Here is the week. Monday: Congo. Tuesday: Congo. Wednesday: Congo. Thursday: We’ll see, but let’s guess Congo.
I’ve been talking to people, writing, thinking, cleaning the mirrors. For some reason, grocery shopping has become the chore I forget most often. And then I go to the kitchen to get something to eat, and that’s when I realize I really haven’t been to the grocery store lately. We have a bowl full of oranges and a half gallon of milk and a bag of jelly beans I’ve promised myself I won’t touch for the rest of the week. I believe there are sweet potatoes I bought the other day, and five ears of corn. All these random bits and pieces, no real cohesion, no real meals.
I’ll borrow from Sabrina’s famous “snippets” style to finish this because right now my brain is kind of like our kitchen, all bits and pieces, moving this direction when I’m wanting another. I’ve cleared the schedule for the rest of the week to sit at the computer and write, write, write. That’s when Congo gets switched on, and the bits and pieces are at least focused on one thing, and I can forget the kitchen, forget about dinner, at least for a time.
So.
- I don’t know why everyone is acting like last night’s American Idol was so shocking. Jesse and I called it as soon as the final two were announced, and we’ve only watched maybe half the episodes this season. Think about it! Who votes on this show? Fourteen-year-old girls. Who are fourteen-year-old girls going to vote for? Who are the Danny Gokey people going to vote for? And besides, I think the judges kind of killed it for Adam because they kept going overboard with the love–that’s going to get all the Kris fans voting hardcore. Anyway. Sometimes it’s fun to devote a decent amount of brain energy to something that really, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t all that important.
- Even though we’ve had a good amount of rain lately, the garden does not seem to be growing at the rate I think it should. I’m not sure if I’m being impatient or if my plants are just not happy or what. The cantaloupe plants in the corner of the yard are growing like weeds. Which worries me, as the plants in the actual garden are not.
- I need some good books to read. Lately, I’ve stumbled onto a lot of books I technically should read, but they aren’t exactly page-turners. Any suggestions? What I really want is a book I can’t put down, a book I think about when I’m not reading, a book that feels so real that finishing it is a little jarring.
9 Comments
The last page turner I read was “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. It is incredibly addicting in it’s feeling of desolation and isolation (sorry for the rhyme scheme there) and heart warming with the relationship between father and son. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I am also reading “Jesus Wants to Save Christians” by Rob Bell. It is an interesting read with some interesting points of view. It grates my nerves a bit, but I like that about it. Definitely challenges the way I think about the Scriptures and how I read them.
OK, snippet girl. Here are my thoughts:
1) Rick & I called Kris’ win as soon as Danny was eliminated as well. The only reason people think it’s a shocker is beucase the judges praised Adam sooooooo much every single week and had deemed him the winner. But it’s not over til the fat lady sings. (That’s not a very politically correct saying, is it?)
2) Have you tried talking to your plants? (You’re laughing now aren’t you.) I have a house plant book that tells me to talk to them. Like I’ve got time to carry on a social life with my plants.
3) Fiction or Non-fiction? My book shelves spilleth over! I’ll be glad to bring you a book if you let me know what you like.
Dave: Both those books have been on my to-read list for a while (well, the Rob Bell book is fairly new, so I guess it hasn’t been on the list all that long), so I think your recommendations mean it’s high time I actually went to the library and got them. Actually, I don’t think the library will have the Bell book, but I can guess that half the people on staff do, and I’m sure one of them isn’t reading it right this second.
Rachel: I know, I kept thinking to the judges: stop! You’re killing his chances by acting like it’s a sure thing! His fans will get complacent because they’ll think it’s a sure thing, and everyone else will be voting like crazy because they’re for the underdog, and who doesn’t like the underdog? (Not calling Kris a dog, or anything…)
Also, fiction or nonfiction–I’m up for both! I’m just looking for something impeccably written and engrossing. Maybe a narrative of some kind (so, perhaps memoir if it’s NF). You’re so kind!
Oh, and this is how desperate I am for this garden to grow. I actually thought, “Well, I could just hold the cell phone up to my ear as I talked to the plants, so no one would know I’m crazy…”
In FL, we just had 4 days of non-stop rain, and my plants are really, really happy. Maybe yours just need more water?
Some books I have loved recently:
History of Love by Nicole Krauss
What Is the What? by Dave Eggers
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger
Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard
Patience dear Erin. Patience. And if you need to do something in the mean time, well may I suggest not look at it for a few days! And cow manure. That always helps my dad’s garden!
All right, I’ve got The Road and The Year of Living Biblically and a couple Vonnegut books. Fun! Yana, I adore What Is the What? and need to read it again. The other branch of our local library has more books from your list, so I’ll have to plan a trip over there to pick some of those up. Thanks for the suggestions guys!
I can recommend (sp? I can never remember one c or two?!) two books: they are some of my “highly regarded” faculty from Queens, one just got the Pulitzer Prize so I am a little proud to have just graduated from there
The Sisters Antipodes by Jane Alison
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (the Pulitzer winner)
I have also been reading Remember by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley. It is a pretty easy read, but was recommended to me b/c there are some endearing moments that deal with Alzheimer’s. It is a sweet little story.
Anyway, hope ya’ll are well! I’m just trying to get back in the swing of things here in Wilmington, but now I can also say that I AM DONE WITH SCHOOL! MFA sistas!
Woooooo! You made it! Go Betsy, go Betsy!