Books: Housekeeping

February 9, 2010 | Books

I just finished reading Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. Wow. Could it be any more different than Gilead? I don’t think so. Gilead was about a dying man writing to his son, yet each page was filled with joy and hope. Housekeeping was about two sisters growing up together, and each page was filled with abandonment, separation, growing apart and dark, dark, dark things. It was SO sad and depressing.

No matter what the topic, though, Robinson is a master at putting words together. Just a few quotes that stood out for me.

It was a source of both terror and comfort to me then that I often seemed invisible — incompletely and minimally existent, in fact. It seemed to me that I made no impact on the world, and that in exchange I was privileged to watch it unawares.

Having a sister or a friend is like sitting at night in a lighted house. Those outside can watch you if they want, but you need not see them. You simply say, ‘Here are the perimeters of our attention. If you prowl around under the windows till the crickets go silent, we will pull the shades. If you wish us to suffer your envious curiosity, you must permit us not to notice it.’ Anyone with one solid human bond is that smug, and it is the smugness as much as the comfort and safety that lonely people covet and admire.

I hated waiting. If I had one particular complaint, it was that my life seemed composed entirely of expectation. I expected — an arrival, an explanation, an apology. There had never been one, a fact I could have accepted, were it not true that, just when I had got used to the limits and dimensions of one moment, I was expelled into the next and made to wonder again if any shapes hit in its shadows.

Then there is the matter of my mother’s abandonment of me. Again, this is the common experience. They walk ahead of us, and walk too fast, and forget us, they are so lost in thoughts of their own, and soon or late they disappear. The only mystery is that we expect it to be otherwise.

I’m reading her book Home right now.

Books: Sledding

February 8, 2010 | Books,Family,Iowa,School

For our next “Read a Million Minutes” book, we read Sledding by Elizabeth Winthrop, illustrations by Sarah Wilson. Very cute!

Books: I can Read with My Eyes Shut!

February 7, 2010 | Books,Family,Iowa,School

For our next “Read a Million Minutes” book, we read I can Read with My Eyes Shut! by Dr. Seuss. My son read it to us. We love Dr. Seuss in this house.

Books: Goldilicious

February 6, 2010 | Books,Family,Iowa,School

Another Read a Million Minutes read was Goldilicious by Elizabeth Kann and Victoria Kann. It was one of the books I got at Bookadee for the SHE WRITES call to action. The kids loved this one.

Books: Rose’s Garden

February 5, 2010 | Books,Family,Iowa,School

For our next “Read a Million Minutes” book, we read Rose’s Garden by Peter H. Reynolds. The kids liked the use of color and how there was no color until the children started bringing flowers. It’s a nice story and a beautifully illustrated book.

Books: Snowmen at Night

February 4, 2010 | Books,Family,Iowa,School

For our next “Read a Million Minutes” book, we read Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner, illustrated by Mark Buehner, recommended by some friends on Facebook. Lots of fun.

Books: Andy and the Lion

February 3, 2010 | Books,Family,Iowa,School

For our next “Read a Million Minutes” installment, we read Andy and the Lion by James Daugherty. (Thanks, Magpie Musing!)

Movie: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

February 2, 2010 | Books,Movies,Stieg Larsson

I got Män som hatar kvinnor from Norway for Christmas. It’s a movie based on Stieg Larsson‘s book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Wow. It was in Swedish. I watched it with Norwegian subtitles. It stuck really close to the book, so that helped. But, wow. Great movie.

Books: Beth’s Job

February 1, 2010 | Books,Family,Iowa,School

For our next “Read a Million Minutes” installment, we read Beth’s Job by Carole Roberts and illustrated by Michael Garland. No magpies in this one, but I still say thanks for the inspiration to Magpie Musing.

Books: An Ocean in Iowa

January 24, 2010 | Books,Iowa

I just finished reading An Ocean in Iowa: A Novel by Peter Hedges, an Iowa author. (He also wrote What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.) It’s about a year in the life of 7-year-old Scotty Ocean. As I read the last word in the book, I just wanted to gather Scotty in my arms and give him a big hug. I can’t do that, so I’ll go hug my own 7-year-old boy.