma in minnesota and my grandma in new york, knowing the address would have been enough to find the record. in rural north carolina, the records were divided into "east of highway 18" and "west of highway 18," with no attempt being made to list any addresses.
looking through the census records in rural north carolina was a SAD adventure. in the box marked "rent per month or value of house," i saw this many times
if that's hard to read, it says "share crops." ugh. as a history teacher, of course i know there were sharecroppers in 1940. but to see it in black and white near where you grew up - that makes it real.
in the box for "highest grade of school completed," if was not uncommon to see this for an adult man:
UGH.
here are the people who owned our house:
our house was about 5 years old at the point, dad says, and the census says it was worth $800 - so they were doing much better than probably half the people around them, who rented or were sharecroppers. the highest level of education completed by our house's first occupants: 3rd grade. they were farmers. the "amount of money wages or salary received" in the previous year:
that is a blank box - again, not uncommon as i looked through the records. dad says that they would have traded for everything they needed. UGH again.
the census is INCREDIBLY cool.
my grandfathers are up next in my census adventures, but i am having trouble finding their addresses, and as one lived in greenwich, connecticut and the other in omaha, nebraska, i'm going to need some addresses. there are too many records to just page through without some guidance. this census adventure is to be continued...
things we learned: my great-grandparents (her parents) were RICH. my grandma norma's family had lost their home in the depression and were living in a rented apartment - not uncommon. my mom's mom's parents still owned their home, worth $30,000 - and had a live-in servant. CRAZINESS.
then i went on a census expedition to find who lived in the house i grew up in. (pause: i promise i do have a life. this is just consuming SOME of it.) my dad knew the name of the people who lived there at the time, which was CRUCIAL. for my grandma in minnesota and my grandma in new york, knowing the address would have been enough to find the record. in rural north carolina, the records were divided into "east of highway 18" and "west of highway 18," with no attempt being made to list any addresses.
looking through the census records in rural north carolina was a SAD adventure. in the box marked "rent per month or value of house," i saw this many times
if that's hard to read, it says "share crops." ugh. as a history teacher, of course i know there were sharecroppers in 1940. but to see it in black and white near where you grew up - that makes it real.
in the box for "highest grade of school completed," if was not uncommon to see this for an adult man:
here are the people who owned our house:
our house was about 5 years old at the point, dad says, and the census says it was worth $800 - so they were doing much better than probably half the people around them, who rented or were sharecroppers. the highest level of education completed by our house's first occupants: 3rd grade. they were farmers. the "amount of money wages or salary received" in the previous year:
that is a blank box - again, not uncommon as i looked through the records. dad says that they would have traded for everything they needed. UGH again.
the census is INCREDIBLY cool.
my grandfathers are up next in my census adventures, but i am having trouble finding their addresses, and as one lived in greenwich, connecticut and the other in omaha, nebraska, i'm going to need some addresses. there are too many records to just page through without some guidance. this census adventure is to be continued...
Sunday, April 8, 2012
what i'm listening to right now
it probably hasn't been long enough to post another song by the civil wars, BUT I DON'T CARE. this cover is amazing - "i want you back" - see if you can place it. it took me a full listen before i could.
p.s. her voice is GORGEOUS.
p.s. her voice is GORGEOUS.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
decision
i'm going to columbia next year!
it feels SO good to have made a decision. stanford was beautiful and the program sounded awesome, but ultimately the program i got into it wasn't focused in the right way for me, and i don't think i could have known that without visiting...so i'm definitely glad i visited. i actually left midway through the day on the second day (i'd spent enough time at that point to know that this wasn't the right program for me) and went on a little hike that i discovered driving into town. victory! gorgeous views of palo alto and even san francisco in the distance. then i talked on the phone to lots of friends and family, ate some sushi, wasted time on my computer at a starbucks, and flew back to atlanta on the red eye. THAT part was painful, but ultimately it was all worth it.
it's great the program i like is the one that gave me a scholarship - if it had worked out the other way i would have left stanford even more confused than when i arrived. thankfully a decision has been made - one i'm very happy with - and i'll be moving to new york in august. eek! it's becoming more and more real. i can't wait to share that adventure with all of you through this blog.
in the meantime...we have a four day weekend for easter! religious school, thank you for doing this for me. it's our last break until the end of the year (which is only 7 weeks away), so i have to enjoy this while i can. i will get another mini break, though: i'm taking a friday off work in mid-april to go up to new york for columbia's admitted students' weekend. i can't wait to learn more about the program - and to spend time with my sister. hooray!
it feels SO good to have made a decision. stanford was beautiful and the program sounded awesome, but ultimately the program i got into it wasn't focused in the right way for me, and i don't think i could have known that without visiting...so i'm definitely glad i visited. i actually left midway through the day on the second day (i'd spent enough time at that point to know that this wasn't the right program for me) and went on a little hike that i discovered driving into town. victory! gorgeous views of palo alto and even san francisco in the distance. then i talked on the phone to lots of friends and family, ate some sushi, wasted time on my computer at a starbucks, and flew back to atlanta on the red eye. THAT part was painful, but ultimately it was all worth it.
it's great the program i like is the one that gave me a scholarship - if it had worked out the other way i would have left stanford even more confused than when i arrived. thankfully a decision has been made - one i'm very happy with - and i'll be moving to new york in august. eek! it's becoming more and more real. i can't wait to share that adventure with all of you through this blog.
in the meantime...we have a four day weekend for easter! religious school, thank you for doing this for me. it's our last break until the end of the year (which is only 7 weeks away), so i have to enjoy this while i can. i will get another mini break, though: i'm taking a friday off work in mid-april to go up to new york for columbia's admitted students' weekend. i can't wait to learn more about the program - and to spend time with my sister. hooray!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
time to be a history nerd
last night i found my grandma, 20 years old at the time, on the 1940 census.
the census department has done an incredible thing by digitizing the entire 1940 census. the whole thing! every page! 132 million people! and you can download individual pages for free! it is not searchable by name, so you have to know what town your relative was living in...and if you know what part of town that's even better. my grandma is from a small town, but even her small town had 80 pages of census data, and you have to look through each page for the names you're looking for - unless you have a better idea of address, part of town, etc.
it was the depression so she couldn't afford to go to college right out of high school. my sweet grandma worked 48 hours per week, 50 weeks a year for an annual salary of $400 in 1940.
finding my grandma on the census was AMAZING. of course she's there...but look: THERE SHE IS. on this page, in this line, is everything the us government knew about her in 1940. it's looking back at history. a census worker came to her house, spoke to her father, wrote on this page. AND NOW (72 years later) IT'S ON THE INTERNET.
[speaking of which - why do they release this data 72 years after it was collected? average life expectancy? this feels like a random number...]
go here to start your own research!
the census department has done an incredible thing by digitizing the entire 1940 census. the whole thing! every page! 132 million people! and you can download individual pages for free! it is not searchable by name, so you have to know what town your relative was living in...and if you know what part of town that's even better. my grandma is from a small town, but even her small town had 80 pages of census data, and you have to look through each page for the names you're looking for - unless you have a better idea of address, part of town, etc.
it was the depression so she couldn't afford to go to college right out of high school. my sweet grandma worked 48 hours per week, 50 weeks a year for an annual salary of $400 in 1940.
finding my grandma on the census was AMAZING. of course she's there...but look: THERE SHE IS. on this page, in this line, is everything the us government knew about her in 1940. it's looking back at history. a census worker came to her house, spoke to her father, wrote on this page. AND NOW (72 years later) IT'S ON THE INTERNET.
[speaking of which - why do they release this data 72 years after it was collected? average life expectancy? this feels like a random number...]
go here to start your own research!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
march: 6, 7, & 8
at the moment i'm halfway through three books - HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? - so april's list may be long as i finish those up.
this month iread finished:
paper towns, by john green (this is a young adult book that abby and aaron recommended to me, and i loved it. it's a perfect description of what 17 year old boys are like and has a very compelling story line - the cool girl in school disappears and the nerdy next door neighbor and his friends try to track her down. i'm a person who associates certain books or movies or podcast episodes with what i was doing when i read/watched/listened to them. i'll associate this book with lying on the living room couch in the condo where we stayed over spring break - the door open to send in the ocean breeze / gale storm. i have another john green book out from the library, looking for alaska, but i was told by abby and aaron that it's sad and i wasn't ready for sad after i read the next book [below]. so i'll get to that soon, hopefully!)
extremely loud & incredibly close, by jonathan safran foer (this book was VERY good and i would highly recommend it. it is also VERY sad - i was talking to the librarian at my school about it - she'd checked the book out for me and said she wanted to hear what i thought about it when i was done. when i returned it, i told her i couldn't read it before going to bed because it made me too sad and then i couldn't fall asleep. she was shocked - this hadn't been her reaction. but for me every character was profoundly hurting - the grandma, the grandpa, the mom, the narrator, even the mom's new boyfriend when they get around to telling us about him. everything from BEFORE was happy - before 9/11 [yes - this is a 9/11 book] and before the bombing of dresden [there are some flashbacks, so thank goodness i'd read slaughterhouse five so i knew what the hell was going on]. everything from AFTER was sad. the narrator, who is 8 [this doesn't make the book any happier, as sad children are the saddest thing of all] talks about having "heavy boots," a phrase i love. this book really made an impact on me - foer is an amazing writer. i've added his first book, everything is illuminated, to my list. so, while this book is sad it shouldn't stop you from reading it, as it's definitely worth it.)
a wrinkle in time, by madeleine l'engle (i read this book as a kid and was recently talking to nora who said she'd just re-read the series and loved it on the re-read. i, um, didn't have the same experience. i actually wondered, as i finished the book this month, why i'd liked it in the first place. i mean, it was fine and all, but really didn't make much of an impact on me. and there were some weird religious undertones that i did NOT remember. so...just a fair experience re-reading this.)
this month i
paper towns, by john green (this is a young adult book that abby and aaron recommended to me, and i loved it. it's a perfect description of what 17 year old boys are like and has a very compelling story line - the cool girl in school disappears and the nerdy next door neighbor and his friends try to track her down. i'm a person who associates certain books or movies or podcast episodes with what i was doing when i read/watched/listened to them. i'll associate this book with lying on the living room couch in the condo where we stayed over spring break - the door open to send in the ocean breeze / gale storm. i have another john green book out from the library, looking for alaska, but i was told by abby and aaron that it's sad and i wasn't ready for sad after i read the next book [below]. so i'll get to that soon, hopefully!)
extremely loud & incredibly close, by jonathan safran foer (this book was VERY good and i would highly recommend it. it is also VERY sad - i was talking to the librarian at my school about it - she'd checked the book out for me and said she wanted to hear what i thought about it when i was done. when i returned it, i told her i couldn't read it before going to bed because it made me too sad and then i couldn't fall asleep. she was shocked - this hadn't been her reaction. but for me every character was profoundly hurting - the grandma, the grandpa, the mom, the narrator, even the mom's new boyfriend when they get around to telling us about him. everything from BEFORE was happy - before 9/11 [yes - this is a 9/11 book] and before the bombing of dresden [there are some flashbacks, so thank goodness i'd read slaughterhouse five so i knew what the hell was going on]. everything from AFTER was sad. the narrator, who is 8 [this doesn't make the book any happier, as sad children are the saddest thing of all] talks about having "heavy boots," a phrase i love. this book really made an impact on me - foer is an amazing writer. i've added his first book, everything is illuminated, to my list. so, while this book is sad it shouldn't stop you from reading it, as it's definitely worth it.)
a wrinkle in time, by madeleine l'engle (i read this book as a kid and was recently talking to nora who said she'd just re-read the series and loved it on the re-read. i, um, didn't have the same experience. i actually wondered, as i finished the book this month, why i'd liked it in the first place. i mean, it was fine and all, but really didn't make much of an impact on me. and there were some weird religious undertones that i did NOT remember. so...just a fair experience re-reading this.)
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