New TV

Posted on 12/02/2007 by chick

Television screen:
Not for sun, not for rain
Inside only sparkling

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Doggone It!

Posted on 12/02/2007 by chick

I read a strange book recently. I had picked it up at an overstock store, so I expected absolutely nothing from it. Consequently, it had a real chance to dazzle me, and dazzle me it did.

Lives of Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis

Grade: A

Lives of Monster Dogs is the author’s first and only published novel. I know because the first thing I did after finishing this book was to go online to see if she had written anything else. Its flaws—an underdeveloped premise, an unsatisfactory ending, an intriguing history left unfinished—are ones that a gifted writer of this magnitude is unlikely to make again given some additional experience, and they are not nearly bad enough to ruin the overall effect. It is a beautiful, wistful, haunting story.

Bakis quickly and deftly drew me into the lives of the mad scientist, the race of intelligent dogs that he creates, and the woman who befriends the dogs when they come to live in New York. I was hooked by the fourth paragraph:

Those things are always amazing—the hour before you meet the person you’re going to marry, the last time you speak to someone before they die, even the moment before someone calls you, when they’re reaching for the telephone and you don’t know it yet. Those currents just beneath the surface of your life, separating and converging, all the time.

The story is akin to The Island of Doctor Moreau and Frankenstein, comparisons which put the author up against some revered names in fiction. It is unique, though, and so well-written that I think Bakis can stand in the company of Wells and Shelley without embarrassment. I hope she will publish another novel soon.

I had planned to put this book on the Chopping Block and open up some shelf space, but it’s a keeper. Doggone it!

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Christmas Comes Early

Posted on 12/01/2007 by chick

As I was finishing up the post about our selfish spending, I heard a knock on the door. It was a couple of delivery men wanting to drop off our new TV, almost a week early!

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Selfish Spending

Posted on 12/01/2007 by chick

While most people have been out wildly spending on gifts for others, Faithful Reader and I have been out selfishly spending on ourselves.

First, we bought a king size bed so that we might sleep without smacking each other around all night. We topped it with a soft down comforter in a white duvet cover. We call this new sleep haven “The Cloud.”

Next, we bought a big-screen TV. It hasn’t been delivered yet, but we are looking forward to finally being able to see fine details, like actors’ facial features, which have long been obscured by the blurry picture on our old TV. And what’s the good of a new TV without a PlayStation 3? We will never have to find out, because we got one of those, too.

Then we bought a sofa and love seat. Our current living-room set is comprised of two chairs with a beat-up old coffee table between them. Needless to say, we haven’t had many guests over. The new set is inexpensive but surprisingly attractive. It will arrive some time on Monday and, we hope, finally make this place feel like a home. The salesman who sold it to us had a remarkable mustache, possibly an an intelligent life form in its own right, and I hope that it gets a share of the commission.

Now, with less that a month to go before Christmas, we have just one selfish thing left to buy: a Christmas tree!

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Reality Check

Posted on 12/01/2007 by chick

I keep thinking that someday I will invite other readers to my blog, but first I want to go back and . . .

  • Fix all the tags and categories.
  • Add all the pictures I meant to use.
  • Remove everything lame/embarrassing.

But realistically, is that ever going to happen? And if I go back and remove things because I’m ashamed to have others read them, then doesn’t that sort of defeat the purpose of having a blog?

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November’s End

Posted on 12/01/2007 by chick

November is officially over and so too is NaNoWriMo. Did I win? Nope.

My total word count: 2,363

Did I learn anything from the experience? Of course.

  • Having something big to procrastinate over can motivate you to finish other, smaller tasks.
  • Never underestimate the spirit of competition.
  • It’s easier to write a novel if you already have a story idea.
  • Hope springs damned near eternal. I truly believed up until this week that I would finish.
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They Were Doomed

Posted on 11/28/2007 by chick

Here’s a favorite excerpt from Breakfast of Champions to keep you warmed up for the marathon.

“Earthlings went on being friendly, when they should have been thinking instead. And even when they built computers to do some thinking for them, they designed them not so much for wisdom as for friendliness. They were doomed.”

When I read this, it seemed like Vonnegut had reached into my mind and put into words my dislike for the way some people use technology. For too many people in this country, technology is not about “wisdom” (clearer thinking, pursuit of knowledge, real communication), but rather about friendliness. Friendliness is superficial. It is smiles and waves and small talk. Nice? Sure. Ultimately worth the cost of the supporting technology? Not even close. And if you start to think of what we could accomplish as a species if we spent less time texting and more time actually communicating, it’s downright depressing.

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Breakfast with Vonnegut

Posted on 11/27/2007 by chick

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

Grade: B

Breakfast of Champions is my least favorite Vonnegut novel so far. He said in the book that he was trying to clear his head, and the novel came off as deeply personal, but I don’t know enough about the man to say if he was serious or not. He also said that he wanted to be impolite. That I can say he was.

Don’t get me wrong. This book has plenty of Vonnegut’s trademark humor. It also has more than we’ve ever seen before of Kilgore Trout. Those are definite assets, but part of the problem with the book is that it’s recycled material. It covers much of the same territory as Slaughterhouse-Five, but without the same inventiveness and cohesiveness, so I recommend it only for die-hard Vonnegut fans who aren’t easily offended.

Listen: Here’s what happens. Dwayne Hoover, a man on the edge of insanity, meets up with Kilgore Trout. Trout’s strange sci-fi ideas take root in Dwayne’s mind, and the consequences aren’t pretty. That’s the surface story. On another level, the author deals with his own issues, including his mother’s suicide, and as the Creator, frees his alter ego, Kilgore Trout.

Next up in the marathon is Slapstick, published back in 1976 when I was but a wee lass.

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LOL, Really

Posted on 11/26/2007 by chick

The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore

Grade: A-

I think this is the first “minus” rating that I’ve given. I included the minus because this is an A-level comedy that’s marred by awkward sentences, jokes that are stretches, and even some grammatical mistakes. I’m not sure if these problems occurred most frequently in the early chapters or if I just stopped noticing them after I got pulled in by the funny story. And it was a funny story, funny enough to recommend in spite of its flaws.

I rarely laugh out loud unless I’m with other people, but there I was, reading all by myself, chuckling away. The cast of characters includes, among others, a stoned town constable, a psychotic B-movie actress who’s off her meds, and a giant fruit bat. Seriously, the fruit bat is one of my favorite characters.

A first paragraph is rarely a good indicator of a book’s overall quality, but it is usually a reliable measure of the author’s intent. Moore’s introduction to The Stupidest Angel is a perfect example of the kind of humor he plans to deliver.

Christmas crept into Pine Cove like a creeping Christmas thing: dragging garland, ribbon, and sleigh bells, oozing eggnog, reeking of pine, and threatening festive doom like a cold sore under the mistletoe.

This book is not for children. As with most comedies, it is also not for anyone lacking a sense of humor (you know who you are and you know you’ll be offended, so don’t even bother). Everyone else who’s looking for some holiday humor should give The Stupidest Angel a try.

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Obligations

Posted on 11/25/2007 by chick

Speaking of holiday obligations, I have to make a Christmas list for my mother. She demands one every year. I don’t know if it’s because I buy too many things for myself or if it’s because I want fewer things now, but every year it gets harder to make a list. I just can’t think of a lot of things that I want.

Believe me, I already tried the “I don’t want anything” routine. The punishment for that behavior, above and beyond making Mom mad, is to receive just as many gifts, but not ones that I specifically wanted. I have found that it goes easier on both of us if I just comply. When I do, it takes the strain off of her and then she magically finds things that aren’t on my list but that end up being my favorite presents.

So what do I want this year? I could ask for some DVDs to replace the videotapes that are taking up too much space. I might like a few more old musicals to my collection. There are always some books that I’m thinking about buying, though I have to be 100% sure that I want them before I put them on the list (I’m still in the middle of the Great Library Purge, after all). That’s all I can think of right now. Ideas, anyone?

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