"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though."

~ Holden Caulfield (The Catcher in the Rye)

I can’t believe J.D.Salinger died yesterday.  Not because of the dying – he was 91, but rather because I didn’t know he was still living.  So all in one day, I’m hit with: J.D. Salinger is dead? Which means he was alive? (He was alive?!) And now he’s dead.

So I admit to my ignorance.  I had never done any research on the man.  I was a self-absorbed teen (who wasn't?). And, I suppose I’ve never been much of an Annie Wilkes. Heck, I lived in Maine for 5 years & never once went looking for Stephen King (seriously, why didn't I ever?).

But, with this revelation, I’m now left wondering if I had know he was alive, if maybe I’d have written him a letter – at least. Although, according to NPR, Salinger didn’t grant interviews, with the exception of Betty Eppes in 1980.  I would’ve been 5 then, and hadn’t yet read Catcher; though it wasn’t far off (My mother had a rather liberal view of books: if you can read it, you can read it). I’m not sure if I had written a letter, if he’d even have read it.  Yet, his books helped me slog through adolescence & provided inspiration to write. He earned a letter.  I suppose this post-mortem blog post will have to suffice.

So, I'm thinking now I’ll have to hike up to the attic & dig out all my old dog-eared Salingers, and start re-reading while waiting for the release of the “reams of unpublished fiction in a vault”, as the rumor holds. I wonder if reading Salinger as a 30-something has the same effect as reading Salinger as a teenager? Things to ponder.

Farewell J.D.

I love the positive renewing energy that comes from a new year – and with 2010, we start a new decade!

In that spirit, here’s my list of things to improve upon, goals to reach, and things that I will do in 2010:  

1)     Get Healthier. Okay, yes, #1 is uber-cliché & conventional as far as New Year’s resolutions go.  But who couldn’t be healthier? Personally, I need to increase my HDL (“good cholesterol”) and reduce my TSH (thyroid level).  To achieve these goals, I have three things in mind: exercise more, eat more raw, fresh food, and keep better tabs on what exactly I DO put into my body & how much I actually DO exercise.  Fortunately, we have an elliptical machine, a fantastic Blendtec smoother blender which makes super-good fruit & veggie smoothies, and my ever-present pal, iPhone.  With all these convenient, modern technologies how can I not get back to a place of better health?  Of course, losing a bit of weight & getting stronger in the process are, of course, nice side benefits! :)

2)     Practice peaceful, positive discipline with my children more consistently and effectively! I recently purchased a pack of 52 cards to help me stay on track, called “Positive Discipline Parenting Tools: 52 Cards to Improve Your Parenting Skills”. The ideas presented on the cards are fantastic reminders to stay kind, positive, encouraging, and consistent in your interactions with your children.  They suggest positive discipline techniques without overusing praise or punishment. Just perusing some of the cards, I’ve found them to be helpful in making a natural progression from the Attachment Parenting techniques we’ve used with our children as infants/toddlers to preschoolers! If you’re interested in the cards, I purchased them here (not my site & I’m not affiliated, just had a good experience with my online purchase). 

3)     Read 10 books.  Now, ten may not sound that lofty to most.  Frankly it’s not to me either.  But with working, parenting, homemaking, gardening, blogging, etc., one of my favorite pastimes, reading, often gets left by the wayside, so I’m being realistic here folks. One book every 1.25 months I can do. I have 7 on my bedside table, ready to go. In fact, I just cracked the first one open!

4)     Write. More. Often. I so enjoy writing, yet like many other time consuming personal activities, since having children, I’ve pushed it to the backburner. So, 2010 is the year to bring quadrant two (non urgent, important [Don’t know what I’m talking about? Here's a quick review of Steven Covey’s Quadrants] to the forefront, and push quadrant 4 (non urgent, not important) to the background. And when I say write, I’m not talking about Twitter - because while it’s a fun place to share information – the time spent “writing” on twitter (and I use quotations as 140 characters dsnt leav mch rm 2 actuly wrt) could be much more productively spent actually writing. Like in my blog, or my novel (oh yes, I WILL complete it).

5)     Seeing Dave Matthews w/Tim Reynolds in concert. Yes, this is on my new years resolution list.  Why? It’s been nearly 20 years since I’ve had a real concert EXPERIENCE.  I’m craving one again, and from everything I’ve read, Dave will pull through for me.  I wasn't more than a sometimes fan of Dave Matthews until about two years ago when I stumbled upon his & Tim Reynolds’ Live at Radio City video on the home theatre display with my daughter in an unnamed big box store.  We sat & watched, entranced.  What a performer! Been a big fan ever since (and even got Adam hooked too). Its time to experience it in person!
 

So there you have it:  Get healthier, parent better, read more, write more, and see a good show.  That shouldn’t be too hard, right?  I’m up for the challenge! Who’s with me? I’d love to hear your resolutions – please share your comments!   

I hope everyone who wants to read along with our #twooks book club has had a chance to obtain a copy of The Thirteenth Tale (or is close to doing so!).  I have my copy, and was pleased to discover that it includes a “Readers Club Guide” in the back of the book; including a summary (which I have chosen NOT to read, in order that I don’t spoil any surprises), 14 discussion points, suggestions on how to enhance our reading club experience, and a question & answer session with the author!  As we get along in our reading, we may find these resources helpful. So far, I’ve managed to read one page. Yes, one.  But a good one it was!

In an effort to get us all “on the same page” I want to be sure we all know who is involved & reading, so we can all follow each other & get to know who is who!  Here’s who I know is reading with us so far, but I may be missing someone(s), so please tweet me or leave a comment to let me know you’re reading too! I don’t want to leave anyone out:

@earth_mommy

@fentonslee

@flwrbtt

@lakeline

@lasha_here

@kblogger (that’s me)

@Kirs10c

@perpetualspiral

@psumommy

@smokerette

@TheRedheadedOne

@TypicalMommy

@whenfrogsrule

It seems like the standard book club routine is to read a chapter at a time, and then discuss. However, the “chapters” in this book appear to be relatively short (about 12 pages), so we may want to just set a page # where we’ll all agree to pause & discuss?   Or, would we appreciate a more free-form approach to reading & discussing:  just posting/tweeting our thoughts as we go along at our individual speeds?  We could post comments on this blog, or at another mutually agreed upon “book club” meeting place, or we could @ each other in twitter, or we could meet up at a certain time on twitter, or we could just post our thoughts whenever they come to mind by using the #twooks hashtag.  I’m up for anything, though, less scheduling is probably best, to keep this fun!

I know we all have very busy lives with children, work, school, family, and everything else.  I don’t want this to feel like an obligation in any way! My personal intention with this club is simply to get back into reading good books!  I’ve found in my life recently, I spend so much time reading online that reading books has taken a far backseat.  I’d like to change that, in as fun a way as possible!

So any suggestions as to how we’d like to move through the book & discuss what we’re reading as we go along are more than welcome! 

I am excited to get back into reading! Welcome to #twooks!

 
Giving a gift? Make them work for it with this clear
acrylic puzzle box. To open it and get to the goodies
within, the recipient must carefully tilt the box to
guide a ball bearing through a three-dimensional
maze, all the way up to the latch.
This moderately difficult maze is a fun test of your
manual dexterity and sense of direction. The inside
compartment measures about 8 ¼"x5 ¾"x1 ¼",
perfect for most paperback books and small hardcovers
or up to two DVD, Blu-Ray, or video game cases.

My twends & I (twitter friends, for those not in the know) have started a book club; so exciting!  Would you like to join?  Just tweet @kblogger with hashtag #twooks and you’re in!  

For the first read, we’ve decided on:

The 13^th Tale by Diane Setterfield:

We've set a goal of this weeked to acquire a copy of the book & start reading.  Got to head over to the library!

If you’ve already read the book, we’d still welcome your input! Just tweet me!

Some other book proposed for consideration:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum

The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. by Sandra Gulland

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

I’m an avid reader, a bookworm, a bibliophile.  I try to have at least 2 books going at once.  That’s not precisely a goal, its just that with children, I’ve found I really have to do it that way; one for the car (when they fall asleep), one next to the bed (before I fall asleep), and one just lying conveniently around the house for when I am feeling like I might fall asleep, yet children are requiring my presence, and I need to rejuvenate, just for a moment.  Do you catch a theme, here?  I’ve worked in libraries (though I’m not actually a librarian, perhaps in another life I was, or will be).  I can specifically recall how old I was & even where I was while reading certain books (i.e. fourth grade library circle time, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis). I have a really hard time throwing an old book away, and would definitely count reading in my top 5 things to do.  Maybe even top 3: One being family time. Two being reading. Three being eating a quality piece of dark chocolate. Of course, you can read while eating chocolate, so maybe that really needs to share spot number two. :)

So it comes as no surprise that our 4 yo is fast becoming a big reader, too. We’ve read to our children since they each were in utero. I vividly remember  5 years ago, going out with Adam, picking out Dr. Seuss’ ABC book & taking turns reading aloud to my growing belly. Our children have far more books than toys. Or clothes. Actually, more books than both combined; and I’m even counting individual socks. I can stop a tantrum dead in its tracks just by saying, “Would you like me to read a book?”  We just have this thing for books, you know?  Maybe it’s that I really can’t find a single thing wrong with a book.  Too expensive?  Well, you really can’t quantify the properties of a good book.  And besides, I’m not one to turn up my nose to a used book store or yard ($.25 copy of Go Dog Go? Could a person POSSIBLY say no to that?)  Okay, so how about too sedentary? Well, I’ve been known to (try to, anyhow) read on the treadmill. Or while doing dishes.  Or cooking. So that’s a nonstarter. Too… I dunno?  I really can’t think of anything else that could possibly be listed as a detriment of a book. They make great gifts, are portable, interesting, exciting, the list goes on. Assuredly, there are less-than-riveting stories, and less-than-eloquent authors, but I just can’t fathom not reading just to avoid potential literary disappointment. We love books. Anyhow, I digress…

When I say our 4 yo is becoming a big reader, I mean, she reads anything & everything she can get her eyes on and wants to know exactly what everything means in the words, not just what they say: signs “Mom, but why can’t you turn on red?”, magazines, mail, books – mine & hers. She writes letters to me & her brother. She plays Boggle. (Even by herself, if I’m not readily available). And when all other word options have been exhausted, she waits ever so patiently for her brother to guess the right letter when quizzing him on the alphabet (totally unprompted by me, I really must add), and does quite a good job at hiding her astonishment in the realization that her 2yo cohort can’t yet read.

So it was when she was reading my book over my shoulder, trying to piece together context from difficult words she was mostly correctly sounding out, that I came to the realization that she truly has a passion for words. In most things, I’m a “prepare the environment & let the child explore” type of parent. But in this case, maybe because her enthusiasm for books is so close to my own heart, I’m willing to take a bit more active role in fostering this passion.  

With that in mind, I decided to sit down & think of my most beloved early books; both ones read to me, and ones I read on my own.  I’ve compiled a list, for your enjoyment, and my reference; as I plan to work my way through these books, reading to her & with her, topic-appropriately (meaning, while I can’t wait to share 1984 with my children, I’m not sure they’re quite ready for Big Brother & Newspeak).

I hope that in reviewing the list, some titles will bring back memories, as they have for me! And if there’s something missing, please feel free to comment & share your own most treasured childhood books.

Happy reading.

Kelly’s Most Favorite Books (pre-adolescence):

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Bridge to Terabithia  by Katherine Paterson

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory  by Roald Dahl

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald 

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle