Thursday, March 31, 2011

Books 8, 9

So! Book 8 was Anne Frank's diary. I liked it a lot! I guess I should note that we have the "definitive" edition, consisting of a mash-up of her original diary, the one she edited herself after considering it might be published, and the one released by her father. In case anyone was curious.

It surprised me that Anne was such good writer, making me want to smack Mrs. van D. up the side of her head and everything! And about Peter: when she first got to know him better she was like, "Oh, he's nice as a friend. I feel nothing else for him", and I was all, YOU'RE NOT FOOLING ANYONE, ANNE!! And sure enough, a few weeks later they're making out in the attic! (Or the Netherlands equivalent, which involves hugging and pecking each others' cheeks).

My classmates have gotten used to my carrying a book around 90% of the time*, so they just pick it up, remark about its being in English, and then tell me about the one or two books they've read in the past five years. I smile and nod. One of my classmates in Algae lab picked up the diary and said,

"Oooh, Anne Frank's diary! I read this book, I liked it soooo much!"

I thought, "Awesome!" and, wanting to discuss it further, said the first thing that popped into my head:

"Yeah, it's really great! It surprised me, though– she sure writes a lot about sex, huh?"

My classmate look at me for a few moments, bug-eyed, and then answered,

"Uh, I think I, uh, read the abridged version."

Oh. Well, how was I supposed to know?

- - - -

Book 9 was Madeleine Wickham's The Gatecrasher. I enjoyed it while reading it, but the end was a bit unsatisfactory and afterwards I got a feeling like I didn't really get to know the main character very well. I mean, you get told about her past, and her motives and all that, but not so much about her personality beyond "frivolous" and "charming". But altogether, it was a fun read.

Madeleine Wickham is Sophie Kinsella, author of the Shopaholic series (much beloved by myself). I knew "Sophie Kinsella" was a pen name, and I thought "Madeleine Wickham" was, too. Turns out that's her actual name, which is weird because it sounds totally fictitious, whereas S. Kinsella sounds like a real person. Oh, well, such is life.

*Sometimes I forget my book at home, but I came up with the solution of keeping a back-up book in my locker. Brilliant. Except I don't want to keep anything too valuable there (a book we only have one copy of or something) because what if something spills in the locker above mine? I might open the door one day to discover all my stuff is drenched in cat pee. Or something.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Pictures! Animals (deceased) and book 7

Here's a toucanet to get you interested. It was soft and silky. I know that because OH, THAT RIGH THERE HOLDING IT UP IS MY HAND!! I GOT TO TOUCH IT!! I GOT TO TOUCH IT!!!

On Monday my Systematics class got shown around the Faculty's zoology museum (museum as in collection of stuffed raccoons and speared butterflies kept in cabinets, not museum as in stuff on display for a Saturday visit and a picnic afterwards). I always thought you had to handle stuffed specimens with the utmost care, lest you snap off a claw or poke a hole in a wing, but my teacher was picking up birds, poking them, and passing them around like nothing.

Actually, he picked up a woodpecker and, to demonstrate how loud it could be when carving the fancy wooden panels and balustrade for its bird-house, began banging its beak against a cabinet right over my head (he was right, they're loud).

It wasn't all fun and desecrating bird bodies, though. It's saddening as well. Like when we were shown a beautiful, HUGE woodpecker: an Imperial Woodpecker. The largest in the world, in fact, except they're extinct.
I didn't get a picture of the woodpecker. Here's a roseate spoonbill to make it up to you.

My teacher is an ornithologist, so 80% of what he showed us was birds. He didn't even start with the mammals until there was a general clamor for furry things. "You want to see furry animals? Instead of these beautiful birds? Fine!" and he pulled out a drawer full of rats.

And you know what the AWESOMEST part is? Their freezer broke!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS!?

"Ah," you might say if you're a bit slow, "their waffles will thaw so they'll have to eat them soon. There will be a waffle party!"

No! That's silly. Who would share their waffles? No, the freezer broke– the freezer where they keep animals that are dead but not yet gutted, stuffed, etc. SO they need to fix them up before they decompose. So they need help. They need... newbie students who are willing to handle rotting corpses!

And that's where I come in. When I finish this post, I'll get ready and leave. Whee.


This pelican was massive. A girl almost got smacked in the face when the prof picked it up.

I took the above pictures with my crappy phone camera. They don't really do justice to the real things, but just so you have an idea, I included some birds (the other pictures didn't turn out at all. Like the bats and the raccoon, which is a pity).

- - - - -


I finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I really liked it, which was unexpected because I'm not really big on war; but then again, I loved the Tomorrow series, and I recall enjoying The Guests of War trilogy (it's been ages! When did I read those? I think around five years ago*). Other than that, though, I haven't read much about war. Oh, there's When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit... I feel like I'm forgetting some.

Anyway, this has turned into a boring list rather than an interesting snapshot of my life meant for posterior examination.

Since I really liked the Potato Peel Pie book, I started on Anne Frank's diary. Embarrassingly, I've never read it. I do know the basic plot, though:

Anne Frank is 12 or so, calls her diary "Kitty", lives for a few years shut up in an attic with her family and others– according to Angela from My So-called Life, there's "a guy she really liked" there, too, so there's room for some romance or at least sexual tension here– and can't make any noise (they have to sneeze into pillows) lest someone hear them and figure out that they're there. They get found, though, after a few years, and are taken to a concentration camp where Anne dies when she's 14 or so.

I'm about 50 pages in, and at first I thought Anne was a bit conceited, but now I'm thinking maybe it was her age (except that when I was an tween I didn't think quite so highly of myself. But then, I don't think much of myself now either, so I'm biased).


*Someday when I'm old and withered I'll read this and marvel at how five years could be described as "ages". But five years ago I was thirteen and not quite the same as who I am now (much more sullen and cynical, I was back then. But I often wonder, if I could go back in time as I am now and meet my younger selves, would they like me? Would they be glad I didn't turn into a dithering ninny? I have, actually, a bit. But of course I wouldn't dither in front of them.)

Friday, March 11, 2011

A story & book 6

"So, you wanna make graham crackers?" I asked my sister.

"That sounds good," she said, standing at the door to her room. "Dad's students are all gone, right? 'Cause I'm in pajamas." She indicated her oversize T-shirt and too-short purple cotton pants.

"I think so, it's all silent down there," I replied, and started down the stairs. "And anyway, I was wearing my pajamas in the morning and no-one batted an eyelash."

"Yeah, it's called el umbral de la pijama," came the reply from upstairs. "Once you've crossed it, anything's fine."

"Ha! That's good!" I called up, "Next step is underwear!"

I turned and walked the last two steps into the kitchen, where I discovered that there was still one student left, busily coding on his laptop, sitting next to out Japanese house guest. He looked up and said hi.

Oh god, I said underwear.



Book report time! I finished book number 6: Remake, by Connie Willis.

Honestly, I didn't like it much, but of course I was comparing it to the other things of hers that I've read. It didn't stack up that well. I didn't actually get into it until I was two-thirds in, and I only got that far because I had nothing else to do in my free minutes at school (I forgot to upload new podcasts to my iPod). And as for the surprise twist ending, it would've been cool, but at that point I didn't care about it anymore.

On the plus side, it's a small book, so it was easy to carry around.

And let the record show that I'm only being this mean because she's written some other stuff that's really great.

Saturday, March 05, 2011

Books 4 and 5


I forgot to mention that I finished some more books.

Number four was Never Trust a Flamingo, from the Full House: Stephanie series.

Yes, I know. Permit me to explain. When my sisters and were wee lasses, and we were all normal and untroubled by nasty eating disorders and depression and all that** we would sometimes get to Go To Work With Daddy!! Yay!! These were awesome days, when you got Daddy to yourself (it was one daughter at a time), and you could use his colored chalk to draw on his blackboard, and meet Daddy's coworkers, and go to a restaurant for lunch.

The thing is, though, that wee lasses can get bored easily. I mean, you can't draw on a chalkboard for six hours straight and still have fun. So there's been a small stash of kid-friendly books in my Dad's office for... I don't know, probably more than a decade.

On Monday I found myself the unwilling owner of five hours between classes, so after doing a bit of homework and going for a bike ride, I ate my lunch in my Dad's office and read this book.

You see? It was either that or stare at the wall for half an hour.

So on to the actual book, it met my expectations. Which is to say, it was terrible.

Plot: Stephanie (whose age in this book isn't mentioned, but I think she's around thirteen) goes on a 3-day school trip to some mountains. There is skiing involved. Stephanie's dad had vowed that none of his daughters would ever ski (yes, really), but gives his consent anyway. He has nothing better to do (job? who cares about jobs?) so he goes along, too, AND brings Stephanie's little sister, 8-year-old Michelle.

It bears noting that for some reason Steph is being really mean to Michelle for no apparent reason. Example: Stephanie is chatting with her buddies in the living room and Michelle enters to eat her after-school cupcake snack (healthy!), at which point Stephanie goes all batty and tells Michelle to go away and give her some privacy. Michelle is all, "I don't give a sh*t about your conversation, I'm just eating my cupcake", but Stephanie keeps on being all snooty until her sister gets fed up and leaves.

Anyway, blah blah blah, they go on the trip, Stephanie is a total bitch not only to Michelle but also to this other girl, Melody, whom she'd never even met before. She banishes Mel from their room, refuses to hang out with her and kicks her out of their ski team because she doesn't like Mel's friends. Oh, also, her best friend sprains her ankle, and her first thought is not "OH MY GOD ARE YOU OKAY!?", but rather, "OH NO!! NOW WHO WILL TEACH ME TO SNOWBOARD? I'LL LOSE THE SNOWBOARDING RACE!". Nice.

So anyway, she spends three days being mean to people (and flirting with a guy she doesn't even like just to make another girl jealous. Have I mentioned Stephanie is really classy?) and in the end, apologizes to the people she's wronged. These people also happen to be the best snowboarders on the trip, and immediately accept her apologies and win the race for her. Oh, and aslo her friend's sprained ankle magically got better, and she participates in the race, too.

I call bullsh*t on that last part: when I was in second grade, I sprained my ankle and hobbled around for more than two days. No way was I snowboarding.

Book 5 was Finn Family Moomintroll.

I picked it up because I thought it was the first in the series (wrong, it's the third) and I wanted something very light and illustrated. It fit the bill.

I like the Moomins. They can be jealous, and selfish, and pig-headed, but you don't dwell on it because

a) They're super nice about 90% of the time
b) They're furry and cute

Also, the book contains the words "stupid" and "ass". Ass!

We have an edition from the 70's, very similar to the one pictured here, except ours is one year younger (1974) and listed as being for sale in the UK, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa. I enjoy the thought that somewhere in South Africa, there are families that have the same edition as we do sitting on a bookshelf, or in a box somewhere.


**Well, not me. My mother says I'm the sanest, and that if feel I'm getting worse, now we know how to get help. But I digress.

Cake?

For some reason, I've spent two days compulsively reading cake recipes. I wanted to choose the cake for my birthday this year. Yes, that's right, for my birthday in seven months**. What about it? Huh? You got a problem with that?

Good.

Anyway, I swung around for a long time, and finally I've decided I'll make a strawberry mousse cake. Fluffy, fruity, fresh, and with oodles of whipped cream. Yum.

Speaking of baking, (which for some reason I've been doing plenty of in the past few months) yesterday I made some sort of chocolate bar cookie/brownie/monster. I actually have no idea what the hell it is, as I started out with the idea of making cookies but about halfway through, that idea got scrapped and I just sort of winged the rest. It turned out quite dry, as was the intention, because I was envisioning it as being the "bread" for ice cream sandwiches or topped with whipped cream cheese.

So imagine my surprise upon discovering that the batch of Chocolate Monster Stuff is half-gone. I'm also somewhat offended, as 87% of the oatmeal bars I made on Tuesday were consumed by myself (my mother expected them to be sweet and confectioner-y. Um, no, they were meant as a handheld brakfast. AND I THOUGHT THEY WERE DELICIOUS, SO THERE). Why did my lovely, tasty oatmeal bars get ignored, but the dry chocolate bars get snapped up?

Although they are pretty tasty when microwaved and topped with whipping cream.

Even so...

** Wait, seven months?? I've been legal for almost half a year already, then. Oh god. What have I done since then?? Nothing!! Aaaaugh! My life is passing by me! Pant, pant.