Mud on the Tracks: Grumpy Monkey

Monday, January 21, 2008

Grumpy Monkey

This entry is a little off the farming topic. It's kid-related. So bear with me if you will....

My children, wonderful as they are, are seriously into moping. Something doesn't work out as they'd like and they hang around, just in sight of a grown-up, with a long, long face and an Eeyore attitude. When this happens, Dan and I try to ignore the moping best we can, so I can't figure out what they're getting out of it.

But they sure do it. A lot.

Anna and Joe shared a "double mope" recently and, at my wits end, I hit on a way to change up a little. I turned it into a game: Anna had the "Grumpy Monkey" on her head. If she tagged me, the monkey would jump to me and I would have the Grumpy Monkey. It took a while for her to get into the spirit. But when she did, and tagged me, I sunk down in my best mopey imitation. Joe and Anna though this was pretty funny and before long, we were walking along, passing the grumpy monkey from one to another. Eventually, we passed it on to an unfortunate maple tree and called it quits. xnay on the umpygray.

Maybe next time the Grumpy Monkey visits, we'll have a handy new vocabulary and a little game to banish it.

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Running Booklist

Dan and I both suffer through dreadfully long commutes. We take the same little Blue Toyota Corolla over 100 miles to Boston on opposite days of the week. I know: not very efficient, or ecosensitive but we can't seem to quit. I can't speak for Dan, but I can honestly say I believe in the work I do and it has been this way since we were a suburban family looking, literally, for greener pastures.

Books on tape have been our saving grace. We borrow from our local library, "read" them on opposite days, and discuss them like a regular little book group. We know a book is particularly amazing when we give up all NPR to listen to it, hence the "Zero NPR" rating!

Our Running Booklist

Fortunate Son: A Novel

A Lesson Before Dying

Motherless Brooklyn

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

The Fortress of Solitude

Girl in Hyacinth Blue

Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel

July 2008

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

This one is great fun! Light, witty prose, lots o' plot and something, just slightly, more... Here's the general gist: When Fat Charlie's estranged father dies, he finds out that his old man is the trickster god Anansi, oh, and he has a surprise brother too. Of course he gets drawn into some fantastical doings. Quite entertaining, I tell ya.

June 2008

The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates

The Falls may start slowly, but it is a wonderful, warm-hearted book. More warm-hearted than the other Oates' books I've read. (To say Oates is prolific is putting it mildly.)
The novel follows the life of Ariah, "The Widow-Bride of the Falls" whose young husband commits suicide at the falls the morning after their wedding night, as she constructs and then de-constructs a post-trauma life. The novel also concerns Love Canal travesties and the way social and political mores change over time. But aside from all that, it is simply, well written and engrossing. Interesting that although she is the center of the novel, Ariah is never very likeable or even all that sympathetic.

May 2008

Fortunate Son by Walter Mosley

This is a fast-paced novel with a very clear sort of allegory. Two brothers separated by fate, one "blessed" and one apparently cursed by the worst sort of luck and calamity. I don't often read this type of "commercial" fiction, but this novel kept me pretty darn engaged. Mosley is great at portraying his larger-than life characters in a way you "get" instantly. Dan loved this one!

April 2008

The Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle

This book is NOT remotely cheery. It describes in painful detail, the misery of the illegal immigrant experience, or at least an extremely desperate form of it, and the parallel descent of a secular humanistic "everyman" into racism and callous disregard. Not "fun" but well written and involving. Boyle is a bit heavy handed; he has a clear point to make. But there IS a glimmer of hope at the end (Dan didn't feel the ending held even a glimmer, but I'm writing this review and as far as I'm concerned, I caught a slight whiff of hope in there!

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

We'd heard about this nonfiction book for years, literally years (It was published in 2001) and it was all it promised to be. I guess. In "Nickel and Dimed", Ehrenreich attempts to live off of various low wage jobs, and finds that she can't quite make a go of it. The cards are stacked against the low wage worker. Having worked at several of the jobs Ehrenreich tries and having suffered through more than my share of financial catastrophe, the book has a "no sh**t" quality. Perhaps it was a revelation to Ehrenreich, but I suspect most of us have been there or done that in one form or another. Just the same, "Nickel and Dimed" has some good points. And today's workplace makes the 2001 situation look like a walk in the park.

March 2008

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

This is one serious post apocalyptic novel: So, so, sooooo dark. It follows a father and son through the most desolate and horrific human landscape imaginable. McCarthy is a master, his prose both beautifully descriptive and beautifully sparse at the same time. Dan really got into The Road. He's all for finding more McCarthy novels now. I couldn't bear to finish the book. And no, it's not because I am hopelessly upbeat and unable to take any tension in my written word; I love dark and sad novels, but sheesh! Dark and sad don't even begin to cover it.

Bee Season By Myla Goldberg

I didn't expect to like this book. The subject, a kid who competes in spelling bees, seemed pat and a bit bland, and yes, I'll admit it stuck in my craw that such a book could be a big--huge!-- hit when so many really imaginative ones didn't see the light of day. But Bee Season is no simple story, it is about a lot more than spelling. It is about the search for perfection in its many forms and spirituality. It is really interesting... and beautifully written. Very deserving after all.

February 2008

Seabiscuit: An American Legend By Laura Hillenbrand
This one gets a mixed rating. I enjoyed it well enough to keep on, even got slightly misty-eyed at the end. And, boy did this book make me want to go check out the world of horseracing! Hillenbrand is quite good at using all available information to tell a compelling story. And the story itself-- an underdog horse (Underhorse?) that becomes a one of the first media sensations, pulling some interesting and unlikely people along with him. Dan, however, didn't make it past CD 4. "Does it ever develop a plot?" he asked me. So... not for everyone. I didn't give up NPR for it (It IS primary season after all) but I did get mighty involved nontheless.

November 2007

Girl in Hyacinth Blue By Susan Vreeland

This series of connected stories is simple and beautiful. The "main character" in all 8 stories is a painting by Vermeer. We especially enjoyed the varied audiobook readings and the interesting bits of historic Dutch culture and language.

October 2007

Angelica By Arthur Phillips

This is a strange mix of ghost story, psychological thriller, social/historical commentary and experiment fiction. Set in Victorian England, it is about a little girl that may or may not be haunted by a lascivious ghost. In each section, the story is retold from a different point of view and the "ghost" changes drastically in the light of each retelling. Angelica is interesting, if overwrought in style (mimics the old-fashioned writing of the era, but not engagingly). I did not give up NPR for this one either, though I did clock quite a few miles with it.

Digging to America by Anne Tyler

I’ve read quite a few Anne Tyler books over the years and have found vitually all of them engaging and enjoyable. However, like potato chips, each is very much like the other and after consumption they tend to dissolve into an indistinct mash. This one was different though. It tackled some interesting and timely issues: what it means to be an American and an immigrant or otherwise liminal person within a dominant society. And the characters are quirky and fun as well :) The book is basically about the relationships within and between two families after each adopts a Korean orphan. An interesting complication is that one family is first generation Iranian. I wish the writing had been more close and emotional, I got the airy impression of great distance throughout the book, Tyler never letting me “in” entirely. So no, we didn’t give up NPR entirely for this one, but we did enjoy this one.

September 2007

The Brief History of the Dead: A Novel by Kevin Brockmeier

This novel has an amazing concept: A city populated by the recent dead, who exist as long as someone on Earth remembers them. Trouble is, a plague has wiped out all but one lone woman struggling to survive in an Antarctic research station. The prose is haunting and precise, but the characters are not as memorable or interesting as they might have been (Perhaps they were intentionally generic?) Unfortuately, the plot doesn't fulfill its promise.

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere By Z.Z. Packer

An interesting collection of modern short stories. Z.Z. Packer writes beautifully and the stories come together so well (Not an easy task for any writer). The characters are beautifully drawn and very real. If you like short stories, check this one out.

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue

If following the lives of changelings is your bag, check this out. I admire Donohue's careful structuring of this novel (Which alternates between the voice of the "stolen child" and the changeling who has taken his place) But I didn't give up my usual hour of NPR to find out what happens next.

An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg

This is the kind of book I can pretty well predict I'll enjoy. Set in modern Wyoming with terrifically drawn, down-on-their -luck characters. What's not to like, eh? I should warn you though, Dan found it "sad".

Some of our past favorites:

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Zero NPR once we got into this book! And honeslty, I rarely read fantasy OR historical novels. This book, especially the enjoyably "dry" reading, was really fun and so amazingly detailed. If you can get through the first few pages, you're hooked!

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

Long, well written and thoroughly engrossing. This Southern novel (Capital "S"!) is full of the quirky characters you might expect. Tartt is a hardnosed writer, putting her characters through all sorts of hell. This is one of those "Zero NPR" books!

Plainsong and Eventide by Kent Haruf

Haruf is some sort of literary magician; the prose is so, so sparse. Yet the characters and setting are so full! About five sentences in, I was thoroughly engaged, but if you'd asked me why, I just couldn't say. Magic!

The Sparrow and Children of God by Mary Doria Russell

These two science fiction books were thoroughly engaging, also strange, awful and intellectual all at once. The books follow a team of scientists led by a priest and funded by the vatican, who make the first ever contact with aliens on a far away planet in the year 2019. I'm not much of a sci fi fan (Got it for Dan, mostly) but it earned a zero NPR rating from both of us.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

This is a terrific, snappy book. Funny (esp. the audio version) without sacrificing depth of character or plot. 'Nuff said: Check it out!

Middlesex by Jeffry Eugenides

This is a terrific novel-- so, so rich. It is about a young hermaphrodite's coming of age, but it is also about Greek-American family and about Detroit and it is quite amazingly written.

Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

New York City is a central character in both these novels. Lethem really portrays the place; you really FEEL it. And the books, sharing little more than setting, are both excellent. Dan and I loved the sheer verbacity of them: perfect for listening! (Not sure I would have liked them quite so much if I'd read them) "Brooklyn" is a detective story where the "detective" is an orphaned young man with Tourette's syndrome. "Fortress" is about a kid who ends up becoming a sort of superhero after being bequeathed a fitting outfit by a homeless man.