How's it Feel to be at the Center of Magic, to Linger in Tones and Words?

Okay. Well, Since it's the end of June and I'm already two months behind, I thought I would finally write a post about the books I read in April and May.

I read six books in April. Since it was still pretty chilly this April, I wasn't yet in Summer reading mode. Which means I actually read things other than escapist, beach books, and lady detective novels.

1.) The first book I read, was "Matrix", by Lauren Groff. It told the story of a young girl who was cast out of the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine, and sent to a poverty stricken nunnery, where most of the women were starving. She uses her smarts and creativity to make the convent prosper, and to protect the women under her charge. I did like this book, I just didn't love it. It was uneven for me. I was really engrossed in some parts, and others, I found myself a little bored. 

2.) "The Consequences of Fear", by Jacqueline Winspear was my second book for April. It was on the new books shelf at Prairie Lights, and it had a plucky woman detective in it, and you know how I feel about books with plucky woman detectives. It takes place in 1941, and it follows Maisie Dobbs. What I didn't know until after I read it, is that it is the 16th book in a series of Maisie Dobbs stories. So, I did what any intelligent person would do, and bought the first six books in the series, that I will try and stretch out for the next several months. Believe me, I know this book is unrealistic and cheesy, but that's the fun in reading them for me. ESCAPISM!

3.) Because April is Earth Day month, I finally read Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring". It was getting passed around to all of my co-workers when I was in the California Conservation Corps in 1985, but I moved to Big Bear Lake to work at a ski resort before my turn came. It is depressing, and scary, and all of that stuff. but it was also one of the reasons people started thinking about the dangers of pesticides and DDT. Too bad people aren't smart enough to stop the wide spread use of pesticides altogether, but at least it got DDT banned, and that is why we get to see so many eagles again.

4.) My fourth book is a reread from a book I LOVED as a kid. I texted my sister to tell her I bought it, in case she hadn't thought of the book in a while, and of course she said she already owned a copy. Duh. "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler", by E. L. Konigburg is a book I hadn't read since I was a kid, and it didn't really lose anything for me when I read it as an adult. A brother and sister runaway to live in an art museum? There's a little mystery to solve? Whats not to like?

5.) I read Barack Obama's memoir, "Dreams of My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" as my fifth book. It was a very honest look at his issues (and America's issues) growing up as a biracial man in the USA. I really enjoyed this book. I also thought, "Man, he wasn't thinking he was going to run for president when he wrote it." There was no bullshit about not inhaling anywhere in it. I also had a couple of things in common with him. His father left him IN Hawaii, and my father left us FOR Hawaii. I didn't realize that he went to Occidental College either. I lived in Eagle Rock for a little while when I was in Los Angeles, and house sat for the head of the theater department on the Occidental College Campus. Anyway, I thought it was a great book, if not a little long in spots, much to my ADHD's chagrin.

6.) The last book I read in April, was Jhumpa Lahiri's "Whereabouts". It was a short book, about a woman living in Italy, and her musings and experiences and anxiety and isolation. Of course, it was well written, and each chapter was a different experience. The big deal with this book, is that it was the first book that she wrote in Italian and then translated into English. I thought it was beautiful, and sad, and thoughtful.

 

With May comes my Summer reading attention span...Or lack thereof. Like I said, lots of escapist reading. 

1.) The first book I read in May was "The Last Report of the Miracles of Little No Horse", by Louise Erdrich. I will just say this, I love Louise Erdrich. I have read almost everything she has ever written. This book is about a white woman who changes her gender, and becomes a priest on a reservation. He is being interviewed by another priest about whether one of the nun's of his congregation should be considered for sainthood. There is magic, and amazing storytelling, and everything you could want in a Louise Erdrich novel. 

2.) I read the first Maisie Dobbs book for my second book for May. It starts before World War I, and you get to read her origin story, and meet all of her friends, and find out their relationships. All of those things I was clueless about when I read the 16th book in the series in April. Again, it's not in any way believable, but who the hell cares? It's a fun Summer read, and I have no eff's to give if you want to try and judge me for reading crap.

3.) The last book I read in May was Michelle Zauner's "Crying in H Mart". If you want to know what I thought about it? I loved it. It was a memoir about her relationship with her mother (and her father too) that she wrote after her mother died of cancer. He mother was from Korea, so there were cultural, as well as generational differences between them, There was also anger, and guilt, and finally, some understanding, and cutting both herself and her mother some slack. 

Okay, since I have about two hours until July, I can already say that I only read two books in June. It's okay. They were fun books, and I will tell you all about how I felt about them in another post. But now, I want to wish you all good reading, and tell anyone to f*ck off who judges you for reading escapist books in the Summer...Or any other time of the year for that matter.

Well, I Wish I Was In New Orleans, I Can See It In My Dreams

 

 

I sure suck as a Blogger these days. I keep trying to be better, and then I end up doing a bunch of other stuff and not getting around to it. Jeanne Parsons, one of my favorite teachers in high school told me, "you always make time for the things you love." So, I am doing my damnedest to try and make time to write more. Sorry to all of you who have to read my babbling.

Okay, so anyway. I'm still writing about our vacation in May. On Saturday, Stinky's husband was there to hang out with us as well. He flew in the night before, and after delays, he finally made it to new Orleans around 12:00 that night.

After getting some fuel at our favorite neighborhood coffee shop, we walked the Crescent Park Trail to the French Quarter. It's about a mile and a half walk, and it takes you right to the French Market.

It has a dog park, beautiful gardens, and sculptures. If it hadn't been so hot and humid, it would have been the perfect little jaunt.

We even found some Happy Birthday graffiti for our special girl.

We wandered around the French Market, and I ended up buying an African mask and a little carved sculpture of three people all entwined. The guy who sold it to me told me it meant UNITY. Which I thought sounded cool, until my son-in-law said, "So, you bought a statue of an orgy?" Um, I honestly didn't see that. I guess if it really is an orgy, that could be some kind of unity too, right? As long as everyone is consenting and having fun? Whatever. So, I bought a carving of an orgy. So what. I'm sure the guy who sold it to me is still laughing at the old, white, Midwestern, mom who bought an orgy sculpture from him. I'm here to amuse people, apparently.

After buying all of our touristy stuff, we had a great lunch together, before we went our separate ways. Stinky and her husband went back to the house to secretly decorate the outdoor space with black balloons and streamers for The Oldest's birthday, and we went with The Oldest and her boyfriend to the WWII museum.

Let me say this, I would probably not have gone to the World War II Museum on my own volition, BUT holy hell, it was really cool and well done, and I'm so glad that Coadster asked us to join her there.

Coadster is a history nerd. She loves to research and read all about different times. She would also love to argue with you until she proves to you how RIGHT she is, and that is why I think she should be a lawyer, but anyway...She loves reading about World War II, on the battle front, and the home front. I have learned so much from her.

Sooooo, we went to the World War II museum, and really, everyone should check it out. They talk about all of the different theaters of it, and have testimonies by the people who were involved, and each area is set up like it was from the view of the soldiers. For instance, the Pacific theater starts in a room that feels like being on a ship, and then you walk into the next room that feels like you are on a tropical island, and meanwhile there are TV's with videos playing around each area. It was pretty damn cool and interesting.

They talked about the prejudice that happened for people of color, and there were three current soldiers in army fatigues walking through it at the same time we did. Two of them were white and one was black. It was great to hear them discussing and asking questions of the black soldier about his current experiences in the military. And that's what I mean about this museum. It really makes you think and ask questions and relate it all to how things are now.

At the beginning of our museum tour, a woman told us that we really needed 6 to 8 hours to see everything, and my poor, minuscule, attention span almost hightailed it out of my brain at the thought. Lucky for us, we saw a lot of what we wanted to see in just a few hours.

We made it back to our place, and The Oldest loved the birthday decorations her sister put up for her. We all rested at least a couple of minutes before we headed out again for the evening. 

We had all heard that if we wanted to eat BBQ in New Orleans, we needed to hit up The Joint. we were very lucky that it was just a few blocks away from where we were staying. I got chicken, and coleslaw, and mac and cheese, and it was delicious and made me very, very happy.

The Bywater neighborhood is also where they have all of the murals. If you know me at all, you know how much I love murals, and the one in the photo above was probably my favorite from our trip.

After dinner, we walked toward the French Quarter. My brother-in-law messaged us from Ottumwa to tell us that a band called Tuba Skinny was playing at a bar for free that night and we decided to check them out. Boy, were we glad we did. They play kind of 1920's style jazz, and there were tons of people dancing to it. I LOVE to watch people dance like they know what they're doing, and that's what we had there. All of these people swinging their partners and practically jitterbugging. I was in heaven.

We finally made it back to the French Quarter again. John and Stinky and I didn't last too long, because we had been there the night before, and Bourbon Street is fun to check out and people watch, but once every ten years is probably enough for me. Stinky's husband, however, wasn't with us the night before, so we went with him to see it. He wanted to go to some bar that was on the show, "Fix My Bar". Is that really the name of the show? Oh, well. It's something like that. So, we checked that out, and Stinky wanted to go to Channing Tatum's bar, which was fine. It just would have been a lot more appealing to me if Channing Tatum had actually been there, instead of just his cut-out.

Anyway, the whole trip was lovely. We had a few instances where one or all of us got cranky, and a couple of times where I disappointed my kids by not being able to read their minds, or maybe they told me they wanted to do something, and I didn't listen to them, or whatever. We had the whole family trapped in a car for a long time, and then hanging out in a house together for a long time, and we all have our own PERSONALITIES, and yes, I'm yelling that word at you, because that's what all of our personalities would do to you if you met us in person. So, we all spent a LOT of time together and we didn't kill each other, and we're all still talking to each other, and we all had a lot of fun together. So, Coadster's 30th birthday trip to New Orleans was a smashing success. Seriously, if I were rich, and there weren't scary hurricanes, or climate change raising the ocean levels, I would move to New Orleans in a minute, I loved it so much.