Just a quick book review today, and a couple of things that have made me happy.
I was up late last night watching the ever-magnificent Pete Seeger on The Colbert Report. I tweeted afterwards:
Pete Seeger on Colbert: quavery voice, mighty message, eloquent banjo hands. How can we keep from singing?
I can't remember a time when I didn't know and love Pete Seeger. We had Weavers records playing in my house all the time. We watched "Rainbow Quest" on television. My father and I played guitar and sang his songs. His politics were the politics of my family - and still are mine. Bless the man.
The night before, I was up late to follow the landing of Curiosity on Mars. Yes, I'm one of the geeks who had the images from the JPL on iPad at 1:30 a.m., whooping along when the good news came down. Space exploration: it never gets old.
Now, the book: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. My wee writeup isn't particularly insightful, but one of my friends' comments is. The writeup:
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee BenderMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Part magical realism, part metaphor for the sensitivity each of us struggles with, and part bittersweet love story.
Amy's comment:
Oh! I loved this one too. Seems like most people I know didn't love it. I heard a lot of "but why didn't she use her special ability to help others?" which would have made for an incredibly sappy book.
Exactly so. I guess a lot of people want everything to be Oprah-ready...because what good is understanding something delicate in oneself if you can't plaster it out over the networks? Sheesh!
4 comments:
Glad we're on the same wavelength, and thanks for the shout-out. :-) I was haunted by this book. Really lovely.
I've had this book on my Goodreads "to read" list for a while now. Perhaps it will land on my night stand sooner rather than later.
I've got this on my nook now - I'll start it once I finish my paperback. Looking forward to reading something that's provoked you to blog!
Pete Seeger and a Mars landing. Occasionally, you feel like you're living at just the right time.
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