Read Any Good Books Lately?

The NY Times has gathered the list of books that writers have just read. Check them out HERE!

The World Without Us

What will the world be like without people?

This book by Alan Weisman is unique and although I haven't read it, ever since I heard about it on John Stewart's show, I knew this book I must have. I think it is totally my kind of book, my kind of questions which are often unanswerable. Thank you Alan Weisman!

What are YOU so grumpy about?

I am quite intrigued by children’s books, no, actually love children's books. They are simple, fun, and normally include an underlying theme, which is often subtle, but sometimes right in your face. A book can become your companion and help you be in a particular mood when you choose to. There were so many that adorned our little bookshelf. I’ll never forget ‘The Monster at the end of this book!’ which was an all time favorite. Over the years of course, you progress to older genres of books. Starting with the still basic ones, for me, I loved The Faraway Tree. This fantasy tree/land and its inhabitants were my favorite people for many years - The Saucepan Man, Dame Washalot, Mr. Whatsisname and the Angry Pixie among others. This book made fantasy a reality and made me want to skip school, my home and everything around me and head to the Faraway Tree.

One of the books that I happened to come across online today, is a book by Tom Lichenheld, the author of ‘What are YOU so grumpy about?’ The title caught my eye, and the illustration peeked my interest even further - so cute!

This book is meant to cover the many possible causes of grumpiness in a child’s world. For e.g. stubbing a toe, being touched by a sibling (me me me, I experienced this all the time!), or having to cope with gravy that touched the peas on the dinner plate (this I know!). This book is designed to get your child out of his or her grumpy mood by redirecting his or her attention to something humorous and forgetting about the grumpiness altogether. Think about it, how often have you listened to stand–up comedy and really felt better when the comedian describes a situation that you can relate to, or better still, think they HAVE to be talking about you coz noone else does a jig while waiting for the water in the shower to reach the ideal temperature, or counts the steps to your home on the way back from work for no apparent reason.

Read more of reviews. I don’t own the book, but would welcome it for my child…in about 12 and a half years. Yes, please put it on ur gift list. Ill expect to have it when I am facing my grumbling toddler.

Review excerpt: Side comments add to the fun ("Oh Poop," says one child when he gets underwear in a birthday package). Another page talks about the "dangers" of a big hug from Grandma and shows a newspaper story with a big-bosomed blonde granny and an arrow pointing to her rather-endowed chest, claiming that her grandson was "last seen here." Kids are sure to snicker with glee, feeling that they are getting away with seeing/hearing something a bit risqué.

Queer wizardry

Wizardry itself is queer! No not the type you are thinking in your head, but the type that a dictionary would explain. It means, odd, unconventional, curious, unexpected, remarkable, astonishing, perplexing, odd…the list goes on. Have you ever read a page of a Harry Potter book, or caught a movie clip and not found it astonishing? Come on, the stairs keep moving, characters in paintings sing (albeit, not so well), and the law of gravity takes a huge hit.

In any case, I am not sure what to make of Dumbledore’s (DD from now on) outing. I mean, if you think about it, there seems to be SO much more in JK Rowlings mind that none of us know. Firstly unfair! But then, when you read books like Life of Pi, and from what I hear Kafka on the Shore (its on my book rack at home), the whole purpose of unanswered questions is to keep them that way - answered. This gets the reader thinking, allows them to make decisions for themselves! As you will see in one of my previous posts on Life of Pi, I probably wanted answers too, but then I would have laid the book to rest and not absorbed it into my life consciously. We prefer to have that circle closed than leaving it open ended, but maybe open ended if done intentionally, might have more of an impact.

As you all know by now, dear DD is gay. J.K. Rowling recently implied that if it meant so much to readers to know about DD’s sexual preference, she would have shared it earlier!! Here’s where I have some questions.

- If it doesn’t make a difference to his character, why share now?

- Then again, if it does make a difference to the character and his actions, then why not include it in the
book/story?

- Finally, if you go with option 3 and want the readers to decide for themselves, then let them decide for themselves, why out it? I guess what I am trying to figure out is WHY this information was shared much later…

To tell you the truth, I would love to know so much more about Wang Lang (Good Earth), and August & Lily Melissa (Secret Life of Bees). But the book ended and I was left wanting more. Maybe I should have gone for their book reading and gotten them to spill more details that weren’t covered in the book. But them, what the sequels, would I know something I should not be privy to? In terms of DD, it could be that while Rowling pieced her book together in a faraway cabin, DD the character was gay, but not knowing the potential success of the book or the social acceptance homosexuals, she decided to integrate hints in DD’s character, but decided to let society dictate when she spills the beans.

Timing is also a consideration, the book has been out for a while, so now this could generate more interest. It even targets a new niche market which are good pros. But, these past few years, the Vatican scandals and other perverse news have made us paranoid. Unfortunately, we live in a time when seeing older men with young children can be viewed perversely. Sad to say that nothing may be going on, but our minds may think otherwise. Do you see DD as a sleazy pervert? I don’t, coz I really love DD’s character, but I think it does bring up so many other questions, or hypothetical situations and analysis.

In terms of outing someone, I am totally fine with that even though I didn’t really think about it. It’s just an assumption made by youth – a person with silver hair was probably never young and never experienced love…or much rather love towards the same sex. Or rather the youth do not really want to picture it any other way! DD is a authoritative, grandfatherly type figure, how can he be anything else? I know I felt this way with many teachers growing up. I couldn’t see them as having families, children etc, especially the so called ‘mean teachers’. Come on, tell me you didn’t expect the mean one to go back home and yell at her kids the entire day? They were not moms, wives or daughters…they didn’t live a life like I did, they were teachers! Yet, my mom came home and was a mother, wife, daughter and clearly not the teacher.

I feel like my thoughts are all over the place on this one. So, just to conclude, I want say in case it came out otherwise, I am actually happy that varying sexual preferences are included in books. I am not so sure why this was highlighted though, and I think this is the issue. Also, are we doing it to prepare kids for the outside world, considering kids are a huge audience for this book (and adults), or are there other reasons? I think this opens a world of thoughts, views and ideas..but hopefully asking the right questions trigger some progress.

How many of you read Malory Towers?

Gosh this takes me back. Today I was asked to look at a *style guide for Ugly Betty, which I loved. The company Hyperdesign does some cool stuff! Anyways, I hopped upon Raggedy Ann and it took me back. For some reason I thought about Malory Towers and remembered how I totally loved the books!

I think I thought it was even cooler coz I was totally into wanting to be at a boarding school and saw that the girls in the book got to be there! Thinking back, I think staying with my family was more important at that age…being independent later on in life is imperative and as time goes on, you automatically become so.

So here’s a trip down memory lane: The cast

The main character Darrell Rivers
Sally Hope - Darrell's level-headed best friend
Felicity Rivers - Sarrell's younger sister
Gwendoline Mary Lacey - the form's spoilt martyr (Wasn’t she born to the richest parents on earth?)
Alicia Johns - sharp tongued, competitive and intelligent
Mary-Lou - small and timid, but very kind hearted
Irene - scatterbrained musical genius (loved her!)
Belinda - scatterbrained artistic genius (loved her too!)
Jean - shrewd and straightforward
Wilhelmina - completely horse-mad

What is the contemporary Malory Towers? Or is there even one?

*Style guide: a publication which specifies details of a particular topic, writing style of in industry, it is a guide to a potential licensee to better understand the brand essence and direction to make on-brand products. E.g. what is the perfect way to make a sock look like an ‘Ugly Betty’ sock.

The Uncertainty Of The Poet

I am a poet,
I am very fond of bananas.

I am bananas,
I am very fond of a poet.

I am a poet of bananas.
I am very fond.

A fond poet of 'I am, I am' -
Very bananas.

Fond of Am I bananas
Am I? - a very poet.

Bananas of a poet!
Am I fond? Am I very?

Poet bananas! I am
I am fond of a 'very'.

I am of very fond bananas.
Am I a poet?

~ Wendy Cope (inspired by the painting above by Georgio De Chirico)

P.S: Look at the painting above and then read the detail HERE. Did you SEE everything?
More about Wendy Cope

Looking For Funny

Funny has a new place! NY Times has launched a new blog aptly called Laugh Lines. The one stop shopping place for all the hilarity going on around you. Remember a few laughs a day can actually change your attitude even if you LOL in your head. It’s the overall frame of mind that counts. You can also contribute to this blog and make the funny stuff funnier…remember someone somewhere is laughing at your joke. Don’t you just love him/her?