Suicide Weekend

Actually I had a wonderful weekend. Ginny was in town for a conference so there was lots of fun hanging out with New College friends.

But I did manage to read two books in which involved teenage girls committing suicide. The first book, Thirteen Reasons Why, was structurally very interesting because of its use of dual narratives. Hannah, the girl who committed suicide, narrates her story through the tapes she's left for the thirteen people she blames for her suicide. And then there's Clay, a recipient of said tapes. Clay has had a long standing crush on Hannah and was devastated by her suicide. While the book was painful to read at times, Hannah is not at all a sympathetic character. As the story winds down you start to feel more and more fed up with her and and angry. Like I said, it's more of an interesting concept book than a good read.

Then I read Looking for Alaska by John Green. I don't want to give away too much because it was a really good book, but another suicide!

My weekend reading would have me believing that teenage girls are offing themselves left and right. Though in reality, Ginny (who is a psychologist and thus knows these things) says teenage boys are more likely to actually commit suicide than girls are. Hmmm. As I think back at the YA books I've read in the past that deal with suicide, it seems that in fiction it is usually girls who take their own lives. Interesting little contrast there, huh?

I've seen some cute babies before but ...

Good God! I love her!

Breaking Dawn

The grown-up me warns, "You will be disappointed and somewhat offended. Don't get all excited."

The 15 year old in my head responds, "Eeeeeee....why can't I have a gorgeous vampire fall passionately in love with me. "

Needless to say, I'm torn here.

Helloooooo...elloooo...elloo...

I'm sorry. I know it's been a while and I'm wondering if there's anyone who still checks this blog. I'm debating the merits of continuing to blog as we get ready to move and I get more and more occupied with other things. But for now, we'll see how it goes. Speaking of moving, we now have an apartment. Yay! Now all we have to do if figure out how we are getting all our belongings from here to there. Fun times for sure.

Still no job though. I don't know what libraries up there are going through but if this area is a reflection of what's going on on a national scale, I'm worried!

City of Ashes

Yay, Cassandra Clare's second book finally arrived at the library for me. I plowed through it on Friday and was quite happy. I think the writing might have improved, though some of the descriptions of the boys in the book were almost as annoying as Meyer's sparkling vampires. But I liked that we're past the predictable set up part of the first book, and into the action! And man, is there action. No one escapes without injury in this book! I do like Clary as a heroine (though this book seemed to concentrate a bit more on Jace and what was going on with him) and I'm willing to stick with the series till she starts really kicking butt!

My biggest beef with the book was the Jace/Clary/Simon love triangle. As I've already complained in my goodreads review, it seems like every "urban fantasy" book I read has this dynamic going on and it drives me batty. The author makes it very obvious to us readers who the heroine is in love with and then wants us to believe that she's so confused and she can't tell the difference between platonic friendship feelings and and ooooh I wanna jump your bones feelings. Please, urban fantasy writers, stop doing this. It makes your characters seem dumb and flaky. And I don't want to ready about dumb, flaky girls. I want to read about girls who are strong and true to themselves. That's the type of character I want the girls in my middle school book club to look up to, to imagine themselves as. So let's start writing book in that vein, ok?

I don't love moving!

So now that it's official that we are moving to Philadelphia in August, I can start obsessing about my hatred of moving. First off, moving involves change. And me, well, I don't do so well with change. Then there's all the organizing and packing and labeling which would be doable except that this will all have to be done while Josh is studying for the bar! And then there's the having to find a new job a process that I'm finding difficult to navigate due to the very different way that Philadelphia Free Library does their hiring. OY!

But at least Philly has Stella, my favorite child in the whole world. (Sorry to my darling story-time kids!) So there's the silver lining in this whole moving mess.

Passover Update

I cooked almost all the food for the family seder on Saturday (except for the turkey and dessert) so here's the final score for each item on a scale of 1 to 10:

Mocked Liver:
Made from mushrooms, onions, and walnuts this spread was huge success! Very yummy on top of matzah.
Score: 9

Charoset:
Traditonally a mixture of apples, walnuts, and wine, this spread is supposed to symbolize the mortar used by the Jewish slaves in Egypt. I made this two ways. The traditional mixture came out ok. I also made "tropical" charoset made from bananas, pears, apples, dates, almonds, and sweetened with fruit juice. This was, as my mom and I both agreed upon tasting, "damn good!"
Score: 5 for the traditional charoset, 10 for the tropical version.

Matzah ball soup (vegetarian version):
I made the veggie broth from scratch and it came out well. The matzah balls were pretty good but not my best. The first batch was just a tiny bit dense. The second batch came out nearly perfect. I didn't do anything differently so I'm not sure why. Everyone liked them and several guest took them home so they couldn't have been that bad anyway.
Score: 8

Beet salad:
I usually roast beets when I make them but this dish called for slicing them and baking them in lemon juice and butter. The end result was okay. My mom, who claims to have hated beets before, ate them and seemed to like them but if I made them again I would go back to cutting them up in chunks and roasting them.
Score: 5

Sweet potato kugle:
Made with sweet potato, apples, rasins, and matzah meal. In making this I realized that I much prefer savory kugel over sweet. Also, this low-fat recipe cut out all the eggs and butter - all the good stuff really. Edible but unless you really want a low-fat option, I'd say go with a recipe that's not quite so good for you!
Score: 4

Desserts:
I didn't make these but my friend Ginny brought a flourless chocolate cake and my sister made macaroons. Both were awesome.
Score:10

Thank you Apartment Therapy

for another awesome bookshelf. I want it! How awesome would that be in the middle of the children's section at the library?

Can I have a Wild Thing?

A great article about the genius that is Maurice Sendak from the Gaurdian.

What I'm looking forward to reading....

A review of City of Ashes: The Mortal Instruments, (sequel to City of Bones) by Cassandra Clare is up at Bookshelves of Doom. Yay! It looks pretty entertaining and I'll admit, I have no problem overlooking flaws if the book is good fun. Especially when I am feeling stressed out and just want a good escape.

I'm still waiting for The Luxe (I'm still way down at the bottom of the hold list) despite the iffy reviews I've read. What can I say I'm a sucker for pretty covers.

Overheard at work

A patron goes up to the circulation desk to ask if we can extend her time on the computer. It's late afternoon, our busiest computer time so the person at the desk tells her no, she'll have to wait and sign up again. The patron complains about how sad this makes her. Then she unsuccessfully tries to bribe not one, but TWO different library employees to extend her time. The offer: 5 bucks.

Um, here's the problem with that. For one, library employees are generally honest folks. We were the good kids in school. We are probably the least likely county employees to take a bribe. And second, people are watching us! The staff room is pretty open to the desk so it's not like everyone else can't see what's going on at the desk. So you better be offering more than 5 bucks if you want anyone to risk getting into major trouble! And, oh yeah, if you have the five bucks to throw around, why not try paying for as much time as you need at an internet cafe? The reason we have time restrictions on our computers is because it's free. We don't want your money!

You feel differently when...

I gotta complain about something here. I am getting rather peeved about being told that I'll feel differently about things when I'm a parent. A few well-meaning older women have said this to me the recently and it always leaves me grinding my teeth and grumbling. Now I understand that having a child changes your life and that there's no way to predict what the experience is like. But it seems to me that the people who are saying this are not talking about my feeling in regards to children or even certain life choices but rather in regards to my beliefs and ideals. And even if it's true. Even if it does all change when you have kids, it's just plain rude to say that to someone. You are basically saying nothing you think or feel now is valid because you are not a mother. Even if the person saying it is well meaning, it's still a power play. With that small phrase they have just told me that they know better than I do and I can't argue with anything they are saying.

Everyone has experiences that shape the way they think. But you can't go around telling people that their experience isn't valid because it's not the same as yours. I still don't know how to respond the next time someone says this to me though, other than ranting on my blog after the fact!

A belated poetry friday for Stella...

and her parents. I found this poem today and thought of you and your new family.

And so you arrive,
ancient-faced houseguest,
like some relative out of a sepia-toned photograph,
surrounded by a thousand pounds
of duffel bags and steamer trunks,
the contents spilling loose down our front steps.

Read the entire poem by David Harris Ebenbach here.

Wobbly Walkers

My first program for the under two set was a success. The parents were all really great and despite my nervousness about singing everything went well. The only song I absolutely cannot sing is You Are My Sunshine. I had to sort of whisper along to it and let the parents do that one because I just can't hit the notes at all. I mean I butcher it to the point where it is not ever recognizable. If I ever have children that is one song I will not be singing to them!

If my camera were charged...

I'd post a picture of the hamentashen I made this weekend. But since the camera is out of commission you will just have to take my word for it that they were not only yummy but also pretty nice looking. I made half of them with poppy seed filling and half with nutella. Poppyseed being traditional and nutella being a delicious variation I picked up from the children's librarian at my old job. Poor Emerson sat by the oven wagging his tail the whole time they were baking and looked very dejected when he realized he wasn't going to get any yummy people food from me. Sorry Em, but they are mine...all mine!

Guess what, I'm real!

So yesterday I'm cleaning up the children's section right before closing when one of my darling story-time kids comes up to me.

Girl: Are going home now?
Me: Yep, the library is closing and I'm going home.
Girl: You're going home just like a real person. Wow.

So is it spring now?

When I left for Florida last week for Erin's wedding it was cold and then we came back to DC on Monday to flowers and sunshine. Is that here to stay? I'm sick of winter. Maybe that's because it was bright and sunny and like 90 degrees in Miami. I loved it. It's funny, every time we visit Miami Josh hates the heat and humidity and I relish it. Though it does make my hair a lot more frizzy!

Oh and the wedding was lovely. Everyone was walking around saying "oh this is so Erin" about the colors and the flowers. The bride looked beautiful. Just beautiful. And the music rocked! Now its back to the real world of planning story times and running around to meetings and filing taxes. I start an under 2 program next week that I feel totally unprepared for. Ugh, I hate the idea of just singing to parents while the babies crawl around. But oh well, the demand is there. My program is already full.

It's hard to cuddle up with a computer screen but...

I'm kind of facinated by digital libraries so this looks really cool to me.

What I'm reading this week....

Why is it that authors feel the need to state that their characters don't like the site of blood. As in "She couldn't stand the sight of blood, especially her own." Um, shouldn't that go without saying? Now if she loved the sight of blood, that would be something to write about maybe. That might be unusual. But not caring so much for the site of your own blood outside of your veins...not a shocker!

Ok, that said, I just finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare and I want someone else to read it now so we can discuss. I've been reading some mixed reviews, with some valid points, but overall I liked this one. Clary Fray is living an ordinary existance when she witnesses three teenagers killing a demon and is drawn into the supernatural world of the Shadowhunters, rune tattooed warriors who hunt down demons . Soon it's clear that Clary is not so ordinary after all. Imagine Harry Potter and Star Wars all mashed up together in a good way and you have City of Bones. There is the dreaded mention of disliking the sight of blood which made me afraid Clary would end up being Bella-ish. Then there was the begining of a Jacob/Edward feud and I'm thinking uh oh, this is going to be Twilight all over again. But the book redeemed itself by the end. This is only book one, so we'll see, but so far Clary seems rather smart. (Well, she should have figured out who her father is MUCH sooner, but I'll let that slide.) In fact I found most of the characters really appealing which is why I didn't mind that the plot seemed to borrow heavily from other stories. I'm looking forward to the next book.

Passover Menu

I'm home sick today and to pass the time I'm trying to come up with a menu for Passover. My mom's letting me cook and I'm excited. So far I think I want to make this cake for dessert. I wanted make a tofurkey but that's not kosher for passover so I will have to think of something else vegetarian. Other menu items I'm considering at the moment: baked stuffed zucchini and mock chopped "liver." If anyone has any other vegetarian ideas let me know.