Friday, February 29, 2008

"If you come any closer, I will rip you to shreds."*

Humdy-humdy-humdy-hum…what’s going on around here these days?

Let’s see…

Seg called Primo an asshole last night. Totally my fault. No, I am not necessarily proud, BUT he used it appropriately and in perfect context – Primo WAS being an asshole.

The Baby now fits into his 0-3 month clothes. But he still has little chicken legs.

Terzo is outgrowing six 6 diapers, so he has no choice but to be potty-trained as soon as possible. Lovely. Especially given his recent fascination with all things scatological. WHY do boys find fart jokes so funny?

I spent an hour out by myself yesterday, when the babysitter was here. I hit the drugstore (baby wipes, Easter paraphernalia (new toothbrushes and egg-shaped chalk and jelly beans), and a five-pound bag of cinnamon imperials (Ferrara-Pan, not Brach’s, but still an ok score)). I went to the bank (money) and Starbucks (grande nonfat latte) and Home Depot (white curtain rods for the older boys’ room) and the library (the most important stop).

A lovely discussion about fundamentalism in general, Orthodox Judaism specifically, ensued between My Favorite Librarian, my Second-Favorite Librarian (an earnest young man who apparently reads as much as I do), and me. I recommended Amanda Eyre Ward to MFL, and she expressed surprise that I did not love Gods Behaving Badly. I LOVE my library.

I picked up the following haul:
A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You - Amy Bloom. Away is getting lots of press; this is Bloom’s debut, which I think I tried to read before.
The Chestnut Tree - Charlotte Bingham. Someone was reading Bingham and mentioned her on their blog, comparing her to Rosamunde Pilcher or early Maeve Binchy. And we know how much I love Rosamunde Pilcher comfort reading…
The Bright Side of Disaster - Katherine Center. There’s a bright yellow rubber duck on the cover! How could one go wrong?
Beware of God - Shalom Auslander. My new boyfriend’s first book.
Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates. A book mentioned by more than one author in The Top Ten: Writers pick their favorite books.
The Rabbi's Daughter - Reva Mann. A direct consequence of combining Shalom Auslander with Amazon’s “People who bought this book…” feature.
High Crimes: The fate of Everest in an age of greed - Michael Kodas. Everest! Mountain climbing! Death! Yay!
Forgive Me - Amanda Eyre Ward. Have I raved enough about AWE? She’s a great writer, and I cannot put her books down. She needs to write more, and faster!
The Neverending Story - Michael Ende. An 8-year-old friend recently read this and declared it the best book ever. So I thought I’d check it out for Primo. The last book I read for him was Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which was amusing.

I am halfway through The Beach and it is just about what everyone said – a good, fast read, entertaining enough, with some suspense/mystery.

And I have to blog about Salman Rushdie, whom Gina and I went to hear Wednesday night. So you have THAT to look forward to…along with tales about and photos of the boys’ new bunk beds which we are hoping to pick up this weekend and thereby reduce some of the chaos in this house. If we could just get the electrician here…

*********
* G'mork, "The Neverending Story"

7 comments:

Jess said...

Me me me! Let me know if the Bingham was good - I LOVED the one I just read, but am having a HUGE run of 'Yucky-Second-Book-Itis' and so am a little afraid to get more...

Did you recommend Pope Joan? I'm trying to remember who did...

Gina said...

Revolutionary Road is horrible and wonderful and painful and good. It's like Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf?, with the tension and the ugliness and the comedy, only it lasts longer, so you get to know the characters better.

Anonymous said...

Appropriate context aside, I would have been even MORE impressed with Primo's insult if he'd used an adjective with it.

(I can think of one in particular that I especially like)

Anonymous said...

sorry, Seg- didn't mean to steal your thunder. My level of admiration has gone up several notches upon realizing that it was the younger brother who appropriately used the word asshole.

Velma said...

Now I gotta go get me some AWE (AEW?)

Badger said...

Ha! I added Revolutionary Road to my Amazon wishlist just yesterday precisely because AEW said somewhere that she loved it!

Did I tell you that I get to meet her in a couple of weeks? Like actually MEET her? I AM SO EXCITED. And I have NOTHING to wear.

Suse said...

I've just listened to Rushdie's The Ground Beneath her Feet, all 20 tapes of it.

And it took 6 months to get our electrician back to do a little 10 minute job.

I am typing this comment on a shiny new laptop. Wheee!