Ah. Yes. The Hours.

Ok, yea. She's got me there. "The Hours." I just didn't get it. Gay guy throws himself off a balcony. The end. Yea. She's explaining it to me right now, and I'm still lost. HOWEVER, I did read it - through to the end. Suffering and bitching the whole time. I will not pick it up again for a re-read. Sorry, but I'd rather have a pink Easter Bunny tattooed on my back with the words "Born to Hop" stenciled in gold glitter paint on my ass by a drunken Jackson Pollock. :p

So, someone wants to "commune" with some hobbits, elves, dwarves and other assorted "fantastical" critters, eh? We can do that. DragonCon 2013 will be taking place from August 30 - September 2 this year, and someone just guaranteed herself a ticket. Audrey can dress up as a fairy, Em can have her choice : Either Slave Girl Princess Leia (Bow chicky-bow-wow!) or Arwen, and me? I'LL be taking pictures!

Defending Jacob and Defending my reading

Alongside the large list of books that I am trying to read ahead of Don, I am also reading selections for a monthly book club.  Our February selection is Defending Jacob by William Landay.  I downloaded it early to my e-reader so that I could have time to read it before our meeting, but I just couldn't put it down, and finished it in 3 days.

Defending Jacob is the story of Andy Barber, an ADA in a small town.  The town is rocked by the murder of 14 year old Ben on his way to school.  Andy takes on the case, until his own son, Jacob, is charged with the murder.  I had to keep reading, I needed to know if Jacob actually committed this crime.  I can't tell you, you will have to read and figure out for yourself!

Now, about the drama surrounding the fact that I am reading The Lord of the Rings.  No, I don't care for the book, but I don't think Don understands why.  I have enjoyed other science-fiction and fantasy books (Harry Potter, Twilight, Ender's Game).  The big difference: Humans.  Where are the humans in The Lord of the Rings?  Where in my daily life am I going to stumble upon Hobbits and Elves and Dwarves?  I like to get lost in my books, being side-by-side with the characters, but in these imaginary lands, there is no place for me.  

So, no, I don't HATE the book, but I am having a hard time connecting with the characters, and that my dear love, is why I am not ENJOYING this book as much as everyone thought.  

Now you, talk about hating books, what about The Hours?  I enjoyed that one.  Beloved?  I am looking forward to it too.  Who  is the one who hates books? Hmmmmm?

She's "Trying" Lord of the Rings... (reading outside the box)

So, I've never thought of myself as any sort of fanboy, of fantasy, sic-fi, or any "speculative literature." Sure, I like Star Trek as much as any guy should (because isn't that pretty much the pinnacle of guy tv programming, aside from Baywatch, of course) but I've got to make a confession about what might be one of the most important cultural phenomenon of the last 75 years - I never read "The Lord of the Rings" until after I had seen the movie, and I still haven't gotten around to "The Hobbit." Criminal, I know.

That being said, I did love LOTR. Awesome. Unforgettable. Can't wait to read it again. Might actually be able to put "Hobbit" into perspective... finally.

Now, I'm loving that Em has "Lord of the Rings" on her list, in no small part because she HATES that type of story. No, let me rephrase. She

HATES!!!

that sort of fiction. But she's gotta do it. It's on her list, so she knows there's no getting out of it. Being that the series has been a cultural phenomenon, there's no way it's coming off the list (since some of the titles rotate off and on from time to time.)

 It's a sort of a preconceived notion she's got about that kind of fiction. Here's the thing- for all you fanboys out there, she's got to read "Dune" as well. Wait till she gets a pageful of Paul Atreides, right? I'm not sure if it's the torture she's facing reading a genre she really doesn't like, or just the way she kvetches about it while she's doing it, but I, being the hubby, am loving it.

Here's the thing, though- turnabout is fair play when it comes to reading outside the box. My list of Pulitzer winners has more than a few titles on it that i would NEVER have picked up were they not on the list. Chick lit, African-American lit, that sort of thing. "A Thousand Acres?" Never. "Beloved?" Hell no! (Come to think of it, I didn't much care for "Beloved" anyway, so let's not count that one, K?" 

Most of us tend to read what we're comfortable with - westerns or romance, all that sort of thing, but it's good now and then to step outside our comfort zone and check out some literature that we wouldn't ordinarily check out. "The brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao?" Lovin' it. Anything by John Updike? Awesome. 

More than anything, I would challenge you to try out a book you might not ordinarily pick up. Love Sci-fi? Grab a romance novel next time you're in a bookstore and give the first chapter a once-over. Got a thing for romance? Try out just about any book that's been on the Pulizer prize, Man Booker or National Book Award List. You might just be surprised by what you never thought you'd enjoy! As for the little wife, she's grudgingly enjoying Lord of the Rings. At least, that's what she tells me...

Life of Pi and other things

So I see he beat me to the first real post. :/  Of course, you know he did that on a night that the baby and I were out of the house. (Lucky dog had a night to himself!)

Anyway, I am currently in the middle of 3, yes 3, books on my list, Anna Karenina (Audio book in the car), Life of Pi (around the house) and The Lord of the Rings:The Two Towers (reading on my breaks at work).  

Between the three, I am most enjoying Life of Pi, the story of a young man who was a passenger on a cargo ship with his family and several of their former zoo animals when it sinks, leaving Pi alone with a tiger, zebra, orangutan, and hyena in a small lifeboat. His struggle to stay alive and keep the tiger alive as well has proven to be a wonderful work of fiction that is keeping me up way past my bedtime.  

I think the rascal is going to beat me to finishing another book, he is within a few pages of finishing The Known World, maybe it is time to distract him with the baby again.  :)

Happy reading everyone!

ME FIRST! "The Known World" by Edward P. Jones

She may be good at getting in the last word, but I'll take the first word on this one - I've been reading "The Known World" by Edward P. Jones. It won the Pulitzer prize back in 2004, and though it is one of the "slavery" novels on the list, I'm taken by it. Jones' writing is complicated, but woven together in a way that brings the story's many characters into a sharp focus that might not have been possible had another author attempted to write it. 

The story - Its premise is one that makes pundits salivate - is one that should make people of all stripes sit up, put down what they're doing, and take notice. In fact, I would have thought its premise would have caused more of a stir when it was published. Apart from its awards and acclaim, though, it seems to have been little more than a popular "blip" on the national radar.

So, what is this great premise? Nothing less than the idea that free black Americans, former slaves and free men who came to the United States as immigrants could, and did, own slaves themselves. Huh. Whoda thunkit? 

While the book is a fictional account of slavery in the commonwealth of Virginia in the early 1800s, it makes you want to learn more about what exactly really happened back then- makes you almost want to take that time machine back to see if what we've been told all these years is real. Was this possible? As it turns out, the answer is yes, and there are historical accounts to back it up. While it's true that the actual percentage of black slaveholders in the 1800s was so infinitesimal as to be nearly not worth considering, (~2% according to the 1830 federal census, or 3,777 individuals) it does shed some light onto the way people thought two hundred years ago, after removing the "20/20 vision" goggles that so many of us wear when we look back at what has come to be resoundingly seen as a great smudge on the reputation of the United States of America.

What the book brings to light is that slavery was not in itself a wholly one-sided affair. When you begin to dig deeper, you begin to realize that there were slaves throughout the founding of the United States that fell into every category of race. Some were simply called "indentured servants," a slightly more P.C. way of saying "slave." Of course, the lesson best taught by "The Known World" is that slavery is a part of all of our history, so long as we call ourselves Americans, and to claim it from all sides of the issue, not just the sides that the media and (ridiculously) biased history textbooks tell us we should be  is to finally accept that part of our past, and move forward a stronger nation because of it.

And she thought I couldn't be an adult about this! :p

The Rules of the Game

For those of you who care, Don has been reading books from the Pulitzer Prize winning list for a few years now, and I have been reading books from a list I found at www.thebest100lists.com and we recently decided to make it into a game.  I think he has the unfair advantage of having a shorter list. (P.S. if you go to the site and see the list of novels, I know it is not the same list I have here, I am working off of one of the old ones.  When I finish this, then I will go back and read the new ones that have been added.)

I have the sneaking suspicion that this is some kind of "marital bliss" thing that one of her friends came up with. Possibly something she found on Pinterest. Have you noticed yet? Chicks are drawn to it like it was Fun Dip in a Kindergarten class.

Emily will always post in one font.

Don hates this font. HE wanted the one she grabbed. dammit. Shouldn't have got up for that beer.

I'm sorry.  I thought you would have picked Verdana.  That is what I envisioned when I picked this one.  Boo Hoo to you!

"Verdana" sounds like something you catch from a dirty French prostitute. "Verdana" can kiss my lilly white ass.

I want this to be a family friendly blog, please watch your language buster!!!!

Oh. Oops. "ass" how's that?

Slightly better.

Can we get on to the reason we are starting this blog?  Would you like to explain to our family and friends, or will you have too hard of a time keeping your emotions under control?

Huh. Huh-huh "hard" time... Huh. huh-huh. You said "hard."

I have created a monster.  I think it is time for Beavis to go to bed.

Yea. Ok. So, while she's off in the other room, here's the arrangement: I'm not supposed to erase anything she writes, and she can't erase anything I write (she's so hosed!) Yea, I'm reading off the Pulitzer prize list, (what about it, punk?) but she's got an edge because although my list is shorter, hers comprises titles that were published more recently. That means I get a good dose of more obscure titles that, while they did win the prize, pretty much no one has heard of recently. And no, James Patterson ain't on my list. My ace in the hole, though? "Ulysses." It's on her list, but not mine. ;)

Yeah, Ulysses.  Mine's not all fun and games over here mister!

Wah. I'm gonna win. 

We'll see about that...

Typical. Gotta get that last word in, don't you?

Yep.