You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2009.
Happy Halloween!
Blog Posts:
Introduction to Pumpkinology 101 – Antique Mommy
I Wish I May, I Wish I Might - Lisa @ Lisa Writes
The Gospel Infuses Daily Activities With Meaning - Matt Perman @Desiring God
A Car Story - Antique Mommy
Articles:
Football Soulmate Wanted! - Ray Melick, The Birmingham News
Pastor’s Mission: Elevate Our Prayer Life - Ed Payne, CNN
I Want That One Moment Back - Lisa Kogan, CNN
America’s Dropout Crisis - The Daily Beast
Other:
Get Paid for Reusable Bags - Bruce Horovitz, USA Today
Outside my window, it’s raining. Again. It seems like it has been raining forever. In reality , it has only been raining more than usual for the last 2-3 months.
When I am completely honest, I have to say that I don’t mind the rain. I love hearing it outside the windows and on the roof when I can curl up with a book or take a nap and just listen. I love the way the trees and grass and flowers look when they are well watered. I love NOT having to think about making sure everything is watered regularly when it hasn’t rained recently. Even the kids enjoy the rain…they like to play in it and watch it hit the ground.
It is tempting, though, to complain because we have had SO MUCH RAIN. In fact, we have had so much rain that we have all but forgotten that, just about a year ago, we were complaining because there was not enough rain. We were conserving water and paying extra if we watered our yard too often. We were watching and reporting our neighbors if we saw them watering too much or on something other than the “designated” day. We were gathering for special prayer meetings to ask God to send us rain. We were seeing brown, dusty landscapes where our yards and flowers should have been. Our government officials were fighting over control of water sources and we were paying higher prices for products that were affected by too little water.
Even when I tire of the rain, I don’t want to be one of those people that complains NO MATTER WHAT. I have more success with that on some days than others. Today, though, as I search for my umbrella and head out to run my errands, I choose, like Paul, to be content with whatever the rain gauge registers!
I have a sick child at home today so here is a post from the past…
When the James Frey memoir “A Million Little Pieces” came out, I picked it up and put it down in bookstores more than once. There was something about the title and the cover that appealed to me. Yes, I am a book marketers dream! After Oprah chose it as one of her book club selections, millions of copies disappeared from bookstores and I decided to wait until it showed up at the library to read it. I still haven’t read it.
Before I got to it, it was revealed that Frey had fabricated and/or significantly changed events portrayed in the book. Although the main elements of Frey’s account (drug abuse, alcoholism and criminal behavior) were true, some of the details were made up. More recently, Misha DeFonseca and Margaret Seltzer (aka Margaret Jones) have admitted that their “memoirs” were indeed fictional stories.
The controversies surrounding these “false memoirs” bring up a number of interesting questions. Certainly, there are no right and wrong answers to them but here are a few of my thoughts…
What is the difference between “memoir” and autobiography?
My dictionary defines memoir as “an account of the personal experiences of an author”. Interestingly, there is nothing in the definition to indicate that a memoir is an accurate, timely or truthful account. Just that it is an account. By contrast, an autobiography is a “history or a person’s life written or told by that person”. The use of the word history indicates the events included in an autobiography are things that can be verified.
Are the standards for “good writing” the same in a memoir as they would be for fiction?
In some ways, it is hard to judge writing ability with a memoir. Other than examining strictly technical elements, negative reactions to memoirs can be perceived as negative reactions toward the author and/or the events they are recounting. Basically, a memoir should be as provocative, entertaining, (INSERT YOUR OWN DESCRIPTIVE WORDS HERE) as any piece of fiction you would read and enjoy.
Why such an angry, extreme reaction to the news that these memoirs were not true? What if we thought it was fiction to begin with?
When I think about why I still haven’t read “A Million Little Pieces”, I have to admit that I am not sure I want to. It was one thing for me to think that I would be reading a true story but it’s something else completely to know it’s not all true. I think I would spend some of my reading time wondering what parts were true and what was not. Unlike people that actually paid good money to purchase Frey’s book, I didn’t feel cheated by the revelations.
What I did feel, though, was a change in expectation. When I start reading a book that I think is true, I look for elements of the characters, settings and events that I can relate to. When reading something I know is made up, I tend to let myself escape more and enjoy the language of the writing. In other words, I focus more on details and timelines in a memoir. In fiction, I allow myself the luxury of the “big picture”.
The popularity of celebrity gossip, tabloid magazine, character assassinations and blogging has led to soaring popularity for reality-based entertainment. From TV shows to YouTube, our culture is obsessed (and may be addicted) to what we perceive as real people doing real things. I am not totally immune to that myself. While I enjoy, and often prefer non-fiction as a genre, I don’t like the idea that “false memoirs” and/or “fictionalized biographies” might find their places as accepted styles of writing.
When an author commits to writing a memoir, I think it should be as close to the truth as is possible for the author to remember. Ultimately, I think we all like to see someone rise above their circumstances. We like to hear that good wins over evil and that the human spirit is persistent and triumphant. Reading a memoir and knowing we are reading the truth provides encouragement and hope in a way we don’t expect when we read fiction. Perhaps, if we though “A Million Little Pieces” was fiction in the beginning, we would be pleasantly surprised to find postive things at the end, but we would not necessarily have looked for them at the beginning.
There’s no real rhyme or reason to my choices this month. These are just things that seem to “hit” me on my passes through the library. I hope to get back to my running list of TBR during the holidays.
FINISHED:
Dating DaVinci - Malena Lott
The Secret Hour - LuAnne Rice
Sandcastles – LuAnne Rice
What’s Age Got To Do With It? – Robin McGraw
Rich Like Them - Ryan D’Agostino
The Visiting Physician - Susan Richards Shreve
CURRENTLY READING:
American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld
TO BE READ:
Hello Goodbye - Emily Chenoweth
That Old Ace In The Hole - Annie Proulx
Logged On and Tuned Out - Vicki Courtney
Girl Meets God - Lauren Winner
Crossing To Safety - Wallace Stegner
Articles:
After Year Without, Family Finds Middle Ground
Why Real Men DO Buy Flowers - John Devore
What Should You Worry About? - Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner, Parade Magazine
Blog Posts:
On Being Happy, Part I – Writer Dad
On Being Happy, Part 2 – Writer Dad
The Secret to a Happy Marriage - Write From Karen
When Financial Stress Weighs You Down - Writers Roundabout
The 10 Wisest Things I Have Ever Heard - Bob Bly
If I’d Know Then… - Lisa at Lisa-Writes
I have a magnet on my refrigerator that says “I have a kitchen because it came with the house”. Anyone that has known me for more than 7 minutes knows it isn’t there as a joke! I REALLY don’t like to cook and, if I thought I could get away with it, I would get rid of my stove.
The biggest problem with my not liking to cook is that I live with people that like to eat…on a regular basis…like several times a day…every day. Consequently, I find myself doing lots of meal planning and grocery shopping and cooking. If I am really honest about it, I think what I don’t like the most is having to think about what to fix all the time. It doesn’t take long to go through my 3 “specialties”. Then, I have to make sure to ocassionally include things that are healthy, add some variety and, don’t forget, stay within a budget!
Maybe I am the only one that feels this way. Just in case I am not, here are a few tips that I find helpful when figuring out meals for 4 at my house…
- Plan and shop for one week at a time. I have never been one of those people that could shop and/or cook once a month. There are just too many variables that change and my bulk purchases often go to waste. I find that breaking meals down into weekly segments works in my brain better. I don’t tend to make as many “impulse” purchases since I know I’ll be back at the store next week. Also, deciding on 21 separate meals is easier to handle than 85.
- Freeze extra. I don’t cook double batches of everything I make. I do, however, buy larger cuts of meat and freeze meal size portions to pull out later. Also, when making some breakfast foods (like pancakes or french toast), I go ahead and cook extra and freeze for later. It’s cheaper than buying small boxes of frozen waffles, etc. and they cook in the microwave just as fast.
- Stop “short orders”. For breakfasts and lunches, we have all started eating the same thing on the same day. It helps with preparation, especially on school mornings, and it makes shopping easier (and less expensive) since I am not trying to make sure that we always have all of everyone’s favorites.
- Have a meatless meal. Especially in the winter, we have breakfast food for dinner on a fairly regular basis. Omelettes are a great way to “sneak” some vegetables in. Pancakes and French Toast are perfect with fruit and a great start to a cozy evening at home. Certainly, soups are great for this too!
- Recreate restaurant favorites. Some of the things my family likes most were inspired by things I like to eat at restaurants. In almost EVERY case, making them at home saves money. Italian and Mexican foods may be the easiest to recreate but there are lots of ways to make something at home similar to what you eat when you go out.
Happy cooking, especially if you enjoy it!
If you are not interested in some GREAT football today, here is some good reading instead!
Articles:
Chemo Shouldn’t Be In His Vocabulary - Philip Lerman
Debit Cards Eclipsing Credit Cards – Nancy Trejos, The Washington Post
Reading To Learn – Dr. Joseph Morton, The Birmingham News
Blog Posts:
Are You Prepared For The Worst? – Lynnae at Being Frugal - Nobody ever wants to think about this happening to them. My husband and I went through this 5 years ago when he had a serious, life-threatening health issue at age 39. We had a 2 yr. old and a 4 yr. old at the time. Dealing with these issues was not fun but it did ease some of the pressure to know that we had taken care of all the things we actually could control.
Unautomate: Why doing things by hands causes minimalism - mnmlist.com
How Team Sports Are Like Working In An Office - Antique Mommy
Other:
Lisa at Lisa Writes… is working on what she wishes she had known “back then” (whenever back then was). So, she challenged her readers to come up with their own ideas about what they wished they had known for themselves. I thought it was an interesting question and decided to play along. I could probably write LOTS of stuff on this topic if I had LOTS of time but I decided to just share the highlights…
- Common sense is harder to find than you might think. Unfortunately, even if you can locate it, you may have a hard time finding it PRACTICED on a regular basis.
- There are few, if any, coincidences. God puts us exactly where HE wants us when HE wants us there. The people we meet in those places and times are part of His plan and protection for us, just as we are part of His plan and protection for them.
- You may not LIKE breastfeeding. For some people, it is more of a nuisance than the sacred experience it is built up to be. If you are miserable doing it, it’s OK to stop.
- Store brand diapers work JUST FINE!
- Even when you get the things “you’ve always dreamed of”, there are difficult days where you wonder why you ever thought this was what you wanted. It doesn’t mean that your dreams haven’t come true!
- What you think is “the worst thing that could ever happen” may be the greatest blessing that you never knew you needed.
- You are probably NOT the only person you know on medication (or in counseling). Christianity doesn’t mean we are immune to depression and mental health issues. We do ourselves (and our Christian brothers and sisters) a huge disservice if we act like we are.
Although I differ with her political views a great deal, I love Maria Shriver’s book, 10 Things I Wish I Had Known Before I Went Out Into the Real World. If you have never read it, it’s worth finding a copy.
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