Pumpkin Carving 2010

Pumpkin Carving 2010

Ooga Booga and Books Galore:

I think tonight is pumpkin carving night. Michael has been in design talks with the kids. I am looking forward to helping and documenting their progress.


Michael and I are thoroughly tired of being sick and tired. Colds are such nasty drags!

I just love the phrase, "Ooga Booga". No scary costumes for this year. Noah is going to be a robot. Michael has the box cut out and spray painted with silver metallic paint. I got Noah a pair of gray sweats and some cookie tins. I look forward to seeing what the guys put together. Eve decided she wanted to wear Rachel's Kimono from 2nd grade, so easy peasy there. Rachel is going to be a white fuzzy die with black fuzzy spots. Should be weird. Good stuff!

To the Books::::


This was the second book I have read by Mary Roach. I was intrigued by the subject of what a person would have to do to get ready for and possibly expect in long term space travel. Mary Roach's style is to ask questions that are not usually asked due to their embarrassing nature, or social taboo. Her book Stiff was one that thoroughly fascinated me, as well. I found the discoveries of how the body works under long periods of forced bed rest, no bathing for several days, processing different types and consistency of food, and withstanding extreme G forces interesting. The author often interjects her thoughts and feelings, so you feel you are her silent partner along for the experience. The part that seemed tedious and unnecessary was the several pages devoted to tracking down and watching footage from a porn film because it claimed that it showed how people could have sex in zero gravity. Well the footage was just an obvious camera trick and an annoying tangent to a story that could be served with a footnote.
I did like that the book was footnoted throughout. These asides I, mostly, found pertinent to the overall story.
How animals were and are used in the space program was very informative and interesting. The Russians preferred dogs, while the U.S. used monkeys.
One of the most fascinating parts of the book was the psychological tests that the potential astronauts have to endure. The scary part is the potential for problems because if there are psychological issues astronauts will deny them because they realize they will be scrubbed from the mission. Trying to figure out optimum crew make up was pretty cool. They have found mostly male crews with a few females would probably work best for long term travel.
The book was worth the read, but the tangents were often distracting to the more interesting information in the book.



Mary Quinn accepts a new assignment that uses her early life experiences of being on the street. This time she has cut her hair and donned the clothes of a street urchin boy and gets a job hauling bricks at the construction site at the Clock Tower at the Houses of Parliament. She meets up again with James Easton who is brought in to help determine the safety of the job site after a man has fallen to his death from the tower. Mary and James have a smoldering relationship that is blanched when Mary reveals some of her past to James. The setting in Victorian England and the descriptions of life for the poor is vivid and jarring. Especially riveting is the character of Jenkins. The series continues to have a modern feel, which I wish it would shake off some how. I like the characters and feel that the writer continues to show a lot of potential.



The Story of Henry Lee, a first generation Chinese boy in Seattle and his life changing encounter with a Japanese girl, Keiko. The story moves between two time periods. The war years of the 40s and close to present day in the mid 1980s. Henry's father wants him to learn English, so doesn't allow him to speak Cantonese. This communication barrier isolates Henry from his family. Henry is also ostracized by his classmates who are caught up in hatred of anyone who looks Japanese (which means anyone with Asian characteristics). His father makes him wear a button proclaiming, "I am Chinese". While working in the school lunchroom, Henry becomes friends with Keiko. Their friendship is put the crucible of war time drama. Through machinations of his father, Keiko and Henry are separated. Their ultimate return to each other is a long time coming, but done in a satisfying and gentle way.

The themes of father-son relationships, racism, bigotry, war, internment camps, friendship, and love are explored in this novel. A thought provoking read and a great book for discussion.



I am a science fiction geek, so books in this genre help me consider interesting "What If" scenarios. This book continues to be told from Will's point of view. Will is small, scrappy, and impulsive. His strong desire to maintain his identity by avoiding Capping by the Masters has led him to a group of rebels seeking to overthrow the Masters through subterfuge. Will is able to enter the City of Gold and Lead by winning a competition held to take the strongest representatives to work for the Masters. He, along with Fritz, enter the city and find out several important secrets of the Masters that the can use to fight them.

The world created by the author was well thought out and plausible. Well plausible, if you totally dig the idea of creepy, domineering alien species. I do...so plausible, YES! This is a cool read aloud. My son keeps asking questions about the What Ifs. Curiosity...not so bad sometimes. Enjoyable series.

Charles Lennox is an upstanding gentlemen in Victorian England with a loyal butler, and an equally loyal fiance. His brother who likes to help out in Charles' detective work is also a great character. In this book of the series, Charles Lennox is running for a seat in parliament. The political machinations for running for election are a large part of the book. Lennox has to alternate his running for election with solving murders in London. The clues and characters were interesting, but I kept feeling that there was too much time spent on the run for parliament.

This is a solid detective series with good character development. This may be a bit of a vanilla review, but I like to think of it as a vanilla bean review because it does have that little somethin' somethin'.

Happy Halloween, folks!

How Did You Save Your Games?

Conversations with Noah:

On Friday we were going to my mother's house for the kids to sleep over. Noah was playing a handheld video game and was shutting it down to go get in the car. He cocked his head sideways and asked curiously,
"Hey mom, what did you do when you were a kid to save your games?"

Me: "I would leave them out on the table and tell everyone not to touch the pieces."

Noah: "OOOHHH."

I love those little family history moments.


:::::::::::::Noah's Business Venture:::::::

On Thursday we took the kids to Steak and Shake where Noah ate his usual request of chicken tenders. He decided that he should get a job. He understood that he was too young for getting a job out of the house, but he had come up with a clever plan:

"I have a great idea to make money. People could pay me money to play video games for them. I would play to increase their high scores. I would have to have a disclaimer that stated "Results May Vary"."
He is ten, but is already making sure his legal bases are covered.

I'm sure the offers are going to come pouring in.

Math for the Literally Minded...

Noahism of the Day:::

"Hey Mom, you know people don't really get in lines to get on the bus. They get into line segments".

:::::::::::

A few minutes later Noah asked us how to draw a crowd, so Michael started waving his arms and yelling different things.. I started yelling I've got free money. I've got chocolate. He explained that he meant he needed to literally draw a crowd. So much for homework help.

Smiles!

That's a Blog!

Noahism:

Noah came home from school on Monday and said, "You know you forgot to pack me a snack?"

Me: "Sorry. I realized that after you left that I only packed one for Evey."

He wanted to eat some sugary snacks, so I said, "I know you like to eat crap."

Noah: "I call it unhealthy goodness."

Me: "Nice. Why don't you eat an apple."

Noah: "I said I was hungry not desperate. That's a blog!"



::::::::Neighborhood Clean up:::


Below is a link and article from back in April when we joined Aaron's troop to help clean up the park next to the scout hut. I was quoted, so I thought I would share the article on my blog:

http://www.tuckercivic.org/NewsEvents.html

April 2010




Scores of volunteers at Cofer Park cleanup

More than 70 residents of all ages joined in TCA’s “Give An Hour” at Cofer Park on May 10. There were local homeowners and their children, Boy Scouts, and more than a dozen congregants from Tucker First Baptist Church. After the county Parks Department dropped off a mountain of mulch and four new metal park benches, some volunteers spread mulch around bushes and flower beds while others dug post holes and poured cement to anchor the benches near the park’s fishing pond.

Another large job was removing a two-inch deep layer of silt from the floor of the park pavilion, then digging a trench around three sides of the pavilion to direct future stormwater runoff. There was real enthusiasm for this event. First Baptist Pastor Randy Shepley explained, “Our church exists to love our community through Jesus, which means working with our neighbors for the common good.”

Victoria Taylor, mother of a Boy Scout, said, “Anything that can bring people out to the park to work with their family and others while enjoying nature is a worthwhile effort.” Juliet Melvin, whose 13-year-old daughter plays soccer in the park, added, “We use the soccer fields here, and it’s invaluable for children to see that you have to clean up the facilities that you use.”
TCA’s next “Give An Hour” is scheduled for May 1, 10 – 11 a.m. Volunteers will freshen up Fitzgerald Field, a youth athletics facility at 4877 Lawrenceville Highway, in advance of the Tucker High School spring football game.

For more information, contact Ron Wilkinson at district4@tuckercivic.org or


:::::::::::::::Arts in Education::::::

I got to be the hostess for one of the most fun presenters from Young Audiences. Cathy Kammerlain came to the elementary school this morning to present a show on Georgia history. The kids learned and laughed. Her show allows for a lot of audience participation. Here is a picture of Eve at the show:

Eve represented the month of September in Georgia when we have the Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain.
Now to color correct photos and upload them for the yearbook...oh, and throw in housework.

Smiles, Victoria

Reading is Fun...OKAY!

::::::::Reading with Eve::::
When you have a struggling reader it is interesting what word they might connect from their brain to the letters they see on the page. Eve and I had quite a fun time when she was reading Madeline and The Bad Hat by Ludwig Bemelmans and she came to the line that read, "One day the Spanish Ambassador..." She began to sound out the "S.pa..", but didn't know the word so I said, "Spanish". Since she could tell that the next word was long she decided not to sound it out and, instead, fill in a word from the file in her brain. She said, "...Inquisition!" I have to admit that "One day the Spanish Inquisition..." did sound like an interesting children's story. Maybe we should write one?


:::::::::::::Banned and Challenged Book Week

I enjoyed reading my selection from the book list:


Galadriel Hopkins, or Gilly for short, has been moved from foster home to foster home since she was 3. She is left with a photograph of her mother expressing her love for her daughter. The hope of reuniting with her mother is always in Gilly's heart. Now 11, she has decided to stop becoming attached to her foster families because the moves are never permanent. She wields control through excelling at school, then putting the brakes on everything. She is placed with Maime Trotter who has carried for many children over her years as a foster mom. Ms. Trotter is already caring for a little boy who is scared of everyone. William Earnest Teague allows Gilly to soften her attitude over the course of the book. Mr. Randolph the blind, elderly neighbor gives Gilly an opportunity to make impressions by actions rather than sight. Mr. Randolph's kind approach also breaks down some of Gilly's wall.
I was intrigued by the interactions between Gilly and her teacher Ms. Harris. When you are introduced to Gilly she has a negative attitude toward black people. She has moved around the South and has landed in Ms. Harris' 6th grade class. Gilly decides to make a card to anger her teacher who she says as frustratingly fair to every student. She delivers the rude card to no reaction the entire day. When Gilly thinks all hope is lost of getting her teacher to react the teacher asks her to stay behind. The teacher says, "You and I are two of the angriest people I know." She expresses her envy of Gilly's ability to face her anger, whereas, Ms. Harris was taught to deny hers.
It is inferred by comment from the social worker that Gilly's mom was a flower child. Courtney, Gilly's mom, was one of the free love generation, which found out that "free love" actually had a price, and she wasn't willing to pay it. Her character is selfish, distant and unforgiving. She likes others to take care of her problems, so she writes her estranged mother to take custody of Gilly from foster care.
The ultimate lesson of the book is summed up by Maime Trotter when she tells Gilly that life is tough and no one is owed anything. Good things do happen, but don't expect them all the time. Doing well on something that was hard makes you happy too.
This book is well worth the discussions it would bring up. For example, foster care, racism, responsibility, family relationships, and gossip. I also liked the way the author wrote down what Gilly was thinking followed by the actual dialogue. Most people are usually thinking much more than they actually say. Worth your time, indeed.

Always learning. Smiles, amigos!

Banned Book Week is here:

I have only read a few on this list, but I plan to read The Great Gilly Hopkins

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade/2000_2009/index.cfm

1 Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling

2 Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3 The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4 And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell

5 Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

6 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7 Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8 His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9 TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Myracle, Lauren
10 The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11 Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12 It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris

13 Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey

14 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15 The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16 Forever, by Judy Blume
17 The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18 Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous

19 Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

20 King and King, by Linda de Haan

21 To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

22 Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23 The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24 In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
25 Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
26 Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27 My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier

28 Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson

29 The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
30 We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
31 What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
32 Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
33 Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
34 The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
35 Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison

36 Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

37 It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
38 Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
39 Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
40 Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
41 Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
42 The Fighting Ground, by Avi

43 Blubber, by Judy Blume

44 Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
45 Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
46 Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
47 The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, by George Beard
48 Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez
49 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
50 The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
51 Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
52 The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
53 You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco
54 The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
55 Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green
56 When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
57 Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
58 Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
59 Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
60 Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
61 Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
62 The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
63 The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
64 Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
65 The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
66 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
67 A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
68 Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez

69 Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

70 Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen

71 Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park

72 Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
73 What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras

74 The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold

75 Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry
76 A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
77 Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
78 The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
79 The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss
80 A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
81 Black Boy, by Richard Wright
82 Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
83 Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
84 So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
85 Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
86 Cut, by Patricia McCormick
87 Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume

88 The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

89 Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger

90 A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle

91 Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Graighead George
92 The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
93 Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
94 Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
95 Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
96 Grendel, by John Gardner
97 The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
98 I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte

99 Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume

100 America: A Novel, by Frank, E.R.

AHHHH! The Smell of Books in the Morning...

Some books featuring strong female characters, except for the last one.:


Minli is a child driven by love for her family and a desire to change their fortune. Living a hardscrabble existence, Minli, goes on a journey to talk with the Old Man of the Moon. Along the way there is a kind dragon, an evil green tiger, mischievous monkeys, clever children, talking goldfish, and a kind boy, among other characters. This book reminded me of a Chinese version of The Wizard of Oz. She even had to follow the yellow road at one point. The book is made of short chapters with short folktales making perfect segues. The story was like a lovely woven tapestry. One of my favorite stories is when some of the villagers that Minli meets take fabric from each of their own clothes to create a warm jacket for her to continue her journey. These people where the exemplars of happiness and their selflessness in helping Minli brought tears to my eyes. The lessons in this book were ones that would be beneficial to all.



This was a decent beginning to a series about a young woman who is saved from the gallows to become a part of group of secret agents. I never felt immersed in this Victorian era mystery. It had a rather modern feel. That being said I liked the character of Mary Lang and had a desire to go along on her quest to find out information on a possible smuggler. There was nuance missing in this first book, so I'm curious how the next in the series compares.



This reads very much like a college paper, which is not surprising since Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is a scholar. She begins the book explaining how a short phrase from one of her early research became a phenomenon in the world of apparel and novelties. She goes on to discuss the impact made by woman such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Virginia Woolf, Christine de Pizan. She explains how these woman were acting within societies norms, but them came to something that they could not abide. This prior history gave the women more credibility when they finally chose to speak and act out to change. I had a bit of an issue with the information presented about Joan of Arc. I have read other scholarship that downplays the historical tales of her actions. I think what I would have preferred was explaining how the tales affected readers and listeners with out making Joan of Arc's actions coming across as having actually happened. Untrue events can have a concrete affect on behaviors. Overall it came off as a bit dry, but I do like reading about women who are willing to stand up for what they deem as right.




This biography has the feel of a rambling chat with a wizened grandmother. Mrs. Ella Mae Cheeks Johnson is a woman willing to admit mistakes and to have a dialogue with anyone with which she might have a disagreement. This attitude, I felt, was the most endearing and enduring message of her life's story. She has genuine compassion for others that was displayed by her career as a social worker. She wants people to take responsibility and be treated with dignity. The story is not told chronologically, so the out of sequence events can get a little muddled in the presentation. The author may have improved the presentation with a tighter narrative, but the book is an informational read. I appreciated getting Mrs. Johnson's perspective over her eventful life.



The tripods rule over the humans by using a metal cap placed on the head at the 14th birthday. Sometimes the capping doesn't go well and creates deranged behavior causing the person to be called a vagrant. Will and his cousin Henry are reluctant companions on an escape to The White Mountains were there are humans struggling to remain free from tripod control. Along the way they meet "Beanpole" who is their logical "Spock-like" friend who saves them from jail. The writing is rather halting and was a bit awkward for reading aloud, but the story is engaging and my 10 year-old remained eager throughout. I too wanted to know what would happen and I look forward to the sequels.

The Heart of the TARDIS is...

made of yellow cake, marble cake, and buttercream frosting. Who knew?

Time And Relative Dimension In Space

Michael uses a square fondant cutter to make the windows of the police box.

He places the window panes of white fondant into the blue walls.

Rachel observes her dad's handiwork.

I printed the Police Box signs on my computer.

I suppose we could have done a cake to look like fishsticks and custard, but we nixed that idea in favor of the big blue box.
Happy 13th Birthday, Rachel!...and many more!!!

ExterminEIGHT!

Yep! I, purposely, misspelled exterminate.
























Eve requested Chinese food for dinner, so we went to Hunan's on Chamblee Tucker. The owner is such a cut up. He brought Eve some fried pineapple for dessert and led us in singing in a birthday song. Eve, especially, loved the spring rolls and moo goo gai pan. She kept hunting for more water chestnuts.

::::::::::::::Morning Silliness::::::::

This morning Rachel and Noah had a lip-sync contest when Word Girl came on PBS. They were hilarious. Rachel declared victory, but Noah did not acquiesce.



:::::::::Cool Kid Podcasts::::::

Aaron's World

I love that Aaron and his helpful computer do the talking in this informative podcast about dinosaurs. The episodes are just over 5 minutes and Aaron's approach to learning and teaching others is engaging.

:::::::::::::::Bee Cake Pops::::::

Well I am off to make cake pops with the Beehives at church. Check www.Bakerella.com to see what I mean.

Later, gators.

Friends and Books

It was so nice to get a call from my wonderful friend, Crystal P., inviting me out to lunch at the Blue Rooster. She also invited Virginia L. We had a great time talking and eating. Crystal wants to adopt my mother and vice versa. She was also Eve's preschool teacher.

:::::::Book Reviews::::::



What a thoroughly endearing and funny man is Major Ernest Pettigrew of Edgecombe. His love of honor and civility is needled by a son who lives only for "The Deal" and keeping up with the proverbial Joneses. Major Pettigrew's strikes up a friendship with Mrs. Ali. Both he and Mrs. Ali are widowers with a love for literature. Other side characters give wonderful texture to this story that unfolds very nicely. The thread that ties the story from beginning to end is the pair of Churchill guns. The plausible storyline of the animosity between brothers over a separated pair of guns is brought to an odd conclusion at the end of the story. The contrived ending that included a psychotic, knitting needle wielding lady threw the tone of the book quite off for me. Don't get me wrong, this book is very well crafted with only a miss step in a side story line. The relationship that develops between Mrs. Ali and the Major is engaging. The devolving relationship between the Major's son, Roger and his fiancee is also interesting. The commentary on how different races treat each other and the rampant classicism is treated on just the right note. I also was very fond of Gertrude who is a wonderful friend to the major.
What a gem of a book!



This book is a well prepared recipe of characters. The separate chapters that explain each character in the cooking class is intriguing. Each character acts as the just the right ingredient that combines into a superb final dish. In a brief book there is so much depth. A delightful read!


::::::::::::Drama Club:::::::

Rachel was excited to tell us that she was selected to be a member of the middle school Drama Club. She said there are about 20 members. I think she also said that some of her friends are members too. Julia, Sabrina and Brenna are the names I can think of now.

Later!

Reading, Reading, and More Reading...

***Edited Post: See correction before Dracula and Frankenstein book reviews.
The meaning of "Friend" has a ton of definitions. One of the ones I subscribe to explains a friend who politely tells you when you have goofed up and straightens you out, or reminds you of what really happened. You might think the absence of drug use in my life might limit my need for memory correction, but that is not the case. I have to go over things several times to remember things and try to get them right, and you can tell me the same joke repeatedly because I forget them. My brain is magnetized to collect trivial and inane information, which I find perplexing (and Michael finds mildly disturbing). I do think that I can be taught, you just have to keep saying it sometimes. This was my loooonnnnggg winded way to tell Teacherninga, Jim, that I appreciate his kindly correction.


Well, school has started back. Okay, so it was a few weeks ago, but we are starting to settle into our routine of homework, not doing homework, grumbling, stern glares, stern talking to, remembering to do school work...well most of it, as least. The one shining thing has been unexpected. Aaron and Rachel want to be in Drama Club in their respective schools. Rachel is waiting to hear if she will be allowed in her club, but Aaron just has to show up and help out at his school. The director of the Drama program has a genuine love for all of the kids. Aaron wants to help in stage designing and set up. He has already liberated six dollars from my purse, with permission, to support the bake sale for the drama program. Michael and I see that this is a positive avenue for him so we signed up to be Gold Sponsors of the club. Rachel already is familiar with the teacher through drama summer camps each year, so we figure why not support Aaron and the program now. He told us that he wishes he had started in his freshman year. He came home with names of drama club folks on his arm to add them to his Facebook friend list. I would have used paper, but he often goes a different route.




Comfort Snowberger's "Life Notices" made me laugh and I agreed with her that "Death Notices" are too boring. My own maternal grandmother, Mama Doris, would read the obituaries in the newspaper each day to see if her name showed up. I would read them out of curiosity and always wondered about those who died...well really, about the life they lived. People intrigue me. My maternal grandfather's family had run the Harris' Funeral Home in Phenix City, Alabama, so when my friend Kim told me about this book I checked it out from the library. I loved Comfort's family and her dog Dismay. I really loved Great, Great Aunt Florentine and I agreed with her that there can never be too many brownies. The advice for how to act at a funeral and what food to bring is practical and should be taken to heart. My heart was broken in the last chapters, so just be warned to grab some tissues. This was a great read.

***Great set of books! I need to correct one thing, though. Mary Shelly did in fact write Frankenstein after the summer of 1816 which she spent in Geneva with Percy Shelly, Lord Byron, and Dr. John Polidori. They all told fantastic tales to each other and hers went on to become Frankenstein. Polidori came up with the only other published piece, "The Vampyre" which features, as far as I know, the first aristocratic vampire. This was an influence on Bram Sroker's book, I'm sure, but since he wasn't even born until 1847 and Mary Shelly died in 1851, I don't think they ever got a chance to tell each other any stories in person. Sorry, I wrote a paper on this once!

By the way, I think the disease book is the creepiest one of the bunch!



I finally got around to reading the books that came out of a rainy night ghost story challenge. Written in the form of letters back and forth was a great vehicle for telling this story. Dracula, not surprisingly, is one creepy dude. He has had quite a lot of time to make some devious plans that take him to England. He enlists the help of a lawyer, Jonathon Harker, who thinks he is only brokering a simple land deal to find himself trapped in Dracula's castle. Harker eventually escapes back to London where Dracula has already ensconced and putting his plans into action. One of the first victims is Lucy Westenra who is the best friend of Harker's fiance Mina.
Overall, I thought the mixture of superstition, pseudo-science, and science interesting. There was one character I wanted to beat with a stick and that was Lucy Westenra's mother. Weak female characters drive me to distraction. I got pretty perturbed when the character of Mina Harker puts the various threads together and figures out what Dracula is doing, then the men in the story put her in a room to keep her "safe", which allows Dracula to get to her. I have always disagreed with the mentality of a victim being filthy because they were violated. I would argue that this has been prevalent for centuries in most cultures. In Dracula, the person bitten becomes immediately filthy and could not go to heaven unless the vampire that bit them has been destroyed, which can be compared to how victims of rape are perceived. I think this parallel is something that is worth discussion.
The book was a great "ghost story" with the devious machinations of a centuries old nut job, a handful of loyal friends, damsels in distress, some fly and bird eating, a bit of dismemberment, a ship voyage, a lot of superstition, and a smidge of suspense. It was worth the read and a good baseline for the pop culture that I have grown up watching.




Another of the ghost stories that came from the rainy night challenge. I prefer this one over Dracula. It was nice to read this after growing up watching different movie versions of the Frankenstein monster. The format for telling the story is initially letters, then it turns in to a manuscript, then back to letters. What happens when you have the ability to reanimate parts in to a whole, especially one that you created to be larger than life. Victor Frankenstein immediately flees from his odious creation leaving that creation to fend for itself. The monster's realization of what he is coupled with the reaction he gets when he seeks kindness from those around him drive him to hatred of his creator and humanity. Victor Frankenstein abhors what he has done and it leads him to a mental and physical breakdown as he constantly berates his actions. The monster wants Frankenstein to build him a companion, which leads to more emotional and physical turmoil. A great book for discussing how humans treat those with physical differences and the "godlike" powers of some scientific endeavors.



I have to read about the same subject repeatedly because my ability to retain information is abysmal. This book touching on the subjects of smallpox, leprosy, cholera, AIDS, plague, and malaria. The section on leprosy explaining how research figured out what was going on, which allowed for the idea of the illness being a disease, not a curse was really amazing stuff. The fact the the microorganism that causes leprosy likes the cooler parts of the body, then multiplies in the nerves making them thick and rope-like. This thickening makes the nerves numb, which leads to injury.
The section on Tuberculosis was a must read since a student at our elementary school was diagnosed with the disease and it lead to some students and staff being tested. Tuberculosis can hide out and wait for the immune system to be compromised and then attack the tissues. The author listed some of the treatments people tried throughout the centuries to fight this disease. None of them pleasant.
The section on Malaria explained some of the unintended consequences of using DDT. Houses sprayed to kill mosquitoes would leave the chemical to also be ingested by the roaches, which would be eaten by the lizards. The weakened lizards would be caught and eaten by the cats. The cats would die, which allowed the rat population to burgeon and the risk of plague to replace the malaria.
Cholera is just plain nasty. If you are able to replace the massive lose of fluids you can survive, but outbreaks usually strain the ability of health care workers to give aid. Make sure your water source is clean. I thought it was fascinating that people that live in India could use Saris folded over eight times as filters. The older cloth would actually work better. A practical solution for rural people.
Overall, a fascinating book and one great for teens to adult.

My next books will be mostly from books I will be reading for Book Club. I am excited about the choices.

Smiles!