Summer Reading Log 4

MUSEUMS & WOMEN and Other Stories  by  JOHN UPDIKE

I just love John Updike.

 This collection held most of 'The Maples Stories', one of my personal favorites. I had already read some of the other short stories in this collection. Other stories included were fun, new discoveries, like 'The Deacon'.

 The copy I got from the library succeeded in scandalizing my children every time they spied the cover, so Bonus Points for Updike. (See?)

Reading Updike on the beach,  Fourth of July. 

THE AMATEUR MARRIAGE  by ANNE TYLER

I just love Anne Tyler. 

This was a re-read. I had read this story many years ago. In the spirit of full disclosure, I wasn't positive about that until I started to read. However... I just love Anne Tyler... so I kept reading...anyway,  a lot of 'old' books are becoming more and more like new books. Though, for me, the first thing I forget is not the author, rather the ending, still I have found forgetting happens... true enough. 

(I just love Billy Collins)

 The Amateur Marriage 'time travels' with a couple, from their genesis during a WWII enlistment parade to a date just beyond the edge of 'Nine Eleven', where the story concludes just as we knew it would;  with a love that endures (jet lagged though she be).

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE  by Roger Hargreaves

A handful of Mr. Men and Little Miss books had been banished to the dollar bin @ BAM- so we adopted them. 

Little Miss Sunshine thinks it is SILLY to do something just because a sign tells you to- especially if the sign makes you sad. I'm not sure encouraging Rye to paint anything was a great idea, but that is just how I described Little Miss Sunshine's problem solving... if you don't like what the sign says, paint a new sign that makes you happy.

Hmmm,  perhaps these aren't meant to be moral tales. 

~~~~~***~~~~~~***~~~~~~***~~~~~~

Because summer reading at our library instigated this series of semi-book reviews, I thought this would be the ideal post to put a link to OpenLibrary.org.

 (You may or may not have noticed I linked at least one of the above books to its copy on OL... just trying to help.)

 If you don't already have a (free) account there, you're wasting daylight, especially if you make use of an e-reader. 

Go. 

Check It Out!

 ::smirky:: 

Summer Reading Log 3

BUTTER SAFE THAN SORRY by Tamar Myers

This was my first time reading Tamar Myers. I loved the featured Amish and Mennonite characters, as well as Methodist, Baptists, good old fashioned pagans-(wait, is that redundit?) and nudist nuns to boot.

Amish themes make me nostalgic for our time in Kentucky. I welcome writing that incites nostalgia.

The story is full of word play, while the storyline itself is a little zany. This was the last title in a series of 18 and if I'm not mistaken, meant to be read in a particular order. Most of the characters were spoken of in familiar tones with little time spent re-introducing them. Many 'incidents' were referred to as if everyone had already heard the gossip (or read the previous books)

I love interactive books, though I have yet to try the butter based recipes included between chapters. I am looking forward to trying at least a few of them and probably, every single one.

Myers offers some other genres that I may check into. To me, the most interesting writing by Tamar was what I read of her own, personal bio. Perhaps it's that PK/MK bias, but I like her.

After I finished the last page, one element keeps coming back to me: the protagonist's unwitting ability to mimic the mating calls of various nearby farm animals with her singing or other cacophonous. emanations.

I remembered that smirky device again recently at a baseball game, where the high pitched calling from a lady in the stands put me on alert for a sudden convergence of amorous  ganders in our midst.  

THE DARK by Lemony Snicket

It's Lemony Snicket. For children.  What else needs to be said? I wish it had more pages. I wish it were a new chapter book to read aloud to The Big Kids... perhaps we will re-visit Unfortunate Events as a read aloud selection... just as soon as we finish Moby Dick... (what was I thinking?!) Still- it's Lemony Snicket- we'll take what we can get.

SUPERNATURAL WAR   (an eBook) by Bill Myers

Unlike most titles I've read by Myers, this book is an account of real events in the author's life. It was easy to see how these events, amongst others, have informed much of his fiction that deals with super natural elements. I am still processing what I read and mulling over the thoughts and questions that have arisen since I finished the last sentence. Though the era of 'The Jesus People' was a little before my time, and though I've never attended any of the 'spin-off' groups that resulted from the original cluster of 'Jesus Freaks' (at least, not to my knowledge) the spiritual atmosphere in which this account is described is familiar to me in some distinct ways. Maybe I'll attempt to dissect those in the future... for now, I've got some pondering to do. 

Leimbergs @ the Library

We stopped by the library for the first time in a long while the other day. While inside, rediscovering the joys of the library's "All You Can Read...and for FREE" buffet it began to rain... so we just took our time. 

Books were read, magazines too. 

Blocks were stacked. Puppets emerged. 

Hours passed. 

G.K. is one of my all time favorites... in the whole wide world. This is a children's title, but it is also a metaphor... check it out ;) 

When we were at the Circulation Desk signing up for Summer Reading, a couple asked us if they could take our photo for some library promo materials. Though I usually put up a fuss about being in photos, I was put on the spot and agreed so as to be, well... agreeable. 

So, we did what we could to help the library... these shots, we were informed, would go to make PSA Style posters to promote the library and her various reading programs (Great, I didn't even consult a mirror and they're going to make these photos poster size! Just Wonderful!) 

We were told they are often featured in the local newspaper too. (Double Great!) 

After our session, the couple rounded the library, holding more spontaneous photo shoots. As they snapped the photo of a family nearby, I over heard a librarian talking about what a wonderful and sorta famous photographer we had in our presence. 

When we crossed paths again, the photographer-who had won Riley's approval by talking about block stacking, passed us a business card and an invitation to drop an  email for a copy of the photos taken of our crew:
Steve & JoAnn Leimberg
@ Unseen Images
I checked out the website the following day and found beautiful pictures that tell stories. I sent an email to Mr. Steve and we exchanged pleasant conversation. He also shared with me the copies below. 

I love the library and all the kinds of folks that we meet there :)

(Thanks again, Leimbergs)

Signing up for Summer Reading

Notice Chandler's shout out to Carolina? 

Summer Readers