because day after tomorrow is just too many syllables

Poplollies and Bellibones is a fun book by Susan Kelz Sperling about words that have fallen out of use in modern English. I found a copy for a dime a few years ago at a book sale and have been enjoying finding and trying out new (old) words.
I am on a quest to bring overmorrow back to common usage.
It indicates the day after tomorrow and has a commonly used equivalent in German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Afrikaans and French.
Come on people, join me in promoting overmorrow in sentences such as, "Overmorrow is Saturday; let's go dancing" and, "There is no possible way i can have 70 original greeting cards created by overmorrow! Have you gone insane?"

rice dancing on the lint trap

No, my friends, i don't know what that post title means either.
That is the phrase that was in my head when the alarm pulled me from my nap yesterday.
Actually, i think it was misheard song lyrics as i sometimes dream in musicals.
Either way, it is a little glimpse into what it is like to live in my head.

The last week has been really weird, even by Nikiverse standards.
Nothing bad, just weird.
Wait... typing that sentence gives me pause.
There were things happening in the last week that any normal person would consider bad, like sliding into an ice bank while wearing a skirt right before a business meeting or getting towed by a predatory company to the tune of $250.
But in the Nikiverse i consider those things to just be the way of the world.
When i thought nothing bad just now i was thinking no one died.
People use that phrase all the time, but it is the actual measure of good vs bad in my head.
I wonder if that is a good thing because it means i am able to rebound from things quickly or a bad thing because it means my world is even more skewed than i realize.

Speaking of skewed, i clearly remember learning the word askew in fifth grade. We were reading Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time where it was used to describe Mrs. Whatsit.
Every time i use any variation of that word, that book flashes quickly through my brain.

I cut things, it's what i do.
My friend Cricket once described scrapbooking as cutting big pieces of paper into smaller pieces of paper to make into big pieces of paper, which is pretty accurate.
Card making is much the same.
I have straight edge scissors all over the house, in my car, in my various toolboxes so it was causing me much consternation that i couldn't find my favorite purple scissors and it seemed like i kept picking up pairs that weren't cutting well.
Girl needs to cut stuff, people!

Even i was surprised how many scissors there were,
especially since not pictured are my fabric shears,
jewelry scissors and decorative edgers.

So i gathered together all the straight edge scissors i could find, de-gunked them all and then sharpened each edge by hand with a whet stone.

By jiminy, they will all cut whatever needs cutting now.

Unfortunately, still no sign of my favorite purple scissors.

Ah, well.

did she say fairy godmother?

Long, long ago (3 months) I announced that I was making a fairy godmother costume (mentioned it in passing in a small print post script).
You see, I was going to be the Fairy Godmother at the Soroptomist Princess Tea - a fundraiser we do where girls dress like princesses, have tea and cookies, create sparkly crafts, etc. The Fairy Godmother reads princess stories to them and leads the Princess Parade.
I volunteered to do it way back in November because, well... have you met me?
Anyhoo, the club owns a very nice costume that looks like the FGM from Cinderella, who obviously did not have any boobs. It fit great except across the chest where it cut off my ability to breathe; honestly, my diaphragm couldn't move.
The logical answer?
Make another costume, of course, because you know I am such a great seamstress.
Yes, I am so untalented with a needle that I was afraid to just add a little fabric for breathing room to the top of the professional costume because I was sure I would ruin it, but create a gown from scratch? NO PROBS.
It had to be long, pretty, a bit matronly and not look like a princess.
I found a great sparkly silver sweater set at Goodwill that was way too big so the matronly part was covered. Plus I figured I could just make a skirt instead of the whole gown.
After a long time in Joanne Fabrics I found lining on sale and decided on lavender because 1) I love purple, 2)  purple is royal, and 3) there are no Princesses that wear lavender.
How much do you need? inquired the helpful cutting lady.
Four, no five yards.
Maybe five and a half.
Let's see how much is on the bolt, was my brilliant, well-informed answer.

So I ended up with six yards of this lavender fabric..
Easily twice as much as I needed

When you buy fabric off of a bolt it is folded in half; when I unfolded my piece at home it turns out that it was about the same width as my height. I was planning on using the selvage edge as my hem anyway (cut me some slack all of you sewers out there who just gasped; the dress was for three hours with six-year olds and I have never made any clothes from scratch) so to avoid more cutting I revise my design from a skirt back to a full gown.

I like how the words my design make it sound like I had any idea of what I was doing. In fact, I had done it as a geometry problem: I need it to be this circumference for a few inches under my arms, then this circumference across my breasts, then this circumference for the length of the rest of my torso, then my waist and then my hips. I decided how large of a circle I wanted it to be around me at the floor (or the poofiness as I was calling it in my head). Then it was just connecting all of the circles with lines.
Easy-peasy.
[it totally made sense in my head. I explained it twice to my mom who used to design and sketch dresses when she was a teenager. She was dubious at best]

After giving the fabric a quick iron I assembled my tailoring tools:

pins, measuring tape, Sharpie and hammer

"Measure twice, cut once" applies to fabric as well as wood so I was very careful to pin and mark the fabric so that I would only have to make one seam: basically it was just a somewhat modified, graduating cylinder transitioning to a cone. (I wonder if there is a name for that shape)

Pinning all along the seam before cutting the fabric was the most time consuming part.

My straight pins were MIA so safety pins had to do the job. With the cardigan I figured I could just pin the top so the pins ran along the cut line, but where I was going to have run the skirt through the sewing machine I pinned across the line as Jean Kake taught me.

Hands down the scariest part was cutting the fabric.
You can't uncut something, people.
With my Grandma Craig's fabric scissors in hand I took a deep breath and just did it.



Sewing time!
Jean -the Quilted Cupcake master herself- had given me a sewing machine and shown me how to thread and run it since Home Ec was a zillion years ago. Frankly, I was terrible in sewing back then, ironing the side of my hand and running the needle over my finger, but I did great with Jean.
In fact I took all of these pictures during the process because I wanted her to see that I used the knowledge and machine she gave me.
One tiny problem: the machine would not bring up the bobbin thread.
 I threaded the needle several times, took out the needle and reset it, tried the thread from the back and the front, took out the bobbin and reset it several times, all to no avail. Everything looked right over and over again, but every time I used the wheel to lower the needle no bobbin thread came up with the needle thread.
AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH
I spent about 25 minutes trying to get it to work until finally I snapped and yelled at the machine, Oh yeah? You think you can twart me? Defeat me? I am a tool user, you stupid machine. I will make this @#$%^ dress even if I have to staple the whole thing together.
So I did.

Ever stapled a floor length, pooffy skirt? I don't recommend it. 

Tea time arrived and I donned my totally jerry-rigged gown: skirt stapled, bodice tucked and pinned around my bra and neckline rolled and shaped with a purple flower brooch from 1988.
With my silver wand and a bottle of purple glitter tucked into the sleeves of my sweater, hair curled and pinned with flowers and butterflies and a matching lavender crown I was ready to whip up some magic.

The tea was so fun.
As the Fairy Godmother I ended up emceeing the afternoon, making all of the announcements and such. The book a chose -a great newish book about urban princesses called The Princess of 8th St by Linas Alsenes- went over great with the girls. After pouring tea and assisting with crafts, i taught them how to royal wave (we did screw in the light bulb) and curtsy, which they did on command in the craziest parade/follow the leader I have ever had the pleasure to lead.
Of course everything was done with handfuls of purple glitter thrown in the air, over me, over the girls, everywhere. In fact as I left afterwards to go to work at the Parisian Flea (yes, I went in costume just to see what my boss would say. He about died laughing in the doorway as I put money in the meter and then asked if I brought other clothes with me) I looked down to realize that I was caked with glitter.

sorry about the gratuitous cleavage; that's my POV,
not the way it looked to the girls 

Later I was informed that I am now Fairy Godmother for life.
Maybe with nine months lead time I can actually get a gown sewn for the next tea.
Newspaper coverage of the event here.

Home again, Home again, jiggedy-jig

sigh... vacation is over...
I had a wonderful time and brought back a few pictures of the glaciery goodness. Be patient and mayhaps you will see them before 2014.
Guess what i did on the plane home?
Read Sidhartha.
Really.
After a dozen years carrying it around.
After its continual mocking from the To Be Read pile.
Finally, i read it and in fact, quite enjoyed it.
sigh... i love vacation...

2011 book review

There was a lot less reading in the Nikiverse this year as there was distinctly a lot more doing.
I was shocked when i counted and had only read 68 books last year; 10 of those were rereads.
The genre breakdown is pretty much what you would expect from me:
Mystery/Action - 28
SF/F - 30
YA - 28
Non-fiction - 3
Short Story collections - 1
Graphic Novels - 3
new series started - 9
Here are 3 recommendations and 1 warning:
Totally Worth the Wait: The release of Jim Butcher's next Dresden File book was pushed back, twice. It felt like forever and ever and ever, but he said on his blog that he didn't want to release something half-assed when with a few more months of work it could be whole-assed. And he was so right. Ghost Story was not only worth the wait, but took Harry Dresden and his universe of unusual characters is a direction i could never, ever have anticipated. Well Done!
Totally NOT Worth the Wait: What happened Charlaine Harris? I've been enjoying the Sookie Stackhouse novels quite a bit, even as they go further and further afield, but Dead Reckoning was just painfully mediocre. I guess i can give you a pass on this one since the odds are in your favor. Better luck next time.
So Fun on So Many Levels: Jasper Fford's Thursday Next series has something for everybody: mystery, romance, literary allusions, puns, farce and fun with grammar.
Something Actually Different in YA: If you read enough books in any genre you start to feel like you've seen every theme, every outcome, every scenario; Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, starting with Mister Monday was a treat of variety. Yes, there is a parallel world and yes, only our hero can access it and yes, he has to find strength in himself that he didn't know he had, but the trappings of the world were really different, making use of color and time and the Seven Deadly Sins. Plus the ending was not what i expected, which is always a plus.

i heart girl geeks

How many of you read Cake Wrecks?
Hilarious, right?
I enjoy it, but i really love the author's personal blog, Epbot.
Jen is a full-on girl geek.
I appreciate her humor and that she loves so many things that i love, too. I've gotten a ton of ideas from her; some day i hope to turn my smashed penny collection into super-neato jewelry. That's right, not only does she collect smashed pennies, but she makes her own jewelry.
Sound like anyone you know?
Anyhoo, she and her husband John -who appears regularly on both blogs- went on a book tour for the Cake Wrecks holiday book and the third stop was about 15 minutes from my house and conveniently on a weekend so i was able to go.
As is my way, i went early cause being short means that you need to be in the front if you are gonna see a dang thing. I scored a seat in the front row. SWEET!
As soon as they arrived, Jen and John were just as laid back and personable as they seem in cyberspace. They bring their own gear and set up themselves to alleviate any last minute kerfluffles with using other people's sound systems.

well, technically Jen waits

while John sets up

There was a pre-show pre-show, then a pre-show, then the show with both of them talking about some of their favorite wrecks and writing the blog and writing the book and being on a book tour and whatever seemed to occur to them.

It was entertaining, yet comfortable. Jen and John took questions and spent a long time with the audience. Before the actual book signing, though there was a contest for the best cupcake version of a cake wreck that audience members had made.



his shirt is Boba Fetch; really

 Plus, there was a Charm City Cake done as a wreck of Jen (i didn't get a pic before it was cut); that is the head sitting on the table in front of John.

As we went through the book signing line we were given a piece of it; yes, it was delicious.

I didn't have a book for her to sign -cleaning out my book shelves is on the 40 While I'm 40 list after all- so she signed on of the Epbot pins that they had made for the tour; i've turned into a fridge magnet.
Since she does steampunk crafting i gifted her some antique Victorian lace that i've hand-dyed for my own crafting purposes (like the pin and hair clip that i am wearing).

It is great when the people you want to meet are as nice in real life as you hope they are.

Books, 2010 edition

2010 was a strange year for reading in the Nikiverse.
I read a bit less than usual and did quite a bit of rereading beloved books for comfort; however, i did find a few new authors/series that i really like.
 Let's go to the numbers, Richard:
books read: 98
most read month: July, 18
least read month: February and March tie, 2
rereads: 15
YA: 43
new series started: 7
Glad I read it, but not worth the hype: Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer; yes, i finally read it. I was pleasantly surprised that the books were better than i was expecting; I pounded out all four books in a week just to get it over with. There were some interesting new takes on vampire-lore. I kinda wished she's stopped at Twilight cause it could easily have stood alone. Eclipse and Breaking Dawn were both fine and took some nice turns. You couldn't pay me enough money to read New Moon again - blech. After reading the books i am actually more disinclined than ever to see the movies.
Why is there not more way more hype?: Percy Jackson series by Rick Riorodan; holy crap are these books good. Not only is this a fun, quick-paced adventure, it is a great intro to the hero's journey mythos. Plus it gets Greek mythology right; you're learning without even realizing it. Riordan has released the first book in the next series/crossover that covers Roman mythology; i'm unamused that i have to wait for the next one.
Favorite new series: Dresden Files by Jim Butcher; so good i got a sunburn because of it. I'm not really sure how i missed this wizard private eye series, but i'm glad i finally found it. The characters aren't one-dimensional and undergo serious changes across the series. Harry Dresden has a flippant, sardonic way of looking at life with thoughts and comments peppered with geeky pop references that a Gen X-er (even a happy-go-lucky one like me) can appreciate. I read all 10 books right in a row and thought that was the whole series, just to find out that there is an 11th book coming out this year. Hurry!
 Favorite new author: Jasper Fforde; his Nursery Crime series is fast and funny. I've started his Thursday Next series, but can't comment on them cause they are in 2011, but i will say that it is nice to have an author write for an audience who knows books.
Best non-fiction book: you know i don't like non-fiction, but Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv about nature deficiency was phenomenal. If you work with kids, have kids or ever encounter kids at all in your life you should read this book that hypothesises that a lot of the health and developmental issues plaguing this generation of children isn't just because of the time they spend with technology, but because of the time they don't spend in nature. It is fascinating to see the distinction between those two things and it warms my heart to finally hear someone say that playing on a soccer team does not COUNT as being in nature. Read it.

Why people, why?

This is the top of a cookbook i checked out of the library. Do you see all of those folded-down dog eared pages? There are over ten of them: we are talking double digits here, people. These are not accidental page folds, but crisp, precise diagonal page folds that someone did on purpose to mark recipes s/he wanted to try. I personally never fold book pages because i hate dog ears, but i don't care what you do to your own books in your own home.
This, however, is a LIBRARY book.
It does not belong to you, mystery-page-folding-person.
You were borrowing it.
Other people are going to use it after you.
You have damaged private property.
You didn't even have the courtesy to flatten the pages back down before you returned it.
What is wrong with you that you are so self-centered, self-involved that not only do you think it is okay to alter a library book, but it doesn't even occur to you that you should try to cover your tracks.
 UGGGGHHHHHH!
Stop being a selfish moron!

phew... i feel better; sorry you had to witness that fit, friends

mobs of people - pioneer style

Last night i went to a book signing with the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond.
I've read her blog for a few years and really enjoy her recipes so when i found out that she was going to be in Fairfax, VA i decided to go. I had several important meeting yesterday that couldn't be postponed so i couldn't leave work until 3:30. I figured on afternoon traffic so the plan was to get there at 5:30, but the traffic gods smiled on me and i got there at 5:00.
Good thing, too.
Arriving 1 hour before the scheduled start time, i received ticket number 200. Wow; there were a lot of people there. It was a bit of a mob because the bookstore only anticipated 50-100 people. Really? In fact the manager had never heard of her and apparently didn't look her up. Don't you think that if you are hosting a book signing that you would want to know more about the author than her publicity blurb? Though the staff seemed a bit shell-shocked, the crowd was mostly well behaved and jovial.
Of course, if you are 5'3" the event looks like this:
I brought a book to read while we milled about waiting. Almost on time the manager did an introduction and the Pioneer Woman emerged. At least i assume she did cause people clapped, hundreds of cameras started flashing and someone with a different voice started speaking.
Let's see if we can find her by holding the camera up over my head:
There she is!
  - over there, see?
 I was surprised by how soft-spoken Ree is; you would expect someone louder given her writing style. Also her accent was interesting, not really strong and sort of a mix between midwest and southern (which i guess if you look at the position of Oklahoma in the country, makes sense). She spoke for a few minutes, took a couple questions and got to the signing pretty quickly. They called us by color tickets (50 tickets to a color) to line up. By my count they had at least 8 color groups so there the line snaked in and out and around every corner of the store.
It was kinda crazy.
Every once in a while as you turned a corner you could see progress:
is that the signing table?
Yes, it was a long time to stand around and be in maze-like queues and yes, it got hot and stuffy and yes, some people don't seem to understand that if their Screechy McWhiny toddler goes off like an ear-piercing fire alarm every 10 minutes for a sustained 7 minute scream they should Go Home because he is not gonna calm down and yes, some people thought it appropriate to get five books signed at once (sure i can see 2 - if i had the money i certainly would have gotten my beloved BFF one and maybe even 3 if you had 2 sisters, but don't you think FIVE is kinda selfish and ridiculous considering that there are at least 400 people in line?), but overall it was a fun experience.
I like the communal experience of large groups of people that are all interested in the same thing (sporting events come to mind) cause it is easy to start chatting with complete strangers. I like watching group dynamics. Plus, i was able to read 163 pages of my book.
And, in the end, i did indeed get my cookbook signed by the author who was gracious and took a minute to not only chat with each person she saw, but had someone (publicist, maybe?) ready to take a picture on your camera. [and i just realized that i get to count this as a new thing in May as i have never gone to a book signing before!]

2009 book breakdown

I read a lot last year -because that's what i do- but i realized as i was culling my commonplace book to put this post together that it wasn't really a stand-out year for books for me.
I enjoyed almost all of what i read.
 I found some new authors.
I started some new series.
 But there were no books that after i read them i thought, Man, i need to write a blog post about that or Everyone i know must read this book. There also weren't any Jeez that was so bad i feel like i should get a time refund from the author moments either. I guess some years are just like that.
Anyhoo, since no great truth or hidden wisdom was revealed to me during my perusal of last year's books, here is just a super quick breakdown of the literary habits of the Nikiverse, circa 2009:
Total books read: 132
Re-reads: 6
Mystery/ action: 68
Children's/ YA: 37
Graphic novel/manga/comic collections: 19
Short story collections: 6
New series started: 7
Most read month: August, 22
Least read month: March, 0
Most read author: Charlaine Harris, 25
Most interesting read: Lullaby, Chuck Palahnuik
Most surprising reveal: the Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart
Most quotes gleaned from: The Book of the Unknown, Jonathon Keats
Best title: the hollow chocolate bunnies of the apocalypse, Robert Rankin
The story was better than the movie: "Quantum of Solace", Ian Fleming
The movie was better than the book: The City of Ember, Jeanne DuPrau
It will be interesting to see how things go in 2010, especially since i just finished a book by a cartoonist that features a dachshund with a soup ladle for a leg.

Glimpses into the Commonplace Book

I do loves me some words - love 'em. I have been a word collector and a quote collector most of my life in one way or another. Even as a child i learned the words of a song after only a few listens; words just stick in my brain. A few years ago i started gathering up all of the slips of paper and notes and scribbled napkins that had accumulated in my life in an attempt to capture all of the wonderful words i've found in one place. I enjoy reading weekly quotes on other people's blogs so i have added a new side bar that will have something plucked from my very pink commonplace book. Some quotes echo how i feel about a particular subject, some i find thought provoking even if i don't agree with them, some make me laugh and some i just enjoy their use of language. It is my intention to update it Wednesdayly; we'll see how that goes.

I like books

I do really, really like books; I love thoughts and words and pictures in my head.
I'm fascinated that something as mercurial as emotion can be captured in 2 dimensions; the concept of written language is cool.
I've always been a voracious reader, but living without cable for nearly 3 years has given me the time to rediscover books.
Living on the same road as the library helps, too.
 I always intend to review the books i'm reading like the fabulous Kaaren, but i never do. Instead of resigning myself to complete failure I offer here a brief-ish rundown on what i read in 2008 with some highlights. [note - if i say NEW obviously i mean "new to Niki" cause i am always years behind (or ahead) of any trend]
Books read : 104
# of rereads : 7
Non-fiction : 7
Children / Young Adult : 50
Newbery winners : 15
Graphic novel / comic compelations : 12
Science Fiction : 3
Fantasy : 29
Mystery : 16
Best : The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo - i really love this book; you can read my purple review here
Worst : The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan - supposedly about the banality of evil this book was in fact, just banal itself. The evil wasn't really that evil, the secret wasn't terribly shocking considering the circumstance and the characters were downright unlikable. If time were money I'd demand a refund.
Best new children's series : The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley - there are 5 books so far in this twist-on-fairy tales series that are quick, fun, witty and yet still manage to delve into slightly deeper themes.
 Best new adult series : the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich - i've read 12 of the 17 books about the New Jersey bounty hunter and enjoy the idiosyncratic characters and pure escapism plots; i mean her car was smashed by a garbage truck for goodness sakes.
Fascinating and Fantastical : One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - i'm still confused; the characters have the same names and you can't really tell if it is fantasy or allegory, but i liked it and there were some breath-taking uses of language; i wish i could have read it in its original language cause i bet it was even more beautiful.
Most Over-rated : Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield - i've heard about the "shoe books" forever and checked out several at a time, but was so unimpressed by the first one that i didn't bother with the rest.
I was so amazed and delighted at the end that i immediately flipped to the first page and started over : The Life of Pi by Yann Martel - love, love, loved it and will not comment on it at all so as to not influence anyone else's enjoyment other than to say if you haven't read it, do.
Enjoyed it so much that i read passages aloud in the van, but then was so angry at the end that i threw it to the floor and physically stomped on it : Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquirel - loved the format, the use of language, the imaginative characters, and the unique plot; hated the ending - HATED IT - but i still recommend the book anyway.
Not at all what i was expecting award : Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling - Kipling and New England? Kipling and fishing? What? Liked it once i got over the surprise though the dialect dialogue was a bit thick.
The You Fail award : Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire - didn't finish reading it; i tried and tried but couldn't muster enough interest to continue past about 100 pages of this 3rd Wicked book.
Most impactful : The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran - perhaps i was influenced by being exhausted, hot, grimy and a bit tipsy while cleaning out Douglas' mother's house the day before her memorial service, but i cried from beginning to end as i read it sitting on the floor amidst the never-ending piles of crap.
Glad i finally got around to reading it : the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett - i've only done 6 of the 25, but at least now i know what everyone is talking about.
Loved the movie so much i read the book : The Prestige by Christopher Priest - i was spellbound by the movie (Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in the same place? Yes, please) but couldn't imagine how the book could've been written cause of all the twists and turns; the book is very good and twisty in its own right, but different from the movie in a lot of little details, like character and plot. I highly recommend both though they have little in common.
Liked the book so much now i want to see the movie : The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy - a compelling "what if" based on a real-life crime, it is gritty with interesting characters and an ending i didn't see coming until it was almost upon me.
Most infuriating Author's Afterword : Brisingr by Christopher Paolini - i reread the first 2 books in the trilogy when the third was published in September only to get to the end of the third and find out he'd decided to make it a series so now in 2 years i'll have to reread all 3 before the 4th comes out - if i'd known that before i started i would have just waited. Good book, though.
Wait, i thought i read this before : the last 4 books in the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis - i thought i'd read them all when i was younger, but The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew and the Last Battle were completely unfamiliar when i read them in April; they're all good, but Voyage of the Dawn Treader is still my favorite. And if you're going to read them, for goodness sakes read them in the order they were published and not in the ridiculous chronological order they are currently being sold in.
Surprisingly good : The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - i tend to avoid anything that might have been in Oprah's book club, but i had a free copy of this book and i really enjoyed the strong female characters and the basic message of finding your own power on spite of your surroundings.
So moved by it and it captures some of my own philosophy so well that I want to hand out copies on the street corner : The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom - i loved it; read it; read it now.

a little mouse with a big heart

I was recently reminded that this holiday season Universal will be releasing the animated movie The Tale of Despereaux. I read the book (a Newbery award winner) for the first time in January; i kept meaning to write about it, but that post just slipped through the cracks. I do want to tell all of you that you should definitely read it before the movie comes out; the movie looks good (i intend on going to see it), but as you would expect it looks a bit lighter, more simplistic and far more straightforward than the book, cutting all of the subtlety and non-holiday-fare parts.
          Come to think of it, everyone should read this book whether they are planning on seeing the movie or not. Not only is it my favorite that i've read so far this year, i think it might be among my favorites of all time. 

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread

by Kate Dicamillo is a modern fairy tale and like the fairy tales of yore it is pretty dark, scary and bloody in parts. It doesn't shy away from the harsher parts of life : when people die they don't come back and their death affects those around them; there are consequences - good and bad - to every one's actions; the world is never exactly how you want it to be and neither are the people that inhabit it.
         The author writes as a storyteller; that is, she speaks to the reader and acknowledges that this is a story she is telling you. I really liked her voice and the overall tone of it. It was by turns funny and heartbreaking; I laughed out loud even on the second and third read (the third time was Friday during lunch and then on the van ride home), teared up in places and outright cried twice.
       Like some of my other favorite books it is non-linear, written with jump backs to get you caught up on different characters' lives until they intersect. It is a super-quick read and would be a great book to read aloud. The plot (like all fairy tales really) is nonsensical with a sickly runt of a mouse falling in love with a princess, but it really comes through in the philosophy department.
What does it mean to be good or evil?
If a good person does something society doesn't like does that make them evil?
Is evil born in you, grown in you or both?
If you have done evil things can you ever not be evil?
How do you react when people or events hurt you?
 How does pain change you?
How do you find hope?
Is there such a thing as happily ever after?
          It is painful in parts, but overall uplifting (much like life, no?). Intended for the 8-12 year old crowd you can see the morals that it is trying to convey, but as a 37 year old reading it i saw more the lessons i have already learned echoed in a beautiful, poignant way. I really think that an adult with some life behind them can appreciate it in a way that a kid couldn't.
      I'll admit that part of the reason i really, really, really liked the book was that it was unbelievably timely; i read it when i was personally struggling with one of the major themes of the book. But i truly believe that if you have ever been in love, if you have ever been in love with someone you can't have, if you have ever been betrayed, if you have ever betrayed anyone, if you have ever felt different, if you have ever hoped, if you have ever wished for more than you've been given, if you have ever been compelled to action, if you have ever grieved, if you have ever listened to your inner voice, if you have ever wished you had the courage to listen to your inner voice, if you have ever pushed yourself past exhaustion and fear because you've had no other choice, if you have ever been forgiven, if you have ever had to find forgiveness even when you didn't want to, if you have ever loved soup, if you have ever loved fairy tales, or if you have ever had a thing for little mice with big ears, this is the book for you.