Wigfield Wigout!

This week's book for review is Wigfield by Amy Sedaris, Paul DiNello and Stephen Colbert. These same three people were involved with the TV show "Strangers with Candy" and if you have ever seen that show, that will prepare you for the type of dysfunctional humor in Wigfield. The story begins with a author (Russell Hoakes) receiving an advance for a book about the disappearing small town in modern America. As he attempts to write a novel containing 50,000 words (and burning through his advance) he stumbles upon a quasi-shanty town of mortuaries and topless bars at the base of a huge dam. The dam is scheduled to be destroyed and the town of Wigfield it so be flooded. So Russell goes around interviewing the people of the town and trying to help save the town. The town is beyond dysfunctional (ignoring the fact that there are 3 mayors for a town that is not actually a town) partially due to the defunct plutonium disposal canal that makes to ground temperature about 120 degrees (therefore pets and children are not recommended). I found the book hilarious but this may partly be due to the fact that I listened to the book on CD (and read by the authors) so part of the hilarity was due to delivery of the lines. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Strangers with Candy or the work of David Sedaris.

Review in two

This is my first blog post on my new fancy laptop that arrived on Friday afternoon (and Lucy and Vaughn arrived about 5 hours later). After finding out that I needed to charge the pump for the airmatress, Lucy and Vaughn stayed in my room and I slept on the couch. On Saturday, we went to Lehmans (in Kidron) and Lucy was impressed /overwhelmed by the size and selection of the store. Afterward, we have lunch a local Amish restaurant and then returned back to my apartment. Lucy worked on setting up the laptop while I worked on dinner (we had naan and chicken with tandoori marinade). She had some problems getting the internet figured out (included a evening trip to Wal-mart to get a wireless router and a call to my internet provider on Sunday morning) but she got it set up and now I can use my laptop any where in my apartment. During the times we could get Vaughn to actully sleep, we talked or watched season 4 of The Office, episodes of Dead Like Me or Portiot mysteries. Vaughn has been pretty good during the weekend although he has been going to bed much later that he should (he finally fell asleep about 10pm tonight) after waking up three times last night. I was able to get him back to sleep for a little while longer so I could make stuffed french toast for Lucy after their morning nap. Hopefully he sleeps better tonight and Lucy is hoping to time her leaving tomorrow so he is at his maximum goodness. Good Luck! I will be posing a book review tomorrow (I took a personal day at work so I could have some extra time with Lucy and Vaguhn in the morning).

PEGGY: Teach me to walk.
COTTON: You ready to hate me more than you ever hated anyone in your life?
PEGGY: I already do.
COTTON: Then we're halfway there.

Cheesetastic

This week's review (only one day late) will be about Blessed Are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch. The novel is about two elderly cheesemakers (Corrie and Fee) in Ireland (County Cork) looking for two people to take over their business. And two such people arrive in the form of Kit, an American trying to recovery after the death of his wife, and Abby, Corrie's granddaughter returning to Ireland from the south Pacific after leaving her philandering husband. The plot was relatively simple and slightly predictable (and honestly not enough talk about actul cheesemaking). Despite this, these novel was not without its charms mostly due to the Irish characters (and the fact that Father Ted gets mentioned). I enjoyed the book, I didn't love it, but it was interesting.

Dust off your drug nicknames!

I had drug training yesterday at work and at the end of the training we played Jeopardy with the basic premise of how well do you know your drug lingo. One the my favorite running jokes on King of the Hill is Bobby's excessive knowledge of drug information due to drug prevention lectures at school (and sex ed lectures). And apparently, it's been awhile since my last health class because there were some nicknames that I did know (including that I didn't know what black tar heroin looks like which I think is a good thing).

HANK: Hey there, Bobby. I guess they found a cure for the cooties? Heh, heh, heh.
BOBBY: I don't know. What are cooties?
HANK: Well, when I was a boy, that's what they called the germs you got from girls.
BOBBY: Oh, you mean like chlamydia?
HANK: Huh?

BOBBY: I have to do all the work because Dad's new employee is a drug addict.
HANK: Now Bobby, Leon's a little slow on the draw, but that doesn't mean he's on drugs.
BOBBY: You gotta trust me on this. When you've heard as many former athletes lecture at your school as I have, you get to know all the signs.

HANK: Now, I know we've talked a lot about how you should never do drugs, but from now on you'll be taking medication after every meal.
BOBBY: So, do I smoke it or snort it?
HANK: It's a pill, Bobby.
BOBBY: So I guess I'll just pop it.

Serve the People!

The book for this week's review is "Serve the People" by Yan Lianke. The novel is set in China in 1967 after the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The story recounts an affair between the wife of a Division Commander in the Army and a house servant and ramifications of the affair against the backdrop of repressive Communist China. Due to the nature of the story, the novel has banned in China (and considered unpublishable) but found an audience due to excerpts and discussion posted online (and thus found an American publisher). The novel gives a really interesting inside view of Communist China following the Cultural Revolution. One of my favorite time periods to read about is post World War II, mainly the 50s and the 60s, since the end of the war really created a power vacuum in Eastern Europe (it doesn't hurt that I've had two really good teachers for classes about this period that I took at the Academy and Purdue). And I love reading banned books! Besides the sexual nature of the story, the Chinese government says the novel slanders the Army and Mao Zedong. It especially interesting to read a novel about China during the height of the Communism now in the context of China's increasing involvement in the world economy and politics (not to mention becoming a more capitalist society).

I'm hoping to read all of Richard Price's Lush Life this week, but since the novel it pretty long, I may be reviewing a previously read book, I'm thinking maybe Jane Eyre or Villette or possibly one of my favorite books ever Catherine Called Birdy.

People in Columbus must be losing their S

College football is certainly in full swing this weekend. I got the watch the Oregon/Purdue game (I've live close enough to Penn State that the Penn State game got shown on ABC). I was disappointed that Purdue lost (in the 2nd overtime) but they played a really solid 1st quarter (I was afraid that the game would not even be close). I saw that Michigan was beat by Notre Dame (I'm always torn which team to root for, but in the end I always want a Big Ten team to win, especially since Notre Dame insists on being an Independent for football but not any other sport). Since I live only about an hour from Columbus, lots of people from work are alumni of Ohio State (about 75% but there are 3 other people who went to Purdue). At about 4 yesterday, some people were talking about the Ohio State/USC game tonight. I will admit that I miss going to Purdue games with Lucy (or Bridget and Orrin). Sometimes it was annoying sitting in the student section with drunk people throwing water bottles (or worse). But one year Lucy and I had really good seats on the 30 yard line right behind the Purdue bench. There is just something so cool about thousands of people cheering (and sneaking in water or hot chocolate and not paying $5 for a drink).

HANK: Don't let them tease you too much. Remember, you're the mascot, not the placekicker.

2 for 1

I didn't write a book for last week so this week I am going to review 2 books. First up is Austenland by Shannon Hale. The premise of the book is an Austen addict attempt to overcome her obsession with Mr. Darcy by having one last hurrah at a vacation spot that recreates the Austen universe (including the manor house (a la Mansfield Park), costumes and a ball (a la every Austen novel except Mansfield Park). Now when I first heard about this novel I really wanted to read because I was curious if or how the author would work in some of Austen's themes and plot points. She did but not very well. There are a few subplots and the main plot line that are borrowed from Austen but the introduction of them is so clunky that it doesn't really work. And the are some subplots that are so obviously from Austen that you wonder why the heroine doesn't immediately recognize them (and is puzzled about what is going for several frustrating chapters). The dialogue between the hero and heroine that is supposed to be in the Austen universe doesn't have the same spark.
The second book (and first non-fiction book) is Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (an evolutionary biologist). In this book, Diamond attempts to explain that dominant ancient civilizations were a product of environmental factors rather that any inherent intellectual or genetic advantage. It was really interesting because Diamond not only discussed topics like better land farming (like the Fertile Crescent) but domestication of local plant and species, geographic barriers (like the Sahara Desert preventing the spread of technologies from the southern part of Africa northward), infectious diseases (leading to decline of certain populations and the greater prevalence of diseases in groups with greater populations), and the willingness to adapt to new technologies (or be conquered). I never really thought in depth about domestication of local plants and animals but Diamond discusses that ancient peoples of Latin America and Australia were at a disadvantage because there were few local animal species that would be worthwhile to domesticate (or even could be domesticated). The book was really thought provoking (and well researched!)

You keep using that word

This scene from the Princess Bride totally describes an experience from work today. I've been working with this study director who keeps wanting to put in sentences/edits that don't make sense, specifically the term in lieu of in sentences. But today I wanted to check with him about an edit so I asked, "Do you mean taking into consideration the body weight losses in these animals?". He said "Isn't that what in lieu of means?" My response: "No."


"Your mother is a Spanish dictionary" - Peggy Hill

Movie Time

I spent time with some of my favorite cousins this past weekend and of course one of the movies that we watched together often was RAD and I have included a remixed trailer for your viewing pleasure.