My life these days is a smattering of the ordinary.
The mornings where I wake in the dark, opening the shades to reveal an entire day - just glittering there. Just waiting for me. The yogurt and the rings and the laughs that don't quite echo as much as they reside, waiting listlessly in the air for someone else to hear. Anyone. The questions that we ask each other - each one getting a little bit closer to the one we really want to ask which is always the same. What do you love? It could be a person or a task or the arbitrary but it is, which is what matters. And it is important that we ask.
It is the summer sun that never stops, and the heat that sticks around long after it's gone. A smoke that won't blow. It is the meshing of all of the sweat and work and anguish of the day and the lonely evenings that always end well. It is the impermanence of this world that urges us on. It is the release of the embrace. It is the waves that mean goodbye, instead.
The ordinary love that is just, precisely what we forget we need.
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I've been thinking a lot about marriage lately. It's never what you expect it to be. It's so much better. It's so much worse. It's so much beauty I think that it could kill you if you thought too much about it. It's the most interesting relationship.
I watch a lot of television these days too (name a show and I probably watch it. not kidding. I'm not proud of it, but I have a lot of nights alone) and I see infidelity on almost every show I watch. (Also, a lot of "coming out of the closet" side stories, but that's a rant for another time.) I'm so bored by it. It's been done too many times and it's really not interesting anymore. Is it too much to want to see a happy marriage? I want to see two people fighting and struggling to make it work. I want to see a husband on business trips who orders room service and calls his wife before bed. I want to see a mom who gets hit on by her neighbor and puts him in his place - (Maybe she could even bust out pepper spray? Or it could be a good time to reveal that she is, in fact, a double agent. Are there any producers reading this?)
I just don't really believe television. Affairs are messy and sad and I'm not entertained by them. Also, maybe we could find some real love plots that don't involve 30 year old actors pretending to be teenagers.
Just some Thursday evening thoughts.
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Okay For Now - Gary D. Schmidt
“You know, when someone has been crying, something gets left in the air. It's not something you can see or smell, or feel. Or draw. But it's there.
I don't really know how to talk about Schmidt's books. (His other book The Wednesday Wars was another one of my favorites.) So let me just say this; Gary, I will read anything you write. You will probably sob in this book and you will also pee your pants laughing. That's all I can say about it. Schmidt is brilliant. It doesn't feel like you are reading Youth Lit but you are, which is the beauty of it. If I could give six stars I would.
The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
“Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.”
I read this because I felt like I just couldn't ignore it anymore. I was seeing it everywhere - in Oprah, Matchbook, etc. It was a cancer book, but it was a good one. Sometimes it was way too dramatic and overwritten, and there is no way two teenagers like that exist. Sorry, but I don't buy it. At the same time though, it really moved me. It was touching and sweet and it made me hold on to the ones I love a little tighter which means it probably worked.
Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares
“You just have to let people love you in the way they can”
I'm a bigger sucker for the Sisterhood series, so when I saw that there was a fifth book coming out based ten years after the rest I was ecstatic. Reading a new one was amazing, since I have such deep emotions for the other four, but I consider this the weakest of the series. It bothered me that the characters hadn't changed more in ten years. However, there were some pretty special parts and with all of the books, the collections of quotes makes it worth the read.
The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley
“If you try to breathe water, you will not turn into a fish, you will drown; but water is still good to drink.”
This old school fantasy novel is one of my sister Jessica's favorites, so I decided to re-read it. It was different than I remembered - slower, more wordy. But I still think McKinley did a great job with the story line. She really trusts her readers. Instead of giving them too much information she has faith that they'll keep up with her. I think that there is a lot of power in that. If you are really into fantasy, you've probably already read this but if you are considering entering into the genre, it's a good start. The sequel The Blue Sword is excellent as well.
I'm also halfway through Ann Patchett's State of Wonder, and Tea Obreht's The Tiger's Wife.
I really miss my book club girls. They read Possession, which I'm excited to start, for those of you who still want to follow along.
So I'm kind of into YAF if you can't tell. What would you guys recommend? Which books am I missing?
