Kicking it With the Letter “K”
You may have noticed a meme going around that goes something like this:
Say your favourite book, author, song, film, and object beginning with a particular letter. And that letter will be randomly assigned to you by me, via random.org. If you’d like to join in, comment in the comment section and I’ll tell you your letter! (And then, of course, the chain can keep going on your blog.)
From So Many Books I was issued the letter K. After a day spent at the beach, I think I have made my final decisions.
Book
Kung Fu 
I grew up in a Kung Fu Studio. I have a third degree black belt and can rank my own students. For my very first black belt test I had to write a thesis meets book report on David Chow’s book and its content. I have never thought the assignment frivolous or regretted the requirement. It’s a great book. It’s an important book. I make my own students read it as well. In fact, I think my copy is on loan to a student right now. Even if you aren’t a Kung Fu student, even if you’re knee deep into another style, even if you’ve never pursued any martial art in your life – this book is a valuable piece of history and helps explain a lot of those FAQs that arise when someone finds out you do Kung Fu. It’s rich as well as concise and informative. And leaps and bounds a better read than Kite Runner or Krakatoa – which are both excellent books.
Author
On this I have been so torn. Kingsolver or Kafka? Kafka? Kingsolver? I couldn’t decide. Metamorphosis is one of my favorite books of all time. I have read it repeatedly. It made the list of books that have changed my life. But I have to say, Barbara Kingsolver has won my heart. The Poisonwood Bible was beautiful and epic. The Lacuna a fascinating concept. I have almost all her books waiting on my shelf to be read and I find myself picking her up sparingly, not wanting to waste the moment of reading something of hers for the first time, saving her like I did my virginity.
Song
I could go old school with Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly,” but although I love belting that song with my Alto-ness, I choose “Sixpence None the Richer’s Kiss Me.” It’s not even because it’s about sweet kissing, which I love. It’s all that bearded barley and green, green grass. It’s frolicking and tree houses and treasure maps. And the 90’s. Written and performed by a group who references C.S. Lewis in their band name.
Film
I’m a sucker for all things King Arthur. From the old Sam Neil movie “Merlin,” to Jamie Campbell Bower’s show “Camelot.” I picked up all of Rosalind Miles’ Guinevere series, just because they are King Arthur related and have John William Waterhouse paintings on the front cover. The Lady of Shalott hangs in my living room over the fireplace. Naturally, then, I’m choosing “King Arthur” for my K film. More specifically, the version featuring Clive Owen and Keira Knightly. I thought it was brilliantly done, I love that Guinevere is a warrior and not just a lady in distress, and the fight scenes are awesome. Of course, part of my preference for this version is that Horatio Hornblower (ahem, I mean, Ioan Gruffud) plays Lancelot.
Object
Kaleidoscopes are cool. But I’m going to be cliche on this one and go with Kite. Mostly because I have a three year old who is fascinated by them, but partially because I can’t see one without singing, “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” from Mary Poppins. Sometimes in public. With feeling. At the top of my lungs. I try to tell myself it’s because every choir girl has an inner Dick Van Dyke, but I’m not sure the rest of the world agrees with me.
Leave me a comment to keep this fun blog prompt going.
Brought to You by the Letter “H”
This is the most marvelous chain meme ever.
Story Times are Magical
Every Wednesday during the summer I make an appearance at Half Price Books Humble, 10:30 am sharp. I make an announcement over the intercom – NOT my forte – place snacks on the children’s table, and pick out stories to read out loud to whoever arrives.
Sometimes I have crowds! Sometimes it’s just me and Kiddo hanging out reading as we would at home. Sometimes I have authors come and read their books to the kids. But ALWAYS it is a little bit magical.
How appropriate then that Edward Castro joined us for a second time with his book Hanna’s Magic Light
Not available yet in a physical copy, Castro read to the kids from a bound manuscript while his agent showed the pictures on her tablet. The kids were riveted by the story about Hanna and her Daddy and the magical dome light in the car, turned lesson on finding your own inner light.
At the end, each kid received a cupcake and/or cookie as well as a “magic light” of their own to take home – Glow Sticks made into a necklace.
Tomorrow is Wednesday again. We won’t have Castro back this soon, but we will be featuring Song for Papa Crow, compliments of Schiffer Publishing.
Castro will return later in July. For those who cannot make middle of the week events, this will allow you to meet the author and purchase a hard copy of his picture book, as he hopes to have some in print by then:
Song for Papa Crow
Title: Song for Papa Crow
Author: Marit Menzin
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
I was delighted to have Schiffer Publishing contact me to review a selection of their picture books. There can never be too many children’s books here in the Klemm household, as kiddo devours them for breakfast, elevenses, lunch, dinner, and bedtime. We’re readers. We read. We’re also artists and we love admiring quality picture books.
As a homeschool mom of an aspiring birder, I couldn’t find Song for Papa Crow any more perfect.
This is a lovely story about how Little Crow loves to sing. He sings his heart out and in the course of teaching children what birds of North America make what sounds, we also follow Little Crow on a a journey of self-discovery and why it’s a beautiful thing to be yourself.
Menzin’s collage art is gorgeous. Kiddo and I adore all the rich colors. We spend a good deal of time outdoors and it’s wonderful to see nature portrayed with so much texture even while confined to the pages of a book.
Of course, after every book, I ask kiddo what she thinks. My three year old smiled broadly and responded, “I think it’s ridiculous.” Ridiculous, naturally, being pronounced ridicooooolous and said for the sheer enjoyment of using the word. Proven by the fact that she has asked for me to read “the Papa Crow one” at least twice a day since our first reading.
Now, a week later, I ask kiddo:
“Would you like to say anything about Papa Crow to our readers?”
“Yes,” she says decisively.
“What would you like to say?”
“Nothing at all, I just want it to be SEEN.”
Powerful words from a three year old, I think. She’s right, we could talk about how awesome Papa Crow is all day, but when all is said and done, Menzin’s collages simply must be seen.
Songs for Papa Crow will accompany us to Story Time at Half Price Books Humble for the next two weeks (July 2nd & 9th). We meet every Wednesday, all summer, at 10:30 am. Though we typically read multiple titles, we tend to choose a favorite to feature each week. We will also have a few Schiffer Kids Spring 2014 Catalogs for patrons of Story Time to peruse. Snacks are provided.
I look forward to reading more from Schiffer Books as well as Marit Menzin. The Klemms are officially fans for life.
A Remarkable Portrait
Title: Barabbas
Author: Par Lagerkvist
Genre: Fiction/ Literature
I’m pretty terrible about not investigating books before reading them, even more terrible about not investigating them before buying them (or bringing them home). Something moves me and immediately on impulse I add it to my collection. You never know when it might come in handy. It looks like it could be interesting on a rainy day in summer when I have no internet my daughter suddenly finds herself in a nap and my brain is somewhere between writing historical fiction and flying away in a space ship. Oh, and look, that possible moment in theoretical time happened this week.
So I picked up Barabbas, a short novel that had some vague ties to an author who had won the Nobel Prize for literature. A thin slip of a thing that might find itself in the donate pile if it didn’t prove itself worthy in an hour and a half.
It proved itself. Of course it did. The concept is too fascinating to not earn itself at least 4 stars in my very critical book.
Matthew 27: 11-26
11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.” 12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” 14 But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.
15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. 16 And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. 19 Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.” 20 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” 22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” 23 And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood;[a] see to it yourselves.” 25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged[b] Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.
Unnecessary Summary: Barabbas was the criminal released instead of Jesus. Jesus was then crucified, the very moment that determined once and for all who would die that day.
Of course that’s a little factoid that almost every Christian knows. Many non-Christians probably know it too… Barabbas evil criminal let loose and poor Jesus killed.
I never thought about what that would mean. Not just in the grand scheme of things, but in the small ways that are epic to one and often meaningless to the masses. Barabbas – how did Barabbas feel? I never thought of it until Lagerkvist made me think about it. I picked up the book, understanding who the title referenced, but not imagining that it would be a historical piece on the person referenced – on his life, on his feelings, on his thoughts after Jesus took his place on the cross. Literally, not just in the spiritual salvation way, but physically died in his stead.
So many times we are encouraged to ruminate on Thomas (who doubted) and Peter (who denied). The thief who was admitted into paradise at the last minute, hanging on the cross next to Jesus, he’s a really big deal in the church. But Barabbas? Barabbas was just a bad dude who should have hung and died instead of our innocent savior… Really? What does that look like?
Lagerkvist tells us his version of what that looks like.
(If you’re not quite as oblivious as me, you probably already know this by the numerous film productions that have been done based on Lagerkvist’s work. You probably also know about the Marie Corelli book which inspired its own film versions. You probably know all sorts of cool things about Barabbas that I don’t. But if you don’t know anything about it all – keep reading and I’ll tell you what I think.)
This is a fascinating tale documenting the evolution of a person’s heart, the confusion of their mind as they try to sort out philosophical things in the midst of chaos and history being made. I’m startled by such a remarkable portrait.
It came out of left field. It’s been sitting on my shelf for God knows how long. And it was stunning.
It would seem that I am stunned by everything lately. The truth is, as much as I read and review here, there are four times as many books that I pick up and discard without even making it through the first chapter. (Those are either returned to the library because I borrowed them in the first place, or are delivered to the library because I am bewildered they made it across my threshold at all.)
The moral of this story: Lagerkvist is a keeper. There’s a reason he’s an award winning author. There’s a reason his book appears on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list. He’s pretty incredible.
“This was wickedness, and it was fatal.”
“It was everywhere. Arsenic. Inheritance powder, the old people called it.”
Title: A Reliable Wife
Author: Robert Goolrick
Publisher: Algonquin Paperbacks
Genre: Fiction
Length: 291 pages
Like so many others, A Reliable Wife was a freebie I acquired somehow. A number one New York Times Bestseller that seemed to be everywhere at once, yet I didn’t know anyone who had actually read it.
When I was cleaning out my personal library to take donations to the public one, my hand was on it. It almost ended up in the bag. Something stopped me, I’m not sure what. Most likely a hoarder’s impulse. The copy was too pristine. The train on the cover too gloriously mysterious. Historical fiction written by a man, not a woman, which for some reason tends to make all the difference.
Maybe it was because of my post about my selection practices and my thoughts as to what titles concerning prostitution would be at my daughter’s fingertips. The book is highly inappropriate, but it gives a thorough view of what turns people to bad decisions. What makes someone become a person with poisonous intentions and morals.
How easily anyone could slip into this awfulness.
“Yet it was a dream he had held in his heart for so long that nothing could replace it, nothing made up for his loss and his desire for restitution.”
Who hasn’t suffered from the same sort of persistence chasing an idea that maybe should have been abandoned?
“This was wickedness, and it was fatal,” is the theme that runs through Goolrick’s riveting novel. Maybe it’s the Baptist fire and brimstone in my veins that makes a story like this appeal to me, because I don’t mind wickedness when it is properly portrayed as something evil. It’s when wickedness is disguised as something desirable that I have a problem with it in novels.
Goolrick’s novel is amazing. I couldn’t put it down and I was so glad I chose to read it instead of placing it my library donation bag this week. My husband, not much of a reader, now wants to know the story and read the book as well – suckered by the blurb on the back jacket as I was nose deep in the pages. I’ve already encouraged a friend to purchase it as well. She quickly found a copy in clearance at Half Price Books, well worth a spare dollar.
The Skinny on Landscaping
I wrote an article for a website that didn’t get used. It happens sometimes, no biggie. But this particular article is one that I did a great deal of researching before I wrote and actually talked to professionals that I know personally. So, I want to share the blogger’s version (which means I’ve dressed it down and added my two cents where I otherwise would have held my tongue a bit).
The Skinny on Landscaping and Outdoor Projects
(DIY vs. The Contractor on the most common outdoor ventures)
Everyone loves a good do it yourself project. Pinterest and the TLC channel have made them more popular than ever. Home Depot and Lowe’s are certainly your helpful neighborhood DIY Home Project instigators and dare I mention the keeping up with the Joneses mentality amidst a major recession.
However, there are projects that are just not do it yourself friendly and with all the handy books, websites, and television channels, it’s hard to know which are for you and which warrant a good old fashioned contractor – especially when we’re dealing with our lawn and garden.
Re-Sodding Your Grass
Actual “before” photo of our front yard.
Landscaping is the most commonly chosen as a do it yourself renovation. Ironically, people hire companies to mow their lawns, weed their gardens, and trim their hedges, but when it comes to things like re-sodding their grass, more often than not, they opt to do it themselves.
Despite the process being fairly simple, though, most landscapers will encourage customers (and friends) to hire out a company. You might assume it is so they can get more business, but they are honestly advising this in your best interest. A landscaper can get grass at a discounted rate, already has the equipment on hand, and are experienced and efficient.
Tito Ortega of Ortega Lawn Care recommends calling your local landscaper for any grass project
“over a full pallet. For what someone pays for a pallet of grass, soil, and renting tools they don’t have, I charge more or less the same and all they have to do is pick up the phone. And I provide a warranty, plus informational packets on how to care for it properly.”
I had his help when I resod my own lawn after an extensive plumbing project in my front yard and can vouch for his sentiments. The process is easy, sure, but we still had to rent tools. I had to pay regular Joe Schmo prices for my grass – instead of fabulous bulk prices that businesses have access to. Over all I felt all sorts of useful, my grass is beautiful, but I didn’t really save any money by doing it myself.
Pruning Trees and Shrubs
A lot of people prune their own trees and shrubs, but Gardener Joe in Washington State of PangeaGardenscapes.com encourages tree owners to call a professional. Many do-it-yourself sites, such as http://www.diyornot.com, propose the opposite, reporting that even after you purchase the sheers and appropriate tools you’ll still save 56% on just the first pruning.
Yet, Gardener Joe has some advice concerning that:
“Many people try to keep plants small which never works. A plant is programmed to grow to a mature height. Many times people buy a plant not understanding the maturity of said plant. Also topping a tree and some shrubs are a no-no. I belong to plant amnesty and if you check out plant amnesty.org it has many examples of different plants. So in my business I offer garden coaching services. I show how to prune and why. As well as my garden class I give once a month at our local library.”
So if you ar
e going to trim your own trees and shrubs, do the research and know your plant. Otherwise, spend the extra dime to call a professional who can teach you about what you have in your yard so you can help your plants live long, healthy lives for the expense you’ve already put into having them there in the first place. Many people prematurely kill off plants that would have lasted for generations by cutting them back too far and not giving them the appropriate room to grow. Homeowners who plan to stay in the same place for thirty plus years should be very conscientious of this issue, otherwise they’ll find themselves spending thousands more over the lifetime of the property than they would if they spent a little bit up front consulting someone. For more tips, follow Joe’s Facebook Page.
We trim our own shrubs, but not our own trees. The danger factor isn’t worth the risk when you’re talking about limbs falling from the heavens onto things like your car or the roof of your house. Even with the shrubs, I see Gardener Joe’s point. We did some research into ours and learned how to take care of the shrubs we inherited with our house – when the old owners came by for a visit they gasped, “We could never get them to bloom like that when we were here.” According to a lot of professional landscapers and truly green thumb kind of people, many people think they are over or under watering when really they are trimming the hedges incorrectly. Save yourself the cost of new plants every few years and have a professional teach you how to do it right – whether that professional is from the pages of a book or has been hired to come out and talk to you by appointment.
Building a Fence
You may need to call a contractor for planting new grass and trimming trees, but you’re probably looking for what you can do yourself. It’s far more cost efficient for you to mow your own lawn and weed your own garden, but the other best DIY option for outdoors is to build your own fence. Everyone should get that experience in before they die and it’s definitely worth the savings on your wallet.
Most landscapers and handymen will charge you roughly 30% more than the cost of materials. That’s about the difference of an $800 fence and a $1200 fence, just to have someone else do it. Though quality work might be worth that, there’s nothing worse than looking out at a fence you paid too much for that doesn’t look quite the way you’d like.
My husband was extremely busy with work the year after Ike and the hurricane had taken down our whole side fence. We hired s
omeone to take care of it because we had three dogs and needed it up sooner rather than later. We shopped around, we called the most affordable handyman, he had good reviews online. My husband still complains about that fence. We overspent and the fence boards are spaced too far apart. It drives us crazy. Last year, when a tree took down another section in the opposite corner of the lot, we built it ourselves.
The most cost efficient of fencing options is a neighbor friendly fence, where each neighbor takes on the cost of the panels that face their yard and each section alternates. I’m especially partial to these because I had one growing up. It makes the most economical and hospitable sense. Get to know your neighbors, be old-school, built it together.
No matter what your project, remember to research materials and processes, be realistic about your abilities and your time, and call around for multiple quotes. Weigh the expense up front against the lifetime expense of the plants or space in question, and plan carefully.
Of course, this is primarily a book blog, so I have to share my favorite DIY Landscaping books, which are pretty much gardening specific because I’m a gardener.
The Complete Book of Practical Gardening
Small Gardens
Square Foot Gardening by M. Bartholomew
Low Maintenance Gardening
Herbs and the Kitchen Garden by Kim Hurst
To read articles that DO get used by Money-fax.com, check out my Freelance Writer page and follow the links.
Censorship vs. Guidance… oh and that other thing called Hoarding
As I clean out my library, I find myself selecting what to discard mostly based on my daughter’s mind rather than my own. I read Sarah Dunant once, it was interesting, I don’t recall it blowing me away. Looking at the titles I have, I find myself wanting to keep hardbacks and the Sarah Dunant copies I have are clean, pretty, and one is a hardback. If I purchased them, which I doubt, it was most likely out of a clearance pile somewhere. At most I imagine I spent 50 cents or a dollar.
But that is not why I find myself stacking them in the donate to the library pile. Instead, it is because I find myself thinking – “Is this necessary? Does she need this? Even if it wasn’t necessary, is it important?” There are scenes in which I’d rather not my child’s brain be muddled with unless it belongs to something epic or beautiful. Sexual content, murderous content, without a larger than life literary lesson or great impact on the worldview seems so wasteful.
I sit here with William Kennedy’s Ironweed. It is a Pulitzer prize winner. It is the copy I was handed in high school by a teacher who found I had read everything else on the required reading list and then some. It’s brilliant, I don’t contest that. But I remember being appalled and annoyed by it. I remember thinking, “Reading this is not going to make me a better person in any way – AND I’m not particularly enjoying it either.” The book hoarder in me kept it because it was something I read in high school for class. I kept it because it was a Pulitzer prize winner. I kept it under the assumption that maybe I missed something and it was important.
The mother in me finds myself putting it in the library donate pile. If she wants to read it later, she can check it out at the library – but I only want to keep things in my house that I can either recommend or things that I, myself, haven’
t read yet either. If I’m going to push crass, horrible people in horrible circumstances onto my daughter, I’ll give her Steinbeck – not Kennedy. If she needs to read about prostitution, I’d rather give her Moll Flanders and Les Miserables than Slammerskin. Not to be a chronological snob, I’m just as quick to recommend Girl, Interrupted as a cautionary tale against promiscuity or The Glass Castle and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn concerning the woes and hardships of being low on the socio-economic bean pole.
Most of what is going in the bags are things I find myself with multiple copies of for some inexplicable reason. James Herriot’s books seem to breed in my house, much like plastic bags from the grocery store do in your pantry. I swear I only brought home one, but there are three copies of All Things Wise and Wonderful. Even more perplexing is the fact that I have yet to read anything he wrote.
There are piles of Anita Shreve books. I’ve also never read an Anita Shreve title. I find the covers used to market her work exceptionally dull. When I shelved fiction at the bookstore, I cringed whenever I opened a box to find them peering up at me. Yet, I have copies of these books in my own home. They never sell, they are in abundance at the library, I find myself walking home with freebies from various places often. Again, thinking, ‘what if I become terminally ill and somehow run out of reading material.’
Book hoarder recovery 101: If you aren’t going to read it healthy, don’t anticipate reading it when ill. Also, someone will probably be willing to go to the library for you should the need arise.
This is hard for me. Then, of course, I think – is Anita Shreve important or a past time? And if she’s a past time, that is fine, but do I need so many past times lurking in my space? There comes a point when you are surrounded by so many options, you can no longer choose. It is too overwhelming and you find yourself at a hole in the wall public library that has fewer options than your own house, just to narrow the selection field. Maybe one day I’ll read Anita Shreve. Maybe I’ll love her. Maybe she’s amazing. But for now, she’s going in the donate bag.
Yet, I have hardbacks of John Grisham I can’t bring myself to let go. My twelve year old self still riveted by such drama. I could argue that it is because many of them are first edition hardbacks, but then there are my paperback coffee house and tea house mysteries that stay on the ready for a good bubble bath or morning on the back porch. Can’t let those go – yet.
How do you sort your keepers from your donates?
The Beginner’s Goodbye
Title: The Beginner’s Goodbye
Author: Anne Tyler
Publisher: Knopf
Genre: Fiction
Length: 198 pages
I have two Anne Tyler books on my bookshelf. I acquired them somehow, possibly gifts or hand-me-downs from someone else. I know I didn’t buy them, because I’ve never felt moved to read them. Perhaps they were freebies I toted home thinking, “I might need these if I start dying from cancer.” It’s morbid, but it is a frequent thought where free books are concerned. I worry that I will be trapped in the house or the hospital without reading material. That must be a phobia of some kind or another, I’m sure of it.
The two books I have are Back When We Were Grown Ups and Digging to America. They sit perched there right after Mark Twain and before John Updike. I almost put them in the garage sale we had this week, but couldn’t bring myself to do it. Something about them makes me want to hold on to them even as I try to decide what to keep and what not to keep during our ‘we might be moving, but aren’t sure’ months.
This last week at the library, however, I caught a glimpse The Beginner’s Goodbye in the stacks. On the cover is a coffee cup and a dainty tea cup, immediately invoking the idea that two very different companions will be separated and someone will find themselves with a hole in their heart.
There are many covers out for this book, published in 2012, by a Pulitzer prize winner, everyone wants to add their own touch and be associated with it. But this one with the cups, that’s what did it for me – that is what captures the essence of the book in my mind. That’s what conveyed that essence to me from the shelf and prepared me for a mood that I wanted. The other covers are beautiful, but I probably would have gone on forever ignoring them.
Anne Tyler wrote something in The Beginner’s Goodbye that I wish I had written. I suppose I say that fairly frequently, but it is the highest compliment I know how to give. There is much in the reading world I enjoy with all my heart but wouldn’t necessarily long to have my name attached to it. This, is not one of those things, this is lovely and beautiful and gives you a taste of sweet humanity that even the greatest of storytellers seem to miss sometimes.
Appropriately titled and timed for my life, I’m learning to say goodbye to books that I anticipated keeping until my kid was old enough to read and discard them. I might be saying goodbye here soon to my extensive library. Granted, I could get rid of half my books and still have more books than anyone else I know, but sorting through them is hard for me. By checking out this book from the library, Anne Tyler has made it clear that I at least need to read her other two before I give them up – and that when I give them up they should be wrapped and lovingly gifted, not tossed in a garage sale.
Anakalian Whims 