at the ‘brary i get to look at a lot of the new kids’ books that come in. most of the time nothing really catches my eye so i don’t talk about them much. if i see something cool, i’ll mention it to jan cos she’s a preschool teacher and she keeps up with that sort of thing.

yesterday i was covering some new books and one of them happened to be a kids’ book. i was drawn to the cover because it was a great color and the collage looked like something laura would do/has done. so i read through the book and it was really great. it was so great in fact, that i don’t think it would have to be just a kids’ book. it could just be an inspirational type book as well. or maybe just a beautiful book that you’d like to display.

Carin Berger’s The Little Yellow Leaf.

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Tags: books

48. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

I finally finished book four. I won’t talk about the plot so as not to post any spoilers.

This book was terrible. You know how the whole thing about the other books is “Will Edward turn Bella into a vampire?” and then it was all, “When will Edward turn Bella into a vampire?” By book four I was thinking “Just do it already!” almost bored with the idea. Apparently the author was too.

I was talking to Laura about this book and we both agree that this book jumped shark…like at least twice and maybe even a third time. In one book. THAT’S WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN YOU MAKE A BOOK 750 PAGES.

A word of warning, the first part of the book is so gross. It made me queasy, and I would have to put the book down for a day before I even wanted to get back into it.

The whole thing was so ridiculous that I wonder how the real fans of the series feel about it.

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Tags: books, Stephenie Meyer, YA Lit.

on the way home tonight we passed this sign and i was all, “jimmy! turn around! go back! i gotta get a picture for Snoozie!” so he slammed the brakes, turned on two wheels, and then we did donuts in the parking lot of this realty place in town. well, not really. check it:

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Tags: mr. fleegan, suzie

I really enjoyed this biography of Dorothy Kilgallen. I had no idea that her life was so interesting. I thought she was just a gossip columnist, but turns out she was a decent reporter as well. In fact, she started out her career reporting on murders and trials. She even covered the Sam Sheppard trial.

As biographies go this one was great. It was informative yet dishy (love the dish!). The author shows a great respect for her subject but doesn’t try to candy-coat anything either. I didn’t really like DK at first. She came across as shallow, but not exactly shallow because she seemed too smart for that. There was something about her though that was bothering me. There was a self-centeredness about her, but at the same time she seemed unaware of it, so in a way it was like you couldn’t blame her for it. I was having a hard time coming up with a word to describe all of this, and about three-quarters of the way through the book Ms. Israel described Dorothy as not having a worldview. And that’s it exactly! It seems odd that such a good reporter would be like that, but there you go.

She was definitely a busy person. Worked all day partied all night. I’m suprised she wasn’t sick all the time. I think it’s a shame that she was not used more for serious reporting, but maybe she enjoyed what she did, and it made more sense with her lifestyle.

Her death was intriguing. The fact that the FBI had a dossier on her was shocking to me, but maybe it shouldn’t have been seeing as how Hoover was probably one of the most paranoid people who ever lived. Still, I’m not sure I believe that Dorothy was murdered because she was going to write something about the JFK assassination. It’s conceivable, I guess. The fact that it was a sloppy investigation doesn’t immediately scream, “conspiracy!” to me, but I’m one of those people who is always suprised when something actually works. So a botched investigation of a famous person’s murder, while annoying as all get out, seems almost par for the course. (Or maybe that’s what they want me to think?) **gasp** 

To me the most curious thing about it was that her interview with Jack Ruby was never found/published/seen again. Not even by the FBI who came around years after her death looking for it. That was odd.

The biography was well-written. It also had some snark to it, which is always welcome, if you ask me. Lots of times biographies (as well as true crime) while popular reading, are not actually written well. So it’s always a bonus when you come across one that’s actually enjoyable and not just, “and then this happened. then this and this. there was a marriage, some kids, a death. blah blah blah here’s some pictures.” It’s always nice when an author takes care in writing his/her sentences. Like so,

“Dorothy’s dossier does not indicate which tale told by what idiot signified anything, or whether or not the FBI came in, after the broadcasting room was empty, to collect Richard’s cigarette butts. But the very fact that they were surveilled while surveilling the subject of surveillance indicates that she was not ipso facto, the political basketcase that the bureau thought her to be.” (p.228)

See? Like that. Isn’t that fun? Good times.

Oh, and this book, like The Executioner’s Song, had me feeling extra nosy at the end. Where in TES I was wondering, “What happened to Nicole?” at the end of this one I was all, “Just who was the mysterious Out-of-Towner?”

Speaking of The Executioner’s Song, a couple of posts ago I mentioned how crazy it was that my reading choices of late have all criss-crossed each other? Well, this book was no different. In it, Lillian Hellman, Suddenly, Last Summer, and Lawrence Schiller were all mentioned. And Lawrence Schiller just happend to be one of the main players in TES. wild!

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Tags: biography, Lee Israel, Lillian Hellman

the other day my coworker was minding her own when a patron walked up and asked where the biographies were. my helpful coworker pointed to the smallish shelves that were not 4′ away from the circ. desk. the patron then asked, “are they in order by author?”

i froze on the spot not making eye contact with anyone cos i knew how this was going to play out.

my coworker kept her cool and answered, “no ma’am, they’re in order by subjects’ last names.”

the patron did not like this at all. “what?! but i wrote down the authors! all i brought with me was the authors’ names!” she had three index cards with authors names on them.

my coworker, ever helpful, said, “well who were you wanting to read about?”

“i don’t know!”

“you were wanting biographies right?”

“yes! i can’t BELIEVE they aren’t in order by author!” then she added the ever popular, “when did you start DOING THAT?!”

“they’ve always been like that. whose biography were you wanting to read?”

“i don’t know. all i have are author names!”

my coworker turns to me and gives me the “help me out here!” look. i say to her, “i’ll be right back.” and i scram to the back of the office where my best pal Joanie works and i was laughing and telling her about the lady who was currently losing her shit over the biographies.

eventually my coworker told the lady to look up the authors on the OPAC to see what biographies she needed. we never learned WHY she didn’t know which bios she needed. it was weird.

when i came back i apologized to my coworker for leaving her alone with the crazy. she was all, “yeah thanks for dumping me with her!”

“sorry! it was either that or get myself fired for laughing at the patron.”

“did you see me try to explain to her how the biographies are in order?”

“yes. and it failed.”

“was i speaking another language?”

“i don’t think so. i love how she pulled the, “how long have you been doing that?” thing. they always ask that.”

“i know!”

“from now on we should answer, “tuesday. we changed it tuesday.”

“she was so upset.”

“she didn’t even know who she was supposed to be reading about.”

“who does that?”

“i don’t know. that blew my mind. how long have we been doing that? my god, i’m 30 so i guess they’ve been in order by subject for AT LEAST the last 30 years. where the hell have these people been?”

“i don’t know.”

“and also? i went to public school. IN THIS TOWN. so it’s NOT like i learned this in college or anything. i learned library skills in elementary school JUST LIKE SHE DID. JUST LIKE THEY ALL DID. and the worst part? THEY’RE STEALING OUR OXYGEN.”

***

this week i taught my conversation partner, Aline, to juggle. at first she was all, “no i could never learn that. it’s too difficult!”

i was all, “oh please, you’re a firefighter. how hard could this be?”

she caught on really fast! and she was having a great time even though learning to juggle involves a lot of dropping balls and chasing them around. after a while she made ten catches in a row! i said, “look at that clock.”

she was all, “what about it?”

“it’s only been 25 minutes and ALREADY you are juggling!”

she laughed, but was suprised, i think, to have picked it up so quickly. i let her keep the three juggling balls so she could practice.

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Tags: conversation partner, juggling, library, rant

did ANYONE watch the Cubs/Brewers game on ESPN last night? i stopped on the channel to see the score and i couldn’t turn away. not because of the game, but because Rick Sutcliffe was one of the commentators.

was he drunk? or is he always like that?

now, while watching a game Joe Morgan is commenting on is painful what with all the Captian Obvious statements (‘they’re gonna need more runs if they want to win this ballgame.’ type statements) or the does-he-even-know-anything-about-the-other-team? shenanigans, listening to Sutcliffe was like listening to a stoner watch the game.

so on one hand i was all, “geez, what’s going on in there?” and on the other, meaner hand i was all, “THIS IS SO AWESOME.” cos you could totally tell that O’Brien was having to work double with actually calling the game and trying to keep Sut on point.

at one point towards the end when there were some Cubs on base and it looked like they might get another point or two, Sutcliffe slurred out something like, “Don’t get me started on the NFL.”

wha? who even said anything about the NFL? we’re watching THE BASEBALL. i don’t want to hear ANYTHING about the NFL until THE BASEBALL season is over.

and you can tell O’Brien’s all, “what? who said… what’s wrong with the NFL?- and there’s a fly ball and we’ve got Cubs on the corners-”

“i’m from missouri.”

“and here they have a chance to score- foul tip the count is two and two. i believe the Brewers have used up their bullpen.”

“and my Chiefs just aren’t doing well.”

“…”

“hey, this pitcher is the saver. he’s suppose to save the game not let the other team score!”

thanks, Sut. i’m sure the pitcher knows that.

is he always like that? i don’t catch a lot of Wednesday night games.

oh! and out of nowhere he blurted, “hey! Soriano is the last person to have hit a homerun in a World Series at Yankee Stadium!”

OB is all, “…uh, yeah… i guess… that’s true. -oh and a swing and a miss…”

“we saw that game didn’t we?!”

“…yes… we did.”

it was painful! but also it was wonderful, if you like awkward silences.

(all quotes were paraphrased.)

****

the other day kelly was watching Stand By Me and i was eating a sandwich, i think. i said to her i said, “have you seen Jerry O’connell lately? he looks so good it’s criminal.”

“i know! he’s so hot.”

“yeah, now who’s he married to?”

“Rebecca Romijn.”

“really? wow. she has great taste in men.”

“ha! yeah she does.”

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Tags: baseball, fellykish, TV

Dear Uncle Dante Manglehorn,

You’d help me with my bass? Really? You have a soldering iron and stuff? I used to, but with all 7 moves in the last 8 years… i don’t know where it is. I haven’t bought new pickups for the bass yet. I was going to check around town to see what they had, but if i can’t find anything I’ll probably order some Fender “Noiseless” pickups. I did a bit of reading and it seems like they might fit or they might (read: will definitely) have to be forced to fit (somehow. magic, i guess.) cos I have a Mexican Fender jazz bass and not the over-priced-but-probably-has-better-pickups-in-it American jazz bass.

I was also thinking of upgrading the bridge (to the Badass Bridge!), but I figure I shouldn’t press my luck.

I don’t know when I can actually do this though, as I never really know when I’m going to play for someone at church, and since I only have the one bass I don’t want it to be out of commission for very long. I’d borrow a loaner from someone, but the only other person I know with extra basses is my bro. He said I could use any one of his I want (isn’t he the best?), but gas is expensive as well as spotty at the moment, and I’d hate to get stuck on Mont Eagle (or, anywhere really) without any gas. I wish I had thought of this weeks ago and I would’ve driven up to the Good Ol’ Floppy Top and had a good time visiting the TN Pickles.

So as soon as I get some pickups I will TOTALLY take all the help I can get with this little project. I was going to ask Brookie for help, but he’s busier than like, 4 of us put together. So thank you, Dan, for offering! you’ve eased my mind a bit. I was really dreading all of this.

Love,

Jaimie

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Tags: bass, brookie, dante manglehorn, leetle brahther

mr. fleegan watched me while i laughed like a lunatic. i think maybe it’s because of all the dead frogs i’ve fished out of the pool and tried to huck into the creek only to find that i didn’t get enough air and they hit the fence and then, well, like Peter, i try not to pick up the frog with my hands and… the sound… and it’s just perfect. so yeah, Jimmy didn’t think it was that funny while i was shriek laughing like some kind of harpie on meth. meth harpie.

***

in other realms of pathetic:

on saturday night fellykish and i were eating brownies and ice cream.

for dinner.

kelly: i wish jimmy were here.

me: so he would talk us out of eating brownies for dinner?

kelly: no, so he would make us some pizza rolls or something.

i know. and our Guitar Hero co-op band name is JellyFones. yeah, that’s how we roll.
pretty much like 12 year olds.

speaking of 12 year olds, i’m reading Breaking Dawn. I’m just about halfway. HALFWAY THROUGH THIS 750 PAGE NIGHTMARE. i will definitely be glad when this is over. i’m at a part right now where i’m so skeeved out i actually don’t WANT to know what’s going to happen. and whatever is going to happen i hope it happens soon because i am ready for this to end.

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Tags: Family Guy, Stephenie Meyer, YA Lit.

did you know that The Wiz is 30 years old this year? heh. remember when the winkies are set free from their costumes in the sweatshop and they sing this? no? well Family Guy does, and like, me and 3 other people.

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Tags: Family Guy, movies

46. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

We all know how I feel about this series and it’s characters. That being said, this book was not as annoying as New Moon because even though Bella is annoying and whiney and selfish and terrible… she’s not all of those things at once for 70 pages at a time. So the story was much better.

I won’t go into the story so as not to spoil anything.

I’m still not a fan of Bella (or Edward), but I’m glad there seemed to be some lessons learned (sort of. not really though. but compared to New Moon the characters at least start to learn something.)

Also, why are these books 600 pages long? Sheesus. I’m just relieved there’s only one more book left.

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Tags: books, Stephenie Meyer, YA Lit.

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