Definition of Nothingness

Renoir, A Self Portrait



Currently, I am reading a biography of Renoir written my his son Jean.  This little bit struck me as wise this morning:

In discussing his father's personal tastes and asthetics he said, "A visitor once remarked to him: 'What I like about this brand of brandy is that the quality is always the same.  There's never any unpleasant surprise.' 

'What a good definition of nothingness,' answered Renoir." (Renoir, My Father, pg. 381.)

I guess the same could be said about life itself, could it not?

She is a Reader

Would you mind too awfully much if I bragged just a little.  Not about me.  No.  But about my daughter?  Because I'm super proud today.

This morning as I was making her bed (and yes, I still make her bed because it's a twin pushed up against the wall and it is really hard to make with her shorter arms) ANYWAY, as I was making her bed, I glanced at the bedside table and it hit me.  You know what was stacked there?  Books.  Generally books that we read together.  Generally books that I guide her toward, but not anymore.  She has built a stack of books on her own that will take us some time to get through.  And not just any books.  Here are the titles:  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Hamlet, Anne of Green Gables, and Gulliver's Travels.  I had to sit down.

And as I did so, I thought of her backpack this morning, loaded with three more books:  The Moffats, Marley--A Dog Like No Other, and Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief.  She is in the middle of all three of them, despite my protestations that she finish The Moffats before starting the Lightening Thief (which she persuaded me to buy two nights ago.)  "But Mom," she argued.  "That's our newest book club book!"  Yes, she and her best friend have a book club.

She is a reader, I silently gushed as I picked up Gulliver's Travels and fondled the worn hardback cover.  How she came to choose that book I do not know.  I didn't put it in her hands.  I have never read Gulliver's Travels, but I have a fondness for good books and old bookstores, and sometimes I buy them because I'm like a greedy child who grabs more cookies than she can eat just because someone else will get them if she doesn't.  A classic book must have a home.  I have meant to read Gulliver's Travels, and it has been sitting on my shelf for some time, waiting.

There it was that Logan found it on her own one day and added it to her stack of books she wants to read.  A stack of more books than she has time for.

That is a good problem to have.

Warning: Good Read Ahead

Really.  Do yourselves a favor, and do not read this book if you:

1.  want to get enough sleep.

2.  or do anything else.

Because you won't be able to put it down.  You just won't.  I couldn't.  And I have the dark circles under my eyes to prove it. 

Drowning My Sorrow at Treasure Island

Tonight was the night we were supposed to enjoy our new annual Family Valentine's Dinner.  Instead we are nursing two infected ears and a strep throat.  A clue, perhaps, for this new theory that there does exist a corresponding relationship between the upward trend of my mothering and the fledgling decline of my party girl instincts. 

I had big plans.  As I have only left the house for doctor visits, none of those plans have come to fruition.  I am disappointed.

To quell the ache, I bought the Classic Starts abridged version of Treasure Island.  We began reading last night.  My kids begged for more, and more, until the clock struck eight thirty and we had finished six chapters.  Griffin, unable to bear putting it away for the night struggled through a chapter on his own, not a small feat for a new reader, while I read a chapter from Harry Potter to Logan.  (We nearly have the answer to the Chamber of Secrets.  Even Billy Bones and a one legged pirate cannot trump that.)

And so, I lay to rest my dream of the birth of a new tradition in the Wicke household.  Well, not "lay is to rest" maybe, but certainly put it aside for now.  Doing that is ever so much easier while picking up a good book.  And now I'm off to snuggle under a warm blanket with my sick kiddos and travel to distant lands.  Goodbye for now, me hardies.

P.S.  If you are not familiar with the Classic Start series, check it out here.  I am a HUGE fan.

It's that Time of Year

Wouldn't you love to spend some time here??? Gorgeous!

Trinity College Library

I'm putting some thought into my summer reading program again. On the list so far?

David Copperfield
John Adams
Team of Rivals

That's not a complete list, so I ask:

What are you reading?

Wild Colts

I just started reading a biography of Abigail Adams, and already I am falling for her a little bit. You know that game where you can pick 5 people from history that you would like to meet? I think she might just make my list, and I would like to think that she and I would be friends.

Anyway, my first favorite quote came from her grandmother who said, "Wild colts make the best horses." For a mom with a couple of wild colts on her hands, that little piece of folksy wisdom gives me much hope. That's got to be all for now. I hear whinnying in the background.

Who Wants a Book?

I have been internetless these last couple of days. It may be possible that my computer is allergic to my father-in-law. I have that effect on some digital watches. They just quit working when on my body. But, anyway, thanks to a very smart technogeek, who was totally worth his fee per hour, I am back online.

Now, remember how I told you about one of my favorite happy places, The Half-Price Bookstore? And remember how I told you about my summer reading list? Well, the other day, as I was ready to embark on The Scarlett Letter, I could not find it anywhere! I looked and I looked, but alas I had to finally conclude that it was gone. It's been known to happen around here. I lose a lot of books, sheetmusic, and pie tins. Go figure.

Anyway...stay with me, this is all going to come together. So I went to The Half-Price Bookstore and picked up a nice hardcover copy of The Scarlet Letter for a mere $7.00, and only upon returning home and placing my newly purchased books on my bookshelves did I discover my old copy which apparently had been sitting there the whole time. Don't ya' hate when that happens?

But let's turn my loss into your gain, shall we? If you would like me to send you my newly purchased copy of The Scarlet Letter, drop me a comment, and I'll send it your way. I just started it and am loving reading it as an adult. So much drama in just the opening chapters! I mean there she is standing on the platform of shame clutching a baby born out of an adulterous affair, being harassed for the name of the father in front of the entire community, and then appears at the back of the crowd but her husband, long thought dead. And I won't even start on Rev. Dimmsdale. Goodness! Mr. Hawthorne spun quite a yarn, didn't he?

And to my mother, who can not figure out how to leave a comment, you can call me. (Love you a lot, Mom!) If there is more than one person out there who wants it, we'll have a drawing. My kids love a good drawing.

Happy reading everyone!

A Favorite Place

Last week the kids and I went to one of my out of the way favorite places: The Half-Price Bookstore in Mesa. Every time I go in there it is like a first date. Well, maybe a cheap first date, but I can't deny that my heart beats a little faster just looking at shelf after shelf of alphabetized books. It's a sense of adventure, not knowing what I may find since the selection is different every week. My advice is to not go with your heart set on any particular purchase. Just go in open to whatever the universe is wanting to give you.

Currently I am carrying around the list of the books so many of you were kind enough to suggest for my reading pleasure. Everytime I go in I check to see if any are there. Last time around I had no luck in that department, but here's what I did bring home:

1. Vintage Nancy Drew mysteries #1-3 (all hardcover).

2. Charlotte's Web (hardcover) Logan chose this one saying, "This is a good book. It's classic." I'm so proud.

3. Back When We Were Grownups by one of my favorite authors, Anne Tyler (hardcover).

4. Another copy of Peace Like a River because I keep giving it away. It's that good.

5. Some weird vintage children's book that Griffin chose. I can't account for his taste.

6. From the $1.00 rolling cart, A is for Alibi. I've never read any of this Sue Grafton series, but I thought if I was going to try it I might as well start with A. I mean, what? She's up to like T now, right? Maybe she's on to something after all. Besides, you just can't leave without trying to buy a hardcover for a buck! I have a real thing for hardcover books.

And...(drumroll please)...all this happiness for a grand total of about $25.00! No wonder I have a love affair with the Half Price Bookstore. Can you blame me?

Where is your happy place?

My Own Summer Reading Program

I'm currently putting together my summer reading list. Are you? So far I have:

Peace Like A River
The Scarlet Letter
The Ladies Auxillary
Emma
Big Stone Gap
Hard Times

Three classics--One American, two British. Three current. A pretty good mix of fiction so far, but...

If you could suggest one book for me to read, what would it be?

A Tag Continued and a New Obsession

Three more little known quirks to go...

This one was suggested by my friend Ashley in her comment, and it caught me so off guard that I actually blew a tiny little bit of snot out of my nose. Gross, but true. So I will paste it exactly as she wrote it.

5. "You sometimes swear but I think your true friends like you better because of that trait."

Well, I hope they do, because the rest of that is true, unfortunately. So true, in fact, that Mr. Wicke informed his family that I had a "swearing problem" before I ever met them. I'm still holding a grudge.

Please keep two things in mind: First, I have a swearing problem for a Mormon, so my off color language consists mostly of damn and hell, and everyone knows those don't really count. (said with tongue in cheek.) And secondly, Thomas was really uptight back then. I still don't know what he expected me to do. Let loose with a string of expletives upon introduction to his parents? What a nimrod!


He still is not forgiven for that one.

I think that last one should count as at least two quirks, so I will jump right to number 7.

7. This weekend I have gained a new obsession with goodreads.com. My friend Megan invited me to join and compare our booklists, but it just sat there for a while until this weekend when I decided to list some of the books I have read these last couple of years. Now I can't stop. Turns out I really like listing things. Who woulda' thunk it, huh? I'm cataloging everything I've read since about 1997 it seems, or at least what I can remember. Back in 2006 I started keeping track of books that I had read and giving them a personal review, but this system is way better and easier. But I need friends! So if you are a reader and want to compare booklists, see mine here and get started. I'd love to see what you all are reading.

A Great Little Read

This month it was my turn to pick the book for our book club, and somehow that always gives me a little angst. Pleasing a lot of different women is not an easy thing to do. It is so difficult that it almost gives me a little empathy for my husband. Almost. I must be difficult to please. Anyway, after considering my options I remembered a little book that I had enjoyed a couple years back.

Now since it had been awhile since I had read Anne Tyler's book Saint Maybe, I became a littl worried last week after talking with a book club member who wasn't crazy about it. "Oh, no!" I screamed inside. "I don't want to be known as the loser-book-picker." (Very different from the loser-butt-picker you may have heard about. But I digress.) The point that I am actually trying to make is how I can happily report that, after finishing it again this weekend, I am still crazy about this book, and I must share!

I think Ms. Tyler is a genius writer when it comes to depicting family life and relationships which is her usual subject matter. Her characters are well developed, always slightly flawed and and little quirky or off-beat but very real. She has a great ear for dialogue and a keen eye for the unspoken language in all human relationships. I think her depictions communicate the nobility of average, quiet lives, and she has a great sense of humor and irony to boot. Her characters stay with me, and I find myself thinking back to them time and again.

Ms. Tyler also wrote The Accidental Tourist which was made into a film in the 80's starring William Hurt and Gena Davis. Then in 1990, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Breathing Lessons, of which I am also a fan.

If you're looking for a good read, I highly suggest her work.