tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36150653382966038852024-03-05T05:41:30.059-05:00Steph Reads Books, life, ephemera. Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-75653383316176731542018-01-02T22:12:00.001-05:002018-01-02T22:12:19.541-05:00The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, by Karina Yan Glaser <br />I still read books for kids. When they're extremely well-written, I do a little dance in my head, and I'm right back in a big chair in my hometown library on a Sunday afternoon, curled up in a big chair, blissfully reading. Karina Glaser gifted me with a little childhood today.<br />
The Vanderbeekers are a family of seven living in a brownstone in Harlem, near City College. The characters are people you want to know. The Vanderbeeker kids remind you of your own childhood friends; immediately, you're part of the neighborhood, and you're falling in love with a brownstone on 141st Street.<br />
In an effort not to give anything away, I will just say the story will tug at your heart. The supporting characters are equally interesting: the couple in the apartment above, who welcome the children into their home, Oliver's friends, who dig into their own pockets for him, the Castlemans, the violin teacher, and the Beiderman himself.<br />
There was a moment when my eyes filled with tears, many moments that made me laugh outright, and that fabulous feeling every reader knows -- getting lost in a story, the world falling away, and the print on the page becoming more real than the sofa you're sitting on.<br />
Glaser doesn't waste any time. The story opens with a family meeting, which not only introduces the Vanderbeeker family, but their home as well. When Mama asks, "On a scale of one to ten, how much do you like living here?" you are already hooked, and clinging to the hope that the Beiderman will change his mind, and renew their lease at the end.<br />
Will the Vanderbeekers get to stay in Harlem? Or move to a new neighborhood, and carry on their adventures there?<br />
Meet the twins, Isa and Jessie, Hyacinth and Laney, and their brother Oliver, who gets to live in his own room, even if it is a renovated walk-in closet.<br />
I'm already looking forward to the next Vanderbeeker book, <i>The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden </i>(2018).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.karinaglaser.com/vanderbeekers/" target="_blank">Karina Glaser's Website </a>Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13161844993268425475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-53427880921363286032017-11-08T09:10:00.000-05:002017-11-08T09:10:02.998-05:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
It Takes A Tragedy</h2>
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On March 25, 1911, 146 workers died in a fire in New York
City. None were famous, none were wealthy, and yet their deaths transformed our
lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
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They were locked in, on the 8<sup>th</sup>, 9<sup>th</sup>
and 10<sup>th</sup> floors of a building near Washington Square. The owners of
the company, Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, locked the workers in, purportedly to
keep union organizers out. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Their trial for manslaughter lasted three weeks. More than
150 testified, among them survivors, firefighters, police officers, engineers,
and the accused themselves. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The victims of the fire were mostly young girls, teenagers,
immigrants from Russia, Italy, Romania, Austria, even Jamaica. They leapt from
the windows of the burning building and died on the sidewalks in front of the
helpless firefighters whose ladders only reached the 6<sup>th</sup> floor. The
elevator failed, the fire escape collapsed, the rows of machines obstructed
them, and the doors locked them in. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s been 106 years. Because of this disaster at the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, we have sprinkler systems, exit doors that swing
outward, and building codes that do not allow heaps of cloth and tissue paper
to pile up around workers. Exits must not be blocked, flammables must be stored
safely (there were barrels of oil standing under windows, and boxes blocking
the stairwells), and fire alarms. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Even with fire safety regulations on the books in New York,
factories were unsafe. Harris and Blanck got off, and were caught locking doors
again in 1913. It took another 20 years to get the same at the federal level, and
almost 50 years to get the regulations to stick, after 24 more died in another
fire in a garment shop in 1958. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13161844993268425475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-88098348495790056902017-07-31T22:26:00.004-04:002017-07-31T22:30:53.328-04:00Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore<a href="https://www.robinsloan.com/books/penumbra/" target="_blank">Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, A Novel</a><br />
by Robin Sloan<br />
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I found this book in my public library because Melissa (librarian) recommended it as a staff member. I really love that my library does this, because then you know which librarians to seek out for the sorts of reads you're in the mood for.<br />
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Mr Penumbra is the character everyone hopes to meet in their lifetime. Clay, our hero, wanders into the bookstore and is asked, "What do you seek in these shelves?" a mere 5 pages into the story, and I'm hooked.<br />
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I stay hooked, not only on Penumbra and Clay, but on the wonderful cast of characters that Sloan introduces as the visitors to the bookstore, and Clay's friends. He has a real sense of what matters to a reader when meeting a character for the first time, and it feels perfectly natural for Clay to have a very rich friend to call when he needs a warrior to his rogue.<br />
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The secret of Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore involves an underground library, a 500 year old code, and all the latest modern technology that even bibliophiles love.<br />
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Festina lente.<br />
<br />Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13161844993268425475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-31365736015630595522014-06-06T20:18:00.000-04:002017-07-31T22:02:56.205-04:00School's OutSummer reading! I'm very excited. I'm thinking about whole days devoted to nothing but eating fresh fruit and reading. Of course, there is still <i>life</i> to deal with, but I'll have at least a few hours each day to transport myself to some other world, riding the waves of words that great writers have spent lonely hours laboring over <i>just for me. </i><br />
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E.L. Doctorow is first on my list. I was going to pick up something light and easy, and just breeze through its pages this first week out of school, but I thought, I'll finish in three hours and be sad that it's ended. So I found <i>City of God</i> and wondered how I haven't read this book in the past fourteen years. Easy enough to rectify that.<br />
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If you've never read <a href="http://eldoctorow.com/">Doctorow</a>, all I can say is, Start! He has a unique voice; he is at once a novelist and an historian, however, his narrative sucks you in so thoroughly you forget that he is either, and he becomes someone you know, just talking, telling you about his thoughts and life. <br />
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The scope of his knowledge astounds me. If I could meet him the first thing I would ask is how on earth do you know so much about everything? I've been around a while. I read with a bottomless-pit sort of appetite, I'm often tapped for information by friends and colleagues, I'm a researcher by nature, so I feel like I know a lot. But Doctorow? Puts me to shame. I would look at the toes of my shoes and draw circles in the dirt like an eight-year-old if I were in this man's presence. And that's why I love his work - he teaches me. <br />
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I think <i>Andrew's Brain </i>is next on my list.<br />
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<br />Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-70443713371101297012014-05-18T00:06:00.001-04:002018-01-08T13:50:06.285-05:00Reading and other forms of happiness I often share "life stories" with my students. I have a million thoughts pop into my head on every subject that comes up, and there are things I wish people had told me when I was in high school, so I share them with my students. For instance, there are things we love to do, and there are ways to parlay those loves into a career. Find the thing you can't stop doing, figure out what drives you, and then put that same drive behind your future. No one wants to think about being 50 when he is 15, but it helps kids to know that one day, they will look back over their lives and think, <i>If I'd only…</i><br />
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Or, maybe not. I saw a man on a bicycle in the pouring rain the other day. He was about 65 or so. He was fully dressed in street clothes, so not out for mere exercise. He was singing. Full on, top of his lungs, belting out a tune. Happy. I thought, <i>Where does that kind of happy come from? </i> And maybe I know. </div>
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This man obviously loved to sing. He probably didn't have a billion dollar music career, or he wouldn't have been getting soaked on a bicycle. He did what he loved, whenever it struck him, shared it with whomever could hear him, and it made him happy. </div>
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I love to read. So, to make myself happy, I read. (Singing is pretty great, too.) But I also share that love of reading. I bring books to life for people who think reading is a bore. My job involves teaching reading strategies, but beyond that, I show the haters that reading opens worlds for them. Can they time travel? Yes. They can sit on the porch or lie in the bed and transport to 1930s Alabama, and get inside the heads of people who lived and breathed socially acceptable racism, and, through the eyes of a child, understand how that could have been normal. They can aspire to be defenders of the innocent, they can boil with rage over injustice, and they can learn how social classes kept people from realizing dreams. All from the front porch. </div>
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By reading aloud to older students, and sharing my thoughts about the writer's intent, or what a seemingly obscure passage means, together we make heads and tails of the text, and they grow to appreciate the story, the knowledge, and the interactive quality of reading. I'm teaching them how to become a part of the story. And the real story? Life. Their own. </div>
Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-87480922149759668492014-05-14T17:43:00.001-04:002014-05-14T17:43:28.358-04:00The Mental Floss History of the WorldThis is a shout-out, really, with thanks to Erik Sass and Steve Wiegand, as my daughter is about to take her first Advanced Placement test tomorrow: AP World. Since I'm somewhat fanatical about history, knowledge, and information in general, it will surprise no one to find out that I have a houseful of history books. They're all excellent in their way (oh fine, maybe not all), but the people at Mental Floss go outside the realm of explanation to include tidbits that make history relevant and readable. <div><br></div><div>For instance, there is a section on fast food, something most teenagers know more than a little about. The passage is actually about the Russian occupation of Paris in 1814. Interesting, informative, and helps to bring the history home. </div><div><br></div><div>When did the Ottomans take over the Byzantine Empire? In Chapter 7, of course, titled, <i>Renaissance Anyone? </i> I'm very fond of the timelines included. Handy for impressing your friends. (1453, just in case you don't feel like looking it up.)</div><div><br></div><div>Good Luck to all the young men and women who will spend the morning tomorrow sweating over Europe's constant conflict, why Lenin wanted Trotsky and not Stalin, and how The Great Depression still bums us out today. </div>Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-43374486060530771692014-04-10T20:23:00.001-04:002014-06-06T20:02:25.342-04:00Teaching TodayToday I set up a "fun" lesson. My 9th graders have been exploring law and deciding if they're going to our Law Academy for their next three years of high school. They're a diverse lot, with a common thread: they are more open and forthcoming than any group I've had in ten years. They aren't children who've been coddled, but rather, they come from hard working families and are expected to contribute. Some of them are better off than others, but they, for the most part, make few judgements. They impress me daily.<br />
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Yesterday we had some fun with out-dated laws, so today we took a look at some dumb criminals. There are a few young men in my classes who wear their pants low enough that I will say, "My goodness, hike up those trousers, you're traumatizing me!" and they laugh and tug up their pants. When those same boys watched would-be thieves trying to run off with their loot only to have their pants trip them up, their laughter was loudest. I often admonish them: "Be classy!" so one young man today said, "Hey Miss, that sure wasn't classy!" when a fellow who was attempting to make off with a case of beer fell flat on his face as the cans rolled away. We discussed the laws explained by the Discovery Investigation show, and the criminals' behavior, and then we went to ABC's dumb crime videos. </div>
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As we all know, one video leads to another on sites like these, and the title of an unrelated video caught our collective eye. It seems a young man killed his parents about an hour south of our high school, and the judgement has just come back in his trial. </div>
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If ever an impromptu problem solving lesson worked, this was it. </div>
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The students frequently asked to pause the video to discuss the details and merits of the case, the testimony given, the "look" of the defendant and the interview of his best friend. They questioned the interviewer's tactics, the program's agenda, and the mystery of why none of us had heard of this case. I was in awe. They didn't even realize they were brilliant, kind, analytical, and sensitive. They were just thinking. And learning. So was I. </div>
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Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-48170874783007932912014-03-21T14:21:00.000-04:002014-03-21T14:21:31.751-04:00John Green, writer, vlogger, nerdfighter extrordinaire John Green is one of those writers who feels like a friend. He writes YA Lit, and has some amazing YouTube videos which give his readers and fans some insight into his personality - much more so than the writers of my youth did. <br />
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I remember feeling like authors were something akin to Angels - you couldn't see or talk to them, but you knew they were "out there somewhere" doing good in your life. It's probably good that one of my favorite authors, Roald Dahl, did not have a YouTube account, because since his death I've read some unpleasant things about him, which I hope are exaggerations, or better yet - simply not true.<br />
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However, John Green has an energy and enthusiasm that is positively catchy. His Crash Course videos are delivered at break-neck speed, and quite often my students report that they were forced to "rewind" and watch them several times over. I say Good! Repetition is not the devil it has been made out to be.<br />
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The book of Green's that impacted me first was <i>Looking for Alaska. </i>The voices and ideas in the story are so teen-aged, that I looked to see if the writer was indeed a teenager himself. He was not. Young, yes, but no teen. And yet, he remembers. He remembers extremely well -- and that is evident in his other novels as well, particularly in <i>The Fault in Our Stars. </i><br />
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I'm not going to talk about his books. Plenty of other bloggers have done that already, and you can find tons of questions and information on John's Tumbler account, and in many other places. Just Google him. And before you do - check out his books, and read them for yourself. You'll thank me later. Stephhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13161844993268425475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-7305053336790202282014-03-08T15:25:00.000-05:002014-04-03T19:58:59.740-04:00Busy reading... ? I borrowed a book from the library six days ago and promptly got too busy to read. That shouldn't happen.<br />
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This afternoon I was determined that nothing was going to stand in my way and as I began reading I realized that I've started this book before. I probably borrowed it from the library before, and got too busy to read.<br />
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I like to be busy, don't get me wrong. I just don't want to be busy doing the wrong things, like sitting around playing a mindless trivia game on my phone (yes, I admit it, I do this sometimes ... I consider it therapy - it's a quiz after all!) for HOURS. Housework is a real issue. There are not enough hours in the day to work full time, do housework, cook meals, and read. So, I have to work, and while I don't eat very much, I do need to eat. I can say this with honesty too - I need to read. There are people who will completely understand that, and others who will cock their heads to one side, perhaps, and say, "Need? I doubt it." <br />
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And so my reader friends, I forego daily housework. And why not? It'll only be dusty again tomorrow. I do regular cleanings, and while I do, I pretend it's someone else's house. That way I don't get bogged down putting things away. I just chuck it all in a basket, and leave it on a chair for the owner (me, later) to go through. Works like a charm. <br />
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Now, back to that book... </div>
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Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-1951850723466500742013-11-27T22:36:00.001-05:002014-04-03T19:58:05.213-04:0011/22/63 Stephen King - Part 3 Living in the Past<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jake, in advance of Lee Oswald, heads for Dallas in a hurry when life in Florida gets too hot. Not talking weather, so you'll have to read for yourself to see what I mean. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dallas, like Derry, is giving Jake the Heebie Jeebies. Something is wrong, and he senses it. Finally the place becomes intolerable and he heads out to find a good place to bide his time since Oswald is still in the USSR. This he does, in a town called Jodie. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once a teacher, always a teacher, Jake gets in at the high school and becomes integral. I can foresee problems with this, but Jake/George is ignoring them, or hasn't figured out how he might be adding to the butterfly effect. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">King again ropes us in at the end of this section with mysterious links to the Yellow/Orange Card Man, and I can feel my heart rate accelerate just a bit. Nicely played, Mr. King. </span></div>
Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-42345680267329352042013-11-24T17:56:00.001-05:002018-01-02T22:14:53.089-05:0011/22/63 Stephen King - Part 2 The Janitor's Father <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Our man Jake has gone through the wormhole after making the decision to save Hoptoad Harry's family. Harry is from Derry, and after procuring the coolest car imaginable - a Sunliner - Jake makes his way to Derry. He finds it to be an unhappy place - a place that has something "wrong" with it. There have been murders of children, and he meets two teen who seem to think the "bad times" are over. We know better, of course. <br />
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King is foreshadowing something evil. Al refers to him as the Yellow Card Man, but when Jake goes through the second time, he's the Orange Card Man. Something has changed. <br />
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Jake (as George in the past) find out everything he can, because he failed to do some research on Harry's father before he left. He talks to a whole lot of people, and we know he cannot succeed, because we've found out that the past resists change. <br />
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At the end of this section, we're starting to think that Jake/George might just prefer the past.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-68228777871262002122013-11-16T00:09:00.001-05:002013-11-16T00:09:40.828-05:0011/22/63 Stephen King - Part 1 Watershed MomentThis is the set-up. Get the reader to buy in to your fantasy, which King does with ease and aplomb. Our man Jake Epping is going back to save the world, before JFK is assassinated and the civil rights battle spirals out of control. Jake has nothing to lose; if it doesn't work out there's a reset. How convenient is that? <div>Because of the reset feature, and the fact that his mentor, diner owner Al, is dying of cancer, and quickly, I am wondering all kinds of things. King has never used easy or pat, so the convenience of the reset is probably going to be a problem. The cancer is another story. Apparently Al, has been going back through history for quite a while. Vacationing and fishing, eating, drinking, and making money. Some people get untreatable cancer. Is it just a device to put our man up against the past, or does the past cause cancer? Remains to be seen. </div><div>King has suckered me before, led me down paths with which I thought I was familiar, and then pushed me into an icy river with a strong current and lots of jagged rocks. I'm wearing some protection this time. </div>Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-6892034652299117342013-11-12T22:13:00.002-05:002013-11-12T22:14:17.188-05:0011/22/63 by Stephen King This will have to be a two-post review. I decided (finally) that since it is November, I will read this novel I've been staring at on my bookshelf for quite a while now. It's a good solid read, King will grip me and make me want to read his tale much too far into the night, and I will awaken bleary-eyed with the book in the bed next to me. Then I will attempt to avoid all of life's realities in order to get my eyeballs back on the page. <br />
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King begins (as he is wont to do) benignly enough. We have a school teacher grading papers at the end of the semester. Before long, however, we are stepping into the abyss right along with said teacher, and the title is a subtle tease (I avoid reading book-flaps, so I don't know much about the how yet) that gets me thinking about how King is going to bring me around to that terrible day in 1963. Time travel. It's the only way.<br />
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I'm sorry that I cannot report (well, not really sorry) where I was that day, as I was not born yet. However, my older sister came home from school to tell my mother what happened, my mother, who never watched television or listened to the radio during the day, she was strictly an album aficionado. Truly, my sister probably had to turn down the HiFi to be heard. Of course, my mother did not believe her. An eight year old in New York, what could she know of presidents and shootings in Texas?<br />
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My parents loved the musical <i>Camelot </i>and listened to the soundtrack quite a lot. When I heard that JFK's administration was described as Camelot, I understood how loved a president he was, how the Kennedy family was the closest thing to royalty the US had, and it didn't much matter if you were an Elephant or a Donkey, Jack and Jackie were IT.<br />
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As for Stephen King's ideas, I don't know yet. I can only surmise that he was as enamored as the rest of the nation, and the world. All those young people did not join the Peace Corps for a president they did not love. <i>Ask not</i>, he said to them - <i>Ask not what your country can do for you</i>. And they stepped right up to his challenge. <br />
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I'm going to try really hard to savor this novel. Since I'm doing some traveling soon, I'll have two good chunks of reading time, and my goal is to keep myself from swallowing the book whole (as I am wont to do). Wish me luck.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-58270466085262295682013-10-29T12:31:00.001-04:002013-10-30T00:05:01.832-04:00Once Upon a Time, There Was You by Elizabeth BergThere are few authors who can, within three pages, have me totally invested in their characters. <a href="http://www.elizabeth-berg.net/" target="_blank">Elizabeth Berg</a> is one of those authors. She understands what makes us human, and she plucks those strings.<br>
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She draws us in with a glimpse into personality, such as: <i>The last time he had a semi-serious relationship was five years ago, and that blew up when he wouldn't agree to lock his black Lab mix, emphasis on </i>mix<i>, out of his room on the nights she slept over. The woman complained that the dog snored and farted; John allowed that she did, too, and that was that. </i> Now we know that John is a dog lover (so is Elizabeth Berg) and of course he wasn't going to lock his dog out, which means that dog lovers everywhere are despising the mystery woman from five years past, who doesn't matter anyway. She is not part of the story, but her anti-dog sentiments endear us to John.<br>
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Through Sadie, John and Irene's daughter, we learn to love Irene. Irene is hovering too much for Sadie, who is ready to be grown up and gone and away from her smothering mother. And if you're a mother, or a doting father, you love Irene for this. It is so hard to watch our children twirl away from us. <br>
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The sense of divorce in Once Upon a Time, There Was You is one of melancholy, but Berg infuses it with humor: John's friend Stuart, while trying to convince John to go to a divorced parents group says, <i>"Listen, you're getting a little weird. I mean, I'll bet you walk around talking to yourself."</i> And of course, John does. When John realizes that Stuart and his wife must have been talking about him, he thinks, <i>It was embarrassing, like someone telling you far too long after the fact that your zipper was open. </i><br>
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Again and again, we're reminded of how human these characters are - Irene has been dating someone who suddenly decided to go back to his wife, and while she's telling her best friend, her insecurities about her aging body come out. The writing is so plainly honest, but always with a light note. The chapter ends on Irene remembering a tender pastime she shared with John. <br>
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The tragedy that brings John and Irene together has to do with their daughter, the tie that inextricably binds us to someone, whether we still like them, love them, or hate them. When you have a child with someone, you're a part of their life - and after divorce - no longer by choice, but by virtue of your love for that son or daughter. John and Irene both love Sadie very much, which creates both a connection and a certain level of jealousy that every parent has experienced, divorced or not, for every child has a "favorite" at one point or another. Usually, it's the one who is easier. <br>
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As always, Elizabeth Berg envelopes me in her story, and I forget about my own life, and live fully in her world. Her characters become my friends, and I laugh with them, and cry for them. This is a story of love lost and found, family ties, and how we support and care for each other. Enjoy it!<br>
<br>Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-16205873172904053242013-10-24T09:35:00.000-04:002013-10-24T09:43:39.415-04:00The Book of Better by Chuck EichtenI wrote <a href="http://steph-reads.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-worst-of-times.html" target="_blank">recently</a> about my daughter's diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. I like to know things, therefore, I do lots of research. The nice part is, I'm pretty good at it.<br />
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I know there are really bad long term effects for people with diabetes, but I haven't wanted to <i>study</i> them. Instead, I've looked for ways to keep the short-term, really scary effects at bay. The big black cloud that looms over me daily, especially at night, is that she will have a low -- and worse than just a low, a low <i>in her sleep</i>.<br />
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So, there's an insulin pump with a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) that talks to the pump. It was approved by the FDA just a few weeks ago! At any time, it will tell the pump to stop administering insulin if it reads her blood sugar below a certain point. <i>Even in her sleep</i>.<br />
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Somehow, during my research, I discovered this pump. It's the closest thing we have to an artificial pancreas. I'm excited. The good news is, she doesn't already have a pump. Insurance only pays every four years. The bad news is, she has to wait. She has to have diabetes and <i>intensive insulin therapy </i>(multiple shots every day) for six months before insurance will approve a pump. So we will wait. </div>
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And, in doing <i>that </i>research, I found Chuck Eichten. And he is helping to make this <i>better. </i><br />
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<i><a href="http://www.bookofbetter.com/about/" target="_blank">The Book of Better</a> </i>has a longer title. The rest is: <i>Life with diabetes can't be perfect. Make it Better. </i></div>
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The book could almost be classified as a graphic self-help health book. Or a stand-up comedy narrative. Because Chuck is funny. And he's honest. And he's had diabetes for a really long time. So he's also kind of like a mentor. To me, it feels like I gained a big brother who knows exactly what we're going through around here.<br />
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The graphics are pretty simple, but they make the book better. It's a two-color scheme, yellow and black, which works surprisingly well. I wouldn't have thought of it, but Chuck is a designer for Nike, so I'm guessing he knew it would work.<br />
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Diabetes is depicted as a monster, which is a Truth you learn when someone you love is diagnosed, and you suffer with them. I want Chuck to tell me the monster is going to be vanquished by a knight in a white lab coat, but, as I said, he is honest. His advice is to forget the cure. Help with finding a cure, yes, but for now, get on with controlling diabetes.<br />
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I need to hear that, because I'm pretty angry that Mass General has a doc working on a cure who only needs another 9 mil for the next phase of the study, and pharmaceutical companies are not coughing that up. Better for them if my girl needs their products, right?<br />
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But I'll take Chuck's advice as best I can, and move on.<br />
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What's awesome about this book is that Chuck gets it. He validates the feelings that come with this: Unfair. Undeniable. The Foreverness. The way we can become obsessed with food. Right now, my daughter hates food. It's a huge pain. There is no more fun to eating or cooking. And this girl is an <i>amazing </i>cook. Unfair.<br />
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<i>The Book of Better</i> doesn't just explain diabetes, or its jargon, acronyms, and how to live with diabetes. It's much more personal than that. It's a dialog, and it feels like a hug. It feels like care and concern and I need that. Even though it makes me cry.<br />
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There is also some history, which matters to me lot, too. For instance, "In 1921, the life expectancy of a person diagnosed with diabetes was less than 12 months. In 1922, life expectancy was more than 12 years." Finding out that insulin can control diabetes has made all the difference. Thank you Frederick Banting.<br />
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Best line I've read in a long time: <i>I thought I had the perfect relationship with my diabetes--I did whatever it said, whenever it said to do it, and in return, well, it turns out IT WAS TRYING TO KILL ME. </i><br />
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There is no "why" answer to getting diabetes. But Chuck Eichten answers a lot of other "whys" that we have. The types of insulin and how they work, and we're treated to a little personification, too.<br />
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We are fairly beaten over the head when it comes to getting an insulin pump. Chuck tells us repeatedly that it's <i>the best </i>treatment for insulin-dependent diabetes! I believe you, I believe you! I very much want my daughter to have a pump. I hate that we have to wait. Even if it is only a few more months.<br />
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I can't wait to get her a pump. With a CGM that tells it to ease off the insulin if she's getting low. (Super excited that the FDA recently approved the <a href="http://professional.medtronicdiabetes.com/minimed-530-g" target="_blank">Metronic MiniMed 530g</a>, which will suspend insulin automatically!)<br />
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Chuck dives right in to one of our top reasons to get a pump. Skipping a meal. Eating "later" if you're not hungry, busy, or just waiting for your really slow family to hurry up and get ready to go out to dinner. (That's us, I'm afraid.) <br />
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Sleeping in. Yep, Chuck mentions that, too. I cannot tell you how horrible I feel creeping into my daughter's room on a Saturday or Sunday at 7:30 a.m. and saying, "You have to get up now, check your blood sugar, and eat." I have <i>never </i>woken a sleeping baby, child, or teen, unless absolutely necessary. Late for school, hurricane coming, grandma's here, yes. To eat? Never. You learn that when they're babies. Let 'em sleep. Not any more. Another reason we are going to love that pump. We might even name it.<br />
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Another gigantic horrible big scary: getting sick. You know she has to eat. Even if the thought of food is making her ill. Blood sugar rises when you're sick. Insulin brings it down. If you don't eat, or can't eat, blood sugar will drop too low. Pump!<br />
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This book covers all the bases on pumps, exercise (moving), food, and eating. There's a little glance into the future. Mostly, it is an excellent source of information, especially for the newly diagnosed. Read it, because you know someone with diabetes, and knowing what's going on will help. <br />
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One of the best things about <i>The Book of Better </i>is how Chuck Eichten relates the issues which come with diabetes to everything else in your life. He makes it easy to realize that it's just another thing. Not the end of the world, and it can get better. </div>
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Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-61417233689346833932013-10-21T10:31:00.000-04:002014-03-21T14:22:08.756-04:00Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan<a href="http://johngreenbooks.com/will-grayson/" target="_blank">Will Grayson, Will Grayson</a> is a terrific collaboration between John Green (<i><a href="http://johngreenbooks.com/looking-for-alaska/" target="_blank">Looking for Alaska</a></i>, <i><a href="http://johngreenbooks.com/the-fault-in-our-stars/" target="_blank">The Fault in Our Stars</a></i>) and David Levithan (<i><a href="http://www.davidlevithan.com/nick-and-norah/" target="_blank">Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.davidlevithan.com/every-day/" target="_blank">Every Day</a></i>). In this comedic and touching coming-of-age story, Green's Will Grayson is smart and funny, but not so popular in school, mainly because his rules to live by are 1. Don't care too much, and 2. Shut up. Will is not too thrilled with his gargantuan best friend, Tiny Cooper (irony, Tiny tells us), who is gay and cares very much and does not shut up at all. Levithan's will grayson is depressed and moody, also has friends he doesn't really like, and is embroiled in an online romance with a boy named Isaac, the only aspect of his life that makes him happy. Unlike Tiny, will is not "out" and prefers to keep his business to himself. <br />
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They are strangers with the same name who are destined to save each other from themselves. Will might need a little less saving than will, but if you ask Jane, she might disagree. The "minor" characters (I hate thinking of them that way) are also well-wrought; Jane is drawn deeply enough that I truly like her and am cheering for her, but Green doesn't let her story (which would be awesome) take over the novel. Sometimes I wish I could read the same book from each character's perspective (shades of Rebecca Wells <i><a href="http://www.rebeccawellsbooks.com/books/little_altars.php" target="_blank">Little Altars Everywhere</a>). </i><br />
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will grayson's mom is another such character. She is enough of a presence in his life and on the page that we cheer for her as well, that she'll get happier, and "get a life" as she jokes sadly to will. <br />
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What ensues over the course of the novel is Will and will meet, haphazardly, and between laughter, tears, and some cringing, we are treated to the best high school musical imaginable. There are songs, and they are good! And funny. I believe John Green might have a bit of a lyricist in him. In <i>Looking for Alaska</i> there are even a few raps. <br />
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Green and Levithan both still have one foot in adolescence, and truly bring out the teen thought process regarding dating, friendship, and how to survive high school without surrendering to a loveless lie. <br />
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Because love and truth make each other possible. Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-28374131536215510532013-09-27T11:59:00.001-04:002013-11-09T14:54:17.440-05:00The Worst of Times?I'm wondering if I'm simply enduring a streak of bad luck, or what.<br />
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The first major blow came early in June. I thought, I can handle this. It's going to be fine, or perhaps the change will bring good. The next life-changing event came in late July. I thought, it'll be fine, nothing lasts forever. I will survive this setback, find a new job, and perhaps even discover that it's a blessing. However, the third attack on the status quo is unchangeable and unrelenting. And it's not even my life that's been so utterly altered. </div>
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My Pal, my little girl. I couldn't come up with any positive spin this time. No blessings. Just mind-boggling, and awful. </div>
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On August 16, I tested my daughter's blood sugar. It was 341. I had been suspicious for a little while. She'd started drinking vast quantities of water, then she began eating constantly. </div>
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In May she had made a decision to be a vegetarian, so I played with the idea that perhaps it was a nutritional deficiency, and that was the reason she was hungry all the time. Even though, deep down, I knew better. But with the other unhappy circumstances we were suffering, I let it slide. Shame on me. She had an appointment for a physical, and I thought I'd ask to have her tested then. And that shows you how little I knew about the consequences of uncontrolled Type 1 Diabetes. </div>
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On August 15, I was on the phone with a friend who happens to have Type 1. I told her what was happening, and very casually it seemed, she said, "Oh, you don't have to wait. Go to the drugstore and buy ketone test strips and and a blood glucose meter. I hope you'll be wasting twenty bucks." And so I did. We spent that weekend in the hospital, learning. We came home reeling. </div>
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Talk about putting things in perspective. Last week I ranted and boohooed a bit when my transmission blew, but I just paid the bill and thought, it's fixed. I didn't end up stranded on the side or the road or worse, and I'll get over it. But I would really like to get a new car. </div>
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I finally told my mom, who is in a nursing home. She has dementia, so she asked a few times how her granddaughter got diabetes. I told her there is some speculation that a virus could kick it off, and Pal and I had both contracted some evil ailment last Thanksgiving. After the fourth time, I just said, "They really don't know, Ma." </div>
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I completely lost it when she asked me how old her granddaughter is, and then said, "Fourteen? She's just a baby!" </div>
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I agree, but I've learned that diabetes doesn't discriminate. I have friends who got Type 1 when they were one year old, eight years old, fourteen years old, and forty years old. That's why they don't call it juvenile diabetes anymore. Adults can get it, too. And boy, how I wish it were me and not her. </div>
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Everyone says its the "bad" diabetes, I suppose because there's no getting rid of it. Her pediatric endocrinologist said that's a misunderstanding because Type 2 diabetes is usually accompanied by a whole host of other health problems. Type 1 is just the short straw. </div>
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Insurance was another fight I had. Tricare. No referrals to out of network providers. Well, the only game in town (a 70 mile radius) is out of network. Apparently, there are not very many pediatric endocrinologists anywhere. Nearest group with Tricare approval (our doc has been trying to get re-approved - apparently he made the mistake of changing groups) is seventy miles away. </div>
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So I fought, and we got approved for one year. I'll take it, and pick up the fight again next year. Maybe someone in charge will have grown a spine or a heart by then. </div>
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Meanwhile, Pal's blood sugar (which we are texting to each other as "BS" - seems appropriate) has been all over the map. </div>
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People have no idea what diabetics endure just to eat. Pal takes 4-5 shots of insulin every day. One with breakfast and one with lunch, and then two with dinner, to get her cells to let in the carbs she eats. If her BS is high at night, another then. She is limited to 40 carbs at breakfast (check out your cereal and milk, and don't forget to look at portions) and 45 each at lunch and dinner. And yes, fruits and vegetables have carbs. She also has to check her blood sugar about seven times a day, and any time she feels "off" - and we are so lucky that she feels bad when her blood sugar is high or low. So she's not only poking herself with a needle multiple times a day, she's sticking her fingers all day long, too. No days off for good behavior, either. <br />
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And so ... still wondering when those first two debacles are going to come up roses, but for now, a BS meter reading between 80 and 160 is reason for a high five. </div>
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Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-10104512063709741092013-09-16T23:07:00.001-04:002013-09-16T23:07:22.903-04:00Mitch Albom has done it again: The Time Keeper I'm not sure whether I recommend that you go to Mitch's site to check out what he has to say about <i>The Time Keeper</i>. I watched his video with interest after reading the book, and he might be saying too much. Read the book first (it's quite well-done, no surprise there) and then go <a href="http://mitchalbom.com/d/books/7700/time-keeper" target="_blank">here</a> to listen to Mitch's talk. He's truly an extraordinary person - so many hats, and yet, his books are beyond inspirational, they're entertaining. He tells a good yarn. Suspends disbelief, as it were, and gives the reader much to think about.<br />
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If you don't know what the Tower of Babel is, I suggest you look that up - it's a reference that, like so many other references in literature, is not explained. You are expected to know it, and so you should.<br />
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How many times have you wished for more time? Just another few minutes, just another hour? Wish that you could spend "just one more day" with a loved one who has passed away? Wish that you could hold your little ones back from moving into adulthood for just a little while longer? Me too. We are all the same - time is fleeting - it eludes us. We become engrossed in the day-to-day minutiae of our existence, and we look up, and years have passed. Where did the time go? Time flies when you're having fun? It flies when you're not having fun too - so perhaps we should be sure to have some fun.<br />
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Dor is the first person on Earth to figure out Time. He spends his life studying it - and ignoring his life a little more than he should. His obsession with measuring time is his downfall - and two people on Earth, one who wants more time, one who wants less, need him to use his terrible punishment to help them see their error. <br />
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Mitch does a superb job writing as a very old man (and we've seen that before) but even more astonishing is that he does a very astute job writing as a teenaged girl. One who is not so hard to understand perhaps, like all of us, she has some struggles with self-esteem and confidence, but Mitch gives her a unique voice, and the buy-in is complete. She's a very believable character with a lot to say - and a lot to learn.<br />
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Read the book - tell me what you think. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and yet, I still haven't decided what will be my big take-away - but I'm not going to waste too much precious time mulling it over.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-50772332236692711372013-09-13T17:25:00.001-04:002017-07-31T22:03:23.521-04:00Crossword Puzzles Are Not For SissiesThe first crossword puzzle I ever did totally stumped me. It didn't make sense, and it drove me crazy that I knew (or so I thought) what the answer should be, but it wasn't! Nothing was right, and I tossed it aside and said, "This is stupid." I was about ten or eleven years old. <br />
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The next time I picked up a puzzle, I had help. My mother pointed out a few important things that crossword writers do, and reminded me that common letters mattered. I did better. <br />
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Then I started taking the LIRR into Manhattan when I was 21. I was determined. I mastered the puzzles in Newsday and the Daily News (I loved the Scramble best) and picked up a copy of the New York Times. I stared. And stared. I was on the train - people were looking at me! I'm sure I was a sight - jeans, work boots, tool bag. I was an electrician -and at 5'2" tall and 100 pounds, I must have looked like a child dressed up in her dad's work clothes. Struggling through the New York Times crossword puzzle.<br />
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Mondays are great days. There's a reason the hardest puzzle comes out on Sunday. It's daunting, to say the least. I had days when I took the puzzle and tossed it in the wood-stove in a fit of pique.<br />
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Some of my favorite clues have to do with books and authors. There's nothing like having "Boo" for an answer when the clue is "recluse in TKAM" and you cheer a little inside -first, just because you know what TKAM is, and second, because it's your favorite book. <br />
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I left New York more than two decades ago. No more Times puzzles. So I did the puzzles in the local paper, which take about six or seven minutes. I buy <a href="http://www.npr.org/programs/wesun/puzzle/will.html" target="_blank">Will Shortz</a> puzzle books, because he is the best of the best. I would like it if he were my friend. Then about five years or so ago, I discovered the app, NYTimes puzzles for my iPad. Great, but not quite the same.<br />
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It's 2017, and I've come home to New York. It's time to sharpen a pencil. Too bad I don't have a wood-stove.<br />
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<br />Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-8623865606647657082013-09-08T21:06:00.002-04:002013-09-08T21:08:09.563-04:00Mini-Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella"The minute you have a child, it's as if you've turned into a box on an Internet site that says, <i>Please add all your rude and offensive comments here." </i><br />
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And with that horribly true line, the memories start flowing in. I remember the judging, the raised eyebrows, the slight head shakes, and worst of all, the sentences that started <i>Bless her heart, she's just... a</i>nd ended with some explanation of how I was failing as a mother. My daughter hated everyone but me for the first year of her life. She's still not too keen on most people, and now she's in high school. But up until she was about five, she was on my hip. She was a flyweight, and held on herself. It didn't bother me at all. In fact, I miss it now. The looks I got! Like she would be on my hip until she was thirty or something. </div>
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So, Minnie is something of a nightmare. And Becky? She cannot stand firm. She also really dislikes being judged (even by the nanny they hire to straighten Minnie out a bit) and spends quite a bit of time sabotaging herself. But if she didn't, it certainly couldn't be a Shopaholic book.<br />
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You will laugh and cringe through <i>Mini-Shopaholic</i>, as Becky works hard to sneak a huge event in under budget and surprise everyone, especially her dear husband Luke. <br />
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Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-78687209538935411832013-09-04T09:00:00.000-04:002013-09-05T23:49:25.409-04:00Isabel's Bed, by Elinor LipmanThis is a novel which will make you want to become a ghost writer. There are some incredibly interesting stories out there, but Isabel's story is one that needed to be written. Present when her lover was murdered by his wife, Isabel and her (estranged?) husband move to Cape Cod, and she hires Harriet (recently evicted by her boyfriend of 12 years) to write her story. <br>
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Without giving much of anything away, I will say that I was transported to Cape Cod and found some solace there. Harriet gets a serious upgrade to the place where she hangs her hat, and who wouldn't want that? It's a gig I'd take myself, because how could you resist "living in a house with many beds and a big-mouth blonde"? <br>
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Elinor Lipman has captivated me with many of her previous novels, and her dry humor and keen sense of the absurd make <i>Isabel's Bed </i>the sort of novel you can lose yourself in on a crowded airplane with a small child kicking the back of your seat while emitting sounds that might awaken the comatose. I certainly did.<br>
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Here is a link to Elinor's website; I know you'll come away feeling as though you've made a friend.<br>
<a href="http://www.elinorlipman.com/" target="_blank">www.elinorlipman.com</a>Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-25799248660070231332013-09-03T11:29:00.002-04:002013-09-03T11:29:18.422-04:00New York: The Novel, by Edward RutherfurdI love New York. I <i>miss</i> New York. I cannot understand now how I took it for granted, never realizing how unbelievably lucky I was to live there for almost 30 years. I left without a backward glance, not knowing that I had it all. Other areas in the country have wonderful attributes, but no other place has it all. New York <i>has it all</i>. I picked pumpkins, swam in the ocean, took a ferry to see Lady Liberty, rode in some ancient elevators, visited farms, sunned on the beach, dug clams and mussels with my feet, climbed trees, and went to MOMA - and I could do all that in one weekend. Subways are awesome. When you no longer have mass transit, you realize just how fabulous mass transit really is - and how driving a car everywhere is not nearly as much fun as you thought it was when you were seventeen. <br />
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So Edward Rutherfurd's book practically leapt off the shelf at me. I was thinking, "My hometown!" and of course you can imagine my sigh. I had to have it. <br />
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He begins at the beginning, and this is a sweeping history of New York, from 1664 to 2009. The Detroit Free Press likens him to Michener, and indeed, he covers three centuries of NYC history, interwoven with fictional characters you'll love and hate (no I'm not naming names) and historical figures like John Jay, Washington, Lincoln and the iconic J. P. Morgan. <br />
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Rutherfurd's research is what really sells me on this novel. It's extensive, accurate and I'm still reading a story. I like to learn from my historical fiction, and he does not disappoint. I am more knowledgeable about my favorite place on Earth, and I feel smarter having read this novel, and you will too! Highly recommend.<br />
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I also recommend his website - completely engaging and enjoyable. Don't miss his comments on history professors.<br />
<a href="http://www.edwardrutherfurd.com/" target="_blank">http://www.edwardrutherfurd.com</a>Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-19618019140894243072013-08-13T11:35:00.000-04:002013-10-21T10:41:31.898-04:00In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Germany<div class="p1">
IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin </div>
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Erik Larson 2011</div>
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Larson is an amazing storyteller. He infuses the history of Berlin with the family story of the man chosen to be our ambassador by FDR, against everyone's better judgement. William Dodd was not FDR's first choice by any means, and did not fit in well with the other diplomats. <br />
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Dodd's daughter Martha is young, and perhaps quite a bit too carefree, where her father is extremely conservative and naive. The family arrives in Germany in 1933, and of note is that there are many residences available, fully furnished, and Dodd lands a bargain. Of course, it is owned by a Jewish family who was exiled.<br />
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Martha's entanglements take up more of the book than I would prefer, I found her exhausting and irritating, in her foolishness, and her promiscuity. However, she was a writer herself, and Larson draws a good bit on her material. Perhaps she embellished. <br />
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Here is a fantastic piece on Larson and the book from NPR: <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/05/09/135922322/william-dodd-the-u-s-ambassador-in-hitlers-berlin" target="_blank">William Dodd: The U.S. Ambassador In Hitler's Berlin</a></div>
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Notes from my reading: </div>
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It was common for American expats to visit US consulate in Berlin. </div>
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George s. Messersmith, America's consul general since 1930</div>
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Hitler appointed chancellor in January 1933. Beatings and arrests of Americans (and Germans) started then. </div>
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FDR inaugurated March 4, 1933</div>
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March 1933 America's ambassador in Germany leaves (Frederic M. Sackett)</div>
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The Junkers: Germany's industrialists and aristocrats. 1916</div>
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Woodrow Wilson died February 3, 1924</div>
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Daniel Roper, FDR's sect of commerce, 1933</div>
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Cordell Hull, sect of state, 1933 (speech impediment twade tweaties)</div>
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Sturmabteilung SA, Storm Troopers, Brownshirts ( Germany)</div>
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NIRA 1933 National Industrial Recovery Act, opposed in Congress, FDR. Has to modify it, heatwave that June, 1/3 non-ag workers unemployed</div>
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Isolationists. 1933 Polls showed 95% opposed to involvement in foreign wars. </div>
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William E. Dodd, univ Chicago history prof appointed US Ambassador to Germany, June, 1933, after 3 or more others turned it down.</div>
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Head of Germany's Reichsback, Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht </div>
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"American political discourse had framed the Jewish problem as an immigration problem." An influx of immigrants during the depression would be disastrous. </div>
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Sect of Labor Frances Perkins, 1st woman in cabinet, wanted to aid Jewish refugees</div>
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Immigration Act 1917 clause barred Immigrants who were "likely to become a public charge" (LPC). Reinstated by Hoover admin 1930 b/c high unemployment </div>
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Colonel Edward M. House, advisor, friend to FDR, said to Dodd before he went to Berlin: "the Jews should not be allowed to dominate economic or intellectual life in Berlin as they have done for a long time." typical of American sentiment that German Jews had brought their problems on themselves. </div>
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Berlin's version of Central Park, Tiergarten, is literally, garden of the beasts. </div>
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The Coordination policy of the national Socialist Party used the Aryian Clause to keep Jews from holding gov jobs, yet also kept them out of other areas, medicine, Law. Not so noticeable to the foreign visitor or the casual observer, b/c so few Jews lived in Germany, only about 1% of the population, and most in cities. (pop 65,000,000)</div>
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New German law, effective January 1, 1934, Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases - sterilization of those w/ mental or physical handicaps... (wonder where Hitler got that idea) </div>
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Americans visiting Germany were skeptical of the reports of people like Messersmith. They were inundated with propaganda, treated well, entertained, and generally duped. </div>
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Fritz Haber, forest chemist in Germany, revered until Hitler</div>
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Nobel laureate for mining nitrogen from air for fertilizer and gunpowder</div>
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Created poison chlorine gas used in WWI ... Wife killed herself over it. </div>
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1933 Rabbi Wise of the American Jewish Congress in Geneva Swtz resolution for worldwide boycott of German commerce...passed </div>
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Nov 6, 1933, US recognizes Soviet Union</div>
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Dodd friends with Jane Addams. </div>
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Bella Fromm, Jewish journalist</div>
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Wera von Huhn, or Poulette </div>
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the whole problem with Nazi Germany in 1933-34 seems to be one of complacency, or a mere willingness to "go along" which is very scary. </div>
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July (1, 2?) 1934: Hitler and the SS arrested Rohm and the other SA (storm troopers - brown shirts) and start shooting people - former chancellor and minister of defense and his wife, etc. Totals from the executions were never confirmed - some said 250, a few said 500, Diels put the total at 750, others over 1000. 15,000 arrested? Firing squads worked all night. Diels was spared ?? Gohring? </div>
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Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-79412183302353594962013-08-13T11:18:00.000-04:002014-06-06T20:04:52.822-04:00Do Trees Grow in Brooklyn? How long has it been? I cannot count the number of books I've read and should have blogged about, but I've started a new teaching gig, and it's a whole lot of fun. When I'm not teaching, I'm improving my knowledge of history.<br />
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Latest book purchase: a new copy of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which I plan to begin reading tomorrow. I would like to be my 12 year old self reading it again, and I may get a sense of myself from those days, but then, I may have a wholly different perspective, and the "wow" factor will likely be diminished, but I do think the story is fantastic. <br />
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There's nothing quite like explaining New York City and its surrounding areas to a kid when you're a kid. There's this perception, I guess, that the city has no greenery at all, and that likely stems from having heard the term "concrete jungle" in some form or fashion. I sincerely doubt that anyone truly thinks that there are no trees in Brooklyn, but the title makes it seems as if a tree is a rarity, and for Francie, maybe it is. <br />
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The Tammany Hall years of New York are many - Founded in 1786, from 1854 to 1933 Tammany ruled NY for all but 10 years. It's an awesome thing, a political machine like that. And of course, it worked because of the times, and because of the immigrants - and the simple fact that these guys grew New York. They built the city. They stole a lot of money doing so, but still. <br />
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Johnny Nolan loves Tammany Hall. They "take care of him" - he's a singing waiter (I had never heard of such a thing when I first read this book, 35 years ago), and he likes to look sharp in his paper collar and his starched shirtfront and shabby tuxedo. The sad fact is, he is a dreamer, like so many immigrants who came to the United States thinking the streets were really paved with gold. He is also an alcoholic, and Francie and Nealy are fairly matter-of-fact about it.<br />
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This is Francie's story, but it is America's story too - we are a nation of immigrants, and we created a country like no other.<br />
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<br />Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3615065338296603885.post-72349977406394174542011-07-28T08:07:00.000-04:002014-06-06T20:03:37.256-04:00Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America<iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=steph05-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000S9HWO0&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><br />
Les Standiford writes history like a novelist. As much as the name Carnegie is synonymous with libraries and philanthropy, what student of labor history can ever forget Homestead? And how many will look at the title and say, Henry Clay who? Frick. Standiford does an excellent job creating sympathy for both these characters, while at the same time pulling no punches about their business tactics. <br />
Neither man was born into a wealthy family. They amassed their wealth on the backs of men from their own social class, while rising above it to become two of the most powerful men in industry. Why is Carnegie so well known and Frick is not? Read Standiford's history to find out. This is some of the richest history of these United States, and you will enjoy reading Standiford's engaging prose as you learn the intricacies about how industrialists built this country, and their own empires.Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12096417963801700128noreply@blogger.com0