MOVIE - Paul

What a riot!
Released 3-18-11 (Wide)
R (for language) (1:40)
Wed. 3-20-11 at El Con with Sheila and Ronnie
RT:  71  cag:  82
Director:  Greg Mottola

I saw the trailer for this and it  looked funny, reminded me of ET.  Well, I think it was supposed to!  I fell in love with Paul.  His persona, his humor, his voice (go, Seth Rogen!), his demeanor.  It was a fun story with lots of humor and all sorts of references to other movies.  You'd probably have to watch it a second time to catch them all.

Two very nice guys from England have made their first trip across the pond to attend Comicon in San Diego and take a road trip to see places where UFOs have been sighted across the southwest.  They've rented an RV and can't believe their lifelong dream has come true.  And of course, as comedic movies go, they run from one situation to another.  But it's when they literally crash into Paul that their real adventure begins.  They add a one-eyed God-fearing beauty to their entourage.  We also watch  a solemn FBI agent (Jason Bateman, who never cracks a smile...how can he do that?), two bumbling agents, and their female boss who are close on Paul's tail. 

SNL players left and right, Jane Lynch (!), Sigourney Weaver, Blythe Danner, Steven Spielberg....surprise after delightful surprise.  This was an especially fun movie.  And I really do have a crush on Paul...

Passover - Harriet Ziefert

Celebrating Now, Remembering Then
Illustrated by Karla Gudeon
Blue Apple Books, 2010
HC $17.99
32 thick pages - 10 that open up to a double page
Endpapers:  colorful small drawings of matzoh, a Seder plate, a Kiddish cup, musical notes, flowers, doves, a Haggadah...

The steps of the Passover Seder are described and illustrated.  Each page begins "NOW" and describes the cleaning, the preparation, the symbols.  But as the candles are lit, we get to open up the right hand page to a lovely painting of the "THEN."  Each of the sections of the Seder plate are described, every part of this special passover meal -- right down to opening the door for Elijah and finding Afikamen.  It's beautifully told and the folky paintings are incredibly delightful.

Before I taught at a Jewish day school I knew nothing - NOTHING - about Jewish holidays.  I've attended three Seders now, which helped me understand this book even more.  But if a child knows nothing about Passover, this might not be enough.  It is for Jewish children to read and enjoy.  It's really lovely.

Author List I - P

My author list has overgrown itself again, so I'm taking the time to split it into three different blogs.  A pain, but sort of exciting, too.....

Ipcizade, Catherine
.....'Twas the Day Before Zoo Day, 2008
Isadora, Rachel
.....Over the Green Hills, 1992
Iyengar, Malathi Michelle
.....Tan to Tamarind, 2009
Jackson, Alison
.....Thea's Tree, 2008
Jackson, Joshilyn
.....Gods in Alabama, 2005
Jackson, Lisa
.....Shiver, 2006
Jacobson, Jennifer Richard
.....Small as an Elephant, 2011
Janeczko, Paul & J Patrick Lewis
.....Wing Nuts, 2006
Javaherbin, Mina
.....Goal! 2010
Jeffers, Oliver
.....The Heart and the Bottle, 2010
.....The Great Paper Caper, 2008
Johnson, Maureen
.....The Last Little Blue Envelope, 2011
Jones, Carrie
.....Captivate, 2010
.....Need, 2009
Joose, Barbara
.....Roawr! 2009
.....Ghost Wings, 2001
Juster, Norton
.....The Odious Ogre, 2010
.....Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie, 2008
Kajikawa, Kimiko
.....Tsunami, 2009
Kantor, Melissa
.....The Invisible I, 2009
Katz, Alan
.....Too Much Kissing, 2010

Katz, Karen
.....My First Ramadan, 2007
.....Can You Say Peace? 2006
.....The Colors of Us, 1999
Katz, Susan
.....Looking for Jaguar and Other Rain Forest Poems, 2005
Kaufman, Thomas
.....Drink the Tea, 2010
Keane, Dave
.....Sloppy Joe, 2009
Kearsley, Susanna
.....The Winter Sea, 2010
Keaton, Kelly
.....Darkness Becomes Her, 2011
Keats, Ezra Jack
.....Regards to the Man in the Moon, 1981/Re-Iss 2009
Keenan, Sheila
.....Greetings from the 50 States, 2008
Kellogg, Steven
.....The Pied Piper's Magic, 2009
Kennedy, Sen. Edward M.
.....My Senator and Me, 2006
Kerby, Mona
.....Owney, The Mail-Pouch Pooch, 2008
Kerley, Barbara
.....What To Do About Alice? 2008
Ketteman, Helen
.....Bubba the Cowboy Prince, 1997
Khan, Hena
.....Night of the Moon, 2008
Kirk, Daniel
.....Library Mouse, A Friend's Tale, 2009
.....Library Mouse, 2007
Klein, Adam G.
.....Frido Kahlo, 2007
Klise, Kate
.....Dying to Meet You, 2009
Knapp, Ruthie
.....Who Stole Mona Lisa, 2010
Koehler-Pentacoff, Elizabeth
.....Jackson and Bud's Bumpy Ride, 2009
Koja, Kathe
.....Talk, 2005
Koller, Jackie French
.....Peter Spit a Seed at Sue, 2008
Konrad, Marla Stewart
.....Just Like You, 2010
Konrath, J. A.
......Bloody Mary, 2005
.....Whiskey Sour, 2004
Koontz, Dean
.....The Good Guy (DNF)
Koralek, Jenny
.....The Story of Queen Esther, 2009
Korman, Gordon
.....Schooled, 2007
.....39 Clues Book 2, One False Note, 2008 DNF
Krasnesky, Thad
.....That Cat Can't Stay, 2010

Krull, Kathleen.....Lincoln Tells a Joke, 2010 (with Paul Brewer)
.....The Brothers Kennedy, 2010
.....Hillary Rodham Clinton,
.....The Boy on Fairfield Street, 2004
Kurtz, Jane & Kurtz, Christopher (siblings)
.....Water Hole Waiting, 2002
Laidlaw, Jill A.
.....Frida Kahlo, 2003
Larios, Julie
.....Yellow Elephant, A Bright Bestiary, 2006
Larsen, Andrew
 .....The Imaginary Garden, 2009
Lasky, Kathryn
.....One Beetle Too Many: The Extraordinary Adventure of Charles Darwin, 2009
.....Georgia Rises, 2009
Latham, Irene
.....Leaving Gee's Bend, 2010
Law, Ingrid
.....Savvy, 2008
Lawler, Janet
.....A Mother's Song, 2010
Lehman, Barbara
.....The Secret Box, 2011
.....Trainstop, 2008
 .....The Red Book, 2004
Lenhard, Elizabeth
.....Chicks With Sticks, It's a Purl Thing DNF
Levine, Ellen
.....Henry's Freedom Box, 2007
Levithan, David & John Green
.....Will Grayson, Will Grayson, 2010
Lewin, Ted
.....Big Jimmy's Kum Kau Chinese Take Out, 2002
.....The Storytellers, 1998
Lewis, J. Patrick .
....First Dog's White House Christmas (with Beth Zappitello) 2010
.....First Dog (with Beth Zappitello) 2009
.....The Underwear Salesman, 2009
.....Wing Nuts, 2006 (with Paul Janeczko)
.....Heroes and She-roes, 2005
Lies, Brian
.....Bats at the Library, 2008
Lin, Grace
.....Lissy's Friends, 2007
Lindaman, Jane
 .....Read Anything Good Lately? (with Susan Allen) 2003
Lindbergh, Reeve
.....The Visit, 2005
Lippman, Laura
.....Life Sentences, 2009
.....Another Thing to Fall, 2008
.....Charm City (DNF)
Lipson, Eden Ross
.....Applesauce Season, 2009
Lockhart, E.
.....The Disreputable History of Frankie Landu-Banks, 2008
 .....Fly on the Wall, 2006
.....The Boy Book, 2006
.....The Boyfriend Book, 2005
Locker, Thomas
 .....Cloud Dance, 2000
Long, Loren
 .....Otis, 2009
Lopez, Diana
.....Confetti Girl, 2009
Lord, Cynthia
.....Hot Rod Hamster, 2010
.....Touch Blue, 2010
Lord, Janet
.....Albert the Fix-It Man, 2010
Lore, Pittacus (actually James Frey)
.....I Am Number Four, 2010
Lourie, Peter
.....Mystery of the Maya, 2001
Lovelace, Merline
.....All the Wrong Moves, 2009
Lowell, Susan
.....Little Red Cowboy Hat, 1997
Lowry, Lois
.....The Birthday Ball, 2010 .....Crow Call, 2009
Lubar, David
.....Punished! 2006
Luenn, Nancy
.....A Gift for Abuelita, 1998
Luxbacher, Irene
.....Mattoo, Let's Play! 2010
Lyon, George Ella
.....The Pirate of Kindergarten, 2010
.....Sleepsong, 2009
.....My Friend, the Starfinder, 2008
Lyon, Robin
.....The Spanish Missions of Arizona, 2010
MacDonald, Margaret Read
.....The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog, 2007
MacLachlan, Patricia
.....Waiting for the Magic, 2011
.....Word After Word After Word, 2010
.....All the Places to Love, 1994
Macomaber, Debbie & Mary Lou Carney
 .....The Truly Terribly Horrible Sweater...That Grandma Knit, 2009
Mahy, Margaret
.....Bubble Trouble, 2008 in UK/2009 US
Malaspina, Ann
.....Yasmin's Hammer, 2010
 .....Finding Lincoln, 2009
Man-Kong, Mary
.....Lucky New Year! 2008
Mansfield, Howard
.....Hogwood Steps Out, 2008
Mapson, Jo-Ann
.....Solomon's Oak, 2010
Marchetta, Melina
.....Jellicoe Road, 2006
Marcus, Leonard
.....Pass It Down, 2007
Martin, Bill, Jr.
 .....Bill Martin Jr. Big Book of Poetry, 2008
Martin, Jacqueline Briggs
.....The Water Gift and the Pig of the Pig, 2003
Martin, Steve
.....Late for School, 2010
Mass, Wendy
.....11 Birthdays, 2009
.....Every Soul a Star, 2008
McBrier, Page
 .....Beatrice's Goat, 2001
McCarty, Peter
.....Henry in Love, 2010
.....Jeremy Draws a Monster, 2009
McClure, Nikki
.....Mama, Is It Summer Yet? 2010
McDonald, Megan
.....The Hinky Pink, 2008
.....The Incredible Shrinking Kid (Stink #1) 2005
.....Judy Moody (#1) 2000
McDonnell,Patrick
.....Me...Jane, 2011
McGarrity, Michael
.....Serpent Gate, 1998
.....Mexican Hat, 1997
.....Tularosa, 1996
McGhee, Alison
.....Song of Middle C, 2009
.....Little Boy, 2008
McGinty, Alice B.
.....Thank You, World, 2007
McKissack, Patricia C.
.....Stitchin' and Pullin' a Gee's Bend Quilt, 2008
McLaughlin, Lauren
.....Cycler, 2008
McMullan, Kate & Jim
.....I'm Bad, 2008
McPhail, David
 .....No! 2009
Mead, Alice
.....Year of No Rain, 2003
Meissner, Susan
.....White Picket Fences, A Novel  (DNF)
Melzer, Brad
.....The Book of Lies, 2008
Meyer, Stephenie .
....New Moon (Twilight #2) 2006
.....Eclipse (Twilight #3) 2007
.....Breaking Dawn (Twilight 4) 2008
Michelson, Richard
.....Busing Brewster, 2010
Miller, Sue
.....Lakeshore Limited, 2010
Miller, Susan Cummins
.....Death Assemblage, 2002
Mills, Claudia
.....How Oliver Olson Changed the World, 2009
Milway, Katie Smith
.....One Hen, 2008
Mobin-Uddin, Asma
.....A Party in Ramadan, 2009
.....My Name is Bilal, 2005
Mohammed, Khadra
.....My Name is Sangoel (with Karen Lynn Williams) 2009
.....Four Feet, Two Sandals (with Karen Lynn Williams) 2007
Mora, Pat
.....Book Fiesta! 2009
.....Yum! MmMm! Que Rico! 2007
Morales, Yuyi
.....Just in Case, 2008
Moriarty, Kathleen
.....Wiil Waal, 2007
Morris, Carla
.....The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians, 2007
Morrison, Toni & Slade
.....Peeny Butter Fudge, 2009
Morton, Kate
.....The Forgotten Garden, 2008
Moss, Marissa
.....Amelia Hits the Road, 1997
Moulton, Mark Kimball
.....The Very Best Pumpkin, 2010
Muldrow, Diane
.....We Planted a Tree, 2010
Mullins, Meg
.....The Rug Merchant, 2006
Murray, Marjorie Dennis
.....Halloween Night, 2008
Musgrove, Margaret
.....The Spider Weaver, 2001
Myracle, Lauren
.....Shine, 2011
Myron, Vicki & Brett Witter
.....Dewey, There's a Cat in the Library, 2009
Naden, Corinne & Rose Blue
.....Ron's Big Mission, 2009
Neubecker, Robert
 .....Wow! America! 2006
Neville, Katherine
.....The Eight (DNF)
Newman, Jeff
.....The Boys, 2010
Niemann, Christoph
.....The Pet Dragon, 2008
Nikola-Lish, W.
 .....Magic in the Margins, 2007
Nivola, Claire A.
.....Planting the Trees of Kenya, 2008
Nobleman, Marc Tyler
.....Boys of Steel, 2008
Noel, Alyson
.....Evermore (#1 The Immortals series), 2009
Norman, Geoffrey
 .....Stars Above Us, 2009
Novesky, Amy
.....Me, Frida, 2010
Numeroff, Laura
 .....Otis & Sydney and the Best Birthday Ever, 2010
Nyeu, Tao
.....Wonder Bear, 2008
Obama, Barack
.....Of Thee I Sing, 2010
O'Connor, Jane
.....Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas, 2009
.....Fancy Nancy's Favorite Fancy Words, 2008
O'Dell, Tawni
.....Sister Mine, 2007
Oelschlager, Vanita
.....A Tale of Two Daddies, 2010
Okimoto, Jean Davies
.....Winston of Churchill, 2007
Onyefulu, Ifeoma
.....One Big Family: Sharting Life in an African Village, 1996
Orlev, Uri
.....The Song of the Whales, 2010
Osborne, Mary Pope
.....Magic Tree House #8: Midnight on the Moon (& its companiion resource guide) 2002
O'Shaughnessy, Perri
.....Unlucky in Law, 2004
Pacilio, V. J.
 .....Ling Cho and His Three Friends, 2000
Palatini, Margie
.....Lousy, Rotten, Stinkin' Grapes, 2009
Pallotta, Jerry
.....Who Will Plant a Tree? 2010
.....Dory Story, 2000
Park, Barbara
.....Junie B. Jones & The Stupid Smelly Bus, 1992
Park, Linda Sue
.....Tap Dancing on the Roof, 2007
Parker, Barbara
.....Dark of Day, 2008
Parker, Robert B.
.....Stranger in Paradise (Jesse Stone) 2008
.....Painted Ladies (Spenser) 2010
.....Rough Weather (Spenser), 2008
.....School Days (Spenser), 2005
Parks, Brad
 .....Faces of the Gone, 2009
Parr, Todd
.....The Earth Book, 2010
.....The I Love You Book, 2009
.....Reading Makes You Feel Good, 2005
.....The Peace Book, 2004
.....It's Okay to Be Different, 2001
Partridge, Elizabeth
.....Dogtag Summer, 2011
.....Big Cat Pepper, 2009
Patchett, Ann
.....State of Wonder, 2011
Paterson, Katherine
.....Day of the Pelican, 2009
Patrick, Denise Lewis
.....Ma Dear's Old Green House, 2004
Patt, Beverly
.....Best Friends Forever, A World War II Scrapbook, 2010
Pattillo, Beth
 .....Jane Austen Ruined My Life, 2009
Paul, Alison
.....Sunday Love, 2010
Paulsen, Gary
.....Lawn Boy, 2007
.....The Amazing Life of Birds, 2006
Payne, Holly
.....The Virgin's Knot, 2002 (DNF)
Paxton, Tom
.....The Marvelous Toy, 2009
Peacock, Louise
.....At Ellis Island, 2007
Pearson, Ridley .
....Killer View, 2008
Peete, Holly Robinson & Ryan Elizabeth
.....My Brother Charlie, 2010
 Penn, Audrey
.....Chester Raccoon and the Acorn Full of Memories, 2009
Pennypacker, Sara
.....Sparrow Girl, 2009
Perl, Lila
 .....The Ancient Maya, 2005
Perrotta, Tom
.....The Abstinence Teacher, 2007
Perry, Andrea
.....The Snack Smasher, 2007
Petrucha, Stefan
.....The Rule of Won, 2008
Pickard, Nancy
.....The Scent of Rain and Lightning, 2010
Pinkney, Andrea Davis
.....Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, 2010
Pinkney, Jerry
.....The Lion and the Mouse, 2009
Pinkwater, Daniel
.....Beautiful Yetta, the Yiddish Chicken, 2010
Plourde, Lynn
.....Grandpappy Snippy Snappies, 2009
.....The Dump Man's Treasures, 2008
Polacco, Patricia
.....The Junkyard Wonders, 2010
.....January's Sparrow, 2009
.....In Our Mother's House, 2009
.....Someone for Mr. Sussman, 2008
Pollock, Penny
.....When the Moon is Full, 2001
Portis, Antoinette
.....Not a Stick, 2008
Primavera, Elise
 .....Thumb Love, 2010
Pullen, Zachary
.....Friday My Radio Flyer Flew, 2008
Pulver, Robin
.....Christmas Kitten: Home at Last, 2010
.....Never Say Boo! 2009

Sunday Wanderings

This Sunday was a gorgeous day - mid 70's, very difficult to leave the house, the finches, and the pool-whose-water-is-getting-warmer-and-warmer. It was one of those Arizona, azure skies. Unbeatable. but I hit the road anyway, and just sort of went where my nose led me.....

Antigone Book Store, 4th Avenue, Tucson Since it's Sunday, Antigone didn't open until 11, so I got back in the car and decided to head downtown to the Il Tiradito Shrine. To my disappointment, the roads were blocked today for some sort of Tucson bicycle extravaganza, Cyclovia, so that was out. Ah well, another Sunday. Back to Antigone. Today was their party to celebrate being the first bookstore in America to be 100% solar powered. Now THAT's pretty cool. I love this bookstore. It's quite difficult to describe. Artsy. Loads and loads of cutting edge new books, including kid's and kid's poetry. More journal than I've ever seen together in one place, and some of the most clever - and unusual - greeting cards anywhere. Music. Gifts...out-of-the ordinary, nothing "usual." Tee shirts. Very back-to-the-earth-y and environmentally friendly. They have a parking area for customers, too, so I've never found it difficult to find a parking place.

San Xavier del Bac, Tohono O'odham Reservation, a breath south of Tucson on Mission Road (or I-19) The White Dove of the Desert. I love this place....at least, when it's not overcrowded with tourists, like it was today. Note to self: Do NOT go to San Xavier on a Sunday in March. Huge crowds. People would smash into y ou for a parking place. Save this trip for a different time of year or day of the week. It was still lovely to look at, but I high-tailed it out of there pretty fast. I went north on Mission Road instead of getting back onto I-19 and headed up for Gates Pass and the west side of Tucson, Super Saguaro Country.

Tucson Mountain Park, on the west side of Tucson It's hard to say whether there's a more beautiful desert drive than through Gates Pass and north or south on Kinney Road. The thickest stand of saguaros anywhere, orange-tipped ocotillos, teddy bear cholla, sentinel-peaked mountains, clear azure sky. Oh my, oh my, oh my. Breathtaking. And this place is my HOME now, I'm not even a tourist. That's why I have to take advantage , right?

MOVIE - No Strings Attached

Just delightful
Released 1-21-11 DVD 5-10-11
R (1:50)
Sat. 3-26-2011 at Kolb Cheap Theater...alone
RT; 49% cag 91%
Director: Ivan Reitman
Ashton Kutcher, Natalie Portman, Kevin Kline

Okay, I laughed out loud, I giggled, I grinned, and I rarely wiggled in my seat. This movie was a charmer. Okay, you know how it's gonna end -- and you're happy to be on the ride that gets you there. The perfect movie to cheer up an otherwise sad day.

Emma and Adam met at camp when they were 14 and kept bumping into each other for then fifteen years. Now Emma (Portman) is training to be a doctor and Adam (Kutcher) works on a Glee-like television production and after an unexpected one-morning-stand decide to be "friends with benefits." That's as far as it goes, no commitments.

These two have great charisma. They enjoy each other, their eyes sparkle, they make a really wonderful pair. So as she pushes him away and he pines for her, as they jump each other's bones and deal with his charming actor-father (Kline) who is now dating Adam's ex, as their various friends deem to give advice - well, just sit back, grin, and enjoy. It's just plain fun. Not deep. Not particularly thought-provoking. Pure entertainment. Hurray!

21. Another Thing to Fall - Laura Lippman

Tess Monaghan, Baltimore PI #10
Audio read by Linda Emond (excellently)
2008, Harper Collins audio
8 unabridged cds $39.95 (swapped)
9 hrs.
336 pages
Rating: 4

Tess Monaghan is hired as a "bodyguard" for 20 year old Selene Waites, the party-girl lead in a television pilot that's being filmed on location in Baltimore. Flip Tumulty, the show's writer and director, thinks she's pulling pranks around the set so that she can be released from her contract - bigger and better projects in Hollywood are calling. But then Flip's assistant is murdered, and we see there's another "player" with an entirely different motive.

The story went very quickly and kept my attention. I loved some of the things that Tess thought - what she was really thinking was usually clever, right on, and quite funny. I'd read another in the series.

My Grown-Up Reading

I was told recently that I need to read more "good" grown-up literature. This was from a non-murder-mystery fancier. Well, I think I've read a few...but I love my kid's, ya's, and murder mysteries. I'm never going to enjoy nonfiction...including memoir....but I'm planning to try some that have FANTASTIC reviews.

Well, here's what I've read in the non-murder-mystery "grown-up" genre since I started this blog. I'll keep it alphabetical. I love order. (And after making this list, I'm a little surprised....I thought I'd read more, to tell you the truth.)

I found some cool paintings of women reading. Gotta love the Botero!

A
B
Barry, Brunonia - The Lace Reader (4.5)
Berg, Elizabeth - The Art of Mending (3.5)
Boyle, T. C. - When the Killing's Done (DNF)
Brooks, Geraldine - People of the Book (5)
Brown, Eleanor - The Weird Sisters (4)
Burke, Jan - The Messenger (5)
CChristiansen, Betty - Knitting for Peace (I only include these books if I've read every word, and I did) NONFICTION
D
deRosnay, Tatiana - Sarah's Key (3)
E
F
G
Green, Jane - e Beach House (4)
Gruber, Michael - Book of Air and Shadows (3)
H
Hale, Shannon - Austenland (2)
Harkness, Deborah - A Discovery of Angels (5)
Hoffman, Alice - The Third Angel (5)
.......... - The Ice Queen (4)
Howe, Katherine - Physick Book of Deliverance Dane (4)
I
J
Jackson, Joshilyn - Gods in Alabama (4.5)
K
Kearsley, Susanna - The Winter Sea (DNF)
L
M
Mapson, JoAnn - Solomon's Oak (4)
Miller, Sue - Lakeshore Limited (1)Moore, Mandy & Leanne Prain - Yarn Bombing (loved it-read every word!) NONFICTION
Morton, Kate - The Forgotten Garden (5)
Mullins, Meg - The Rug Merchant
N
O
O'Dell, Tawni - Sister Mine (4)
P
Patchett, Ann - State of Wonder (5)
Patillo, Beth - Jane Austen Ruined My Life (2)
Perotta, Tom - The Abstinence Teacher (3.5)
Pickard, Nancy - The Scent of Rain and Lightning (5)
Q
R
Roth, Sally - Attracting Birds to Your Backyard NONFICTION
S
Salak, Kira - The White Mary
Shaffer, Mary Ann & Annie Barrows - Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society (5)
T
U
V
W
Webb, Wendy - The Tale of Halcyon Crane (It was okay/2)
X
Y
Z

20. The Moses Expedition - Juan Gomez-Jurado

for: adults
Atria Books, 2007, translated to English (from Spanish) 2010
HC $24.99
386 pgs.
Rating: 2

The story is told in a way to keep even a person with major ADHD interested...short 2-3 page chapters, coming from different points-of-view. Characterization is a weak point, and almost every single character, including one of the two protagonists, is not very likable. Everyone argues with one another, is incredibly rude to each other, or likes each other for either no reason at all or for a ridiculous reason. The plot is predictable, a billionaire with Jewish roots is trying to find the Ark of the Covenant in the middle of the Jordanian desert in total secrecy. Of course, the leader of an Islamic terrorist cell is included in the top-secret, greatly guarded mission. No one is who they are supposed to be, and the selfish, stupid, "heroine" journalist that's asked to accompany the mission is the only survivor. Okay. I've given a lot away. I wish I'd never started the book, 'cause it over took a week's worth of major reading time, Once I was into it and wanted to stop, I felt I'd put too much time into it and should finish. So I did. I can't wait to begin something else.

MOVIE - Cedar Rapids

Funnnnneeeeee...and fun
Limited release 2/11/11
R (1:27)
Sat. 3/19/11 at El Con alone
RT: 84% cag 91%
Directed by Miguel Arteta
Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Ann Hecht

Insurance Agent Tim Lippe (Lih' pee) is the epitome of naive, to the point of ridiculousness. He has never been out of his tiny Wisconsin town, never been to a hotel, never ridden on a plane, when he is sent to Cedar Rapids to a small insurance convention. His only foray into "love" has been with the newly single elementary school teacher (Sigourney Weaver) that just happen to have been his OWN elementary school teacher. He is supposed to schmooze the ultra-Christian president of the insurance board for the coveted Two Diamonds Award to take back to his boss.

Well. Everything he is warned to stay away from is put squarely in his path. All sorts of things he doesn't want to be involved in are impossible to avoid. It's all very hilarious, including the particularly crude John C. Reilly, his African American roommate, and a cocky female (Hecht) whose once-a-year trips to Cedar Rapids from Nebraska are like some people's trips to Vegas ('what happens in Cedar Rapids stays in Cedar Rapids").

The four become quite a team. And during the credits (SPOILER ALERT) we see them vacationing together, then starting an insurance business together. It's a story of friendship, innocence, and a whole lot of funny. I'd go see it again.

My, Oh My - A Butterfly! - Tish Rabe

All About Butterflies
Illustrated by Aristides Ruiz & Joe Mathieu
The Cat in the Hat Learning Library, Random House, 2007
HC $8.00
45 pgs.

I'm the Cat in the Hat
if you look in the sky,
you might see a butterfly
fluttering by.

This book takes a child through the stages that create a butterfly, from egg to caterpillar, growing and losing and eating its skin; to hanging and becoming a chrysalis and emerging as a butterfly. It shows the differences between a butterfly chrysalis and a moth cocoon. It teaches about color and camouflage and then starts telling about different species - ending with 10 pages describing the habits of the monarch butterfly.

A fascinating book for young kids!

The book ends with a glossary (antennae, chrysalis, cocoon, foe, nectar, nutritious, oyamel, proboscis, protein) and a list of other books for kids about butterflies.

19. Hush - Eishes Chayil

Walker & Co., 2010
for: young adults and adults
HC $16.99
360 pgs.
Rating: 4

Eishes Chayil is a pseudonym. This book is written by a member of the Hassidic community in New York, and is an eye-opening page-turner. The first half of the book flips back and forth between 2000, when Gittel was nine, and 2008, when she was 17. The second half of the book is set a bit later, after Gittel is out of high school, 18, and hoping to find a husband and marry. This is what her whole life has built towards, marriage, and children. A family of her own. We watch her become engaged....married....pregnant. But as this all happens, she is becoming more frequently visited by a ghost from her past, a ghost who won't let go until Gittel does something to help her.

This is the premise of the story. Gittel is haunted by the best friend who committed suicide when they were 9. Devory had been sexually abused by her brother. The biggest problem - her community's "hushing up" of this sort of event. There are lots of great reviews out there in cyberspace, lots of raves for this book. I'll add a few links below.

I was, of course, appalled and upset by the premise of the book. But I was more distressed by the things I learned about the Hassidic community. The extreme hatred of "goyim." The absolute lack-of-knowledge about sex and sexuality. And the place of the female in this culture. More than extreme. Racism. Hatred. I realize that this sect of Judaism is very small, but it quite freaked me out.

Here's a review from a Jew in her blog, Bad for Shidduchim (and I learned, from reading Hush, the Shidduch means an engagement) I don't think she's an orthodox Jew, though. And then there's the review in The Curious Jew. And here's a third, from The Velveteen Rabbi.

Little White Rabbit - Kevin Henkes

Greenwillow Books, 2011
HC $16.99
for very young kids
32 pgs.
Rating: 4.5
Copyright information is on the bottom of the title page - this is the first time I've seen that.

Two 10 x 10ish square pages facing each other. One is a thick-green-line bordered illustration, the other is the text - just one or two lines - large green font on white-white page. Every so oftrn ther is an edge-to-edge illustration. All the illustrations look like they're outlined in green marker and colored in lightly with colored pencils. Lovely.

As the little white rabbit travels through the surrounding s near his home, he wonders. What would it be like to be green? to be tall? to be immobile? to fly? But he never wonders who loves him.

Gentle. Simple. Lovely.

MOVIE - Beastly

Enjoyed the book, enjoyed the movie
Released 3-4-11
PG-13
3-15-11 at PP alone, needed to celebrate finishing report cards
RT 21% cag 80%
Based on the book by Alex Flinn
Director: Daniel Barnz
Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens, and Neil Patrick Harris

I read the book and blogged about it here. And the movie was probably not the best story ever told, but it was certainly entertaining. I'm glad I went!
The story was really a condensed version of the book except that Kyle Kingston, the beast, was not made hairy and clawed,, he was made tattooed, thickly scarred, open-looking gashes and slices, and what looked like a mass of bubbling lesions beside his nose.
The advertising poster makes him look fairly decent, you should see him head-on. I'm not a Vanessa Hudgens fan, but she is a really beautiful young lady. Short. Or Alex Pettyfer is pretty tall. Or both. I wonder if there was confusion when Alex and Alex were on the set?

I'm not going to rewrite the ploot, because I did that for the book. I just reread it, and it's not badly written at all, so I'll put the link above and leave it at that. Fun.

18. Killer View - Ridley Pearson

Sheriff Walt Fleming, Sun Valley, ID #2
Audio read by Christopher Lane
Brilliance Audio, 2008
8 unabridged cds
9 hrs.
HC 340 pgs.
Rating: 3.5

The setting was in multiple blizzards in the mountains of Colorado where the rich go to ski and have multi-million dollar homes. Since I love snow so much (not) even reading about it puts me into a dark mood. So I wasn't crazy about the setting. The protagonist, Walt Fleming, I liked.

Walt and two veterinary friends, brothers Randy and Mark Akers, go together up a nearby mountain during a blizzard to look for a possible lost skiier. A gunshot is heard, and Randy is dead. Then Mark disappears, a young girls is drugged and raped, and low-level radioactivity is found in some water. Local ranchers are keeping mysteriously quiet about dead sheep, and there's a rogue group of nutsos called the Samarands that are trying to terrorize the country for their own agenda. Throw in a glider airplane, two young twin daughters caught between a somewhat-nutty mother and an overworked dad, and there's the story....pretty much. It was interesting, but drawn out in places and rushed through in others. Oh well.

I consider Ridley Pearson a pretty decent storyteller. I met him once - at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale when he and Dave Barry covered me in squirting Coke while trying to do a science experiment while talking up their book of that name. He was a really nice guy.

I Can Name 50 Trees Today! - Bonnie Worth

All About Trees
Illustrated by Aristedes Ruiz & Joe Mathieu
from The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library
Random House, 2006
45 pgs.
HC $8.99

A new-to-me science/social studies series, hosted by The Cat in the Hat and his crew.

I'm the Cat in the Hat
and I want you to please
take a few moments
to look at the trees!

The Cat in the Hat uses his lilting rhyming verse to tell how trees grow, how roots and bark function, what fifty different trees look like (and what makes them special). Filled with all sorts of interesting facts and fairly clear illustrations, I'm sending this book to my grandson with the promise to go tree hunting this summer.

Get yourself a blank book
to press leaves that you find.
Glue them onto the pages.
Your mother wont's mind!

Note the tree's bark
and the shape of the crown
Note the shape of the leaves
and then write it all down.

Take a look at this book
or get a tree guide.
Match up your leaves
to the pictures inside.

(The book even shows a sample page.)

We can't have enough of these
wonderful trees.
So when you see bare spots...
...go plant a tree, please!

The book ends with a glossary (drought, germs, heartwood, lobes, minerals, quench, sapwood, spores, whorled) and a list of other tree books kids might enjoy.

This looks like a whole series of books by more than one author (but perhaps the same illustrators?). The hunt is on!

17. Mercy Kill - Lori Armstrong

#2 in Mercy Gunderson (SD) series
For: adults
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 2011
paper $15.00
296 pgs. & Reading group guide
Rating: 4.5

I saw this at a bookstore and was able to get it from the library. I didn't realize it was the second in a series. I figured it out right away, though, because there are lots and lots of characters mentioned with no previous reference to them. You can figure most everything out pretty quickly, but there's an antagonism between the protagonist, Mercy Gunderson, and a guy named Kit that's never explained at all. You could figure out the plot of the first book by the time you finished this one.

After I read the first short chapter I put the book aside and decided not to finish it. I was really turned off. Mercy Gunderson is a retired special ops sniper who loves guns and ammunition of any and every kind. She goes out into a field of prairie dogs and starts picking them off, one by one, for kicks. How could that not turn me off?

When I did pick up the book about a week later, I was not enamored of this protagonist. A hard-drinking, looking-for-trouble kind of person who is feeling sorry for herself is not the type of lead character that makes you want to read on. But read on I did. The story kept getting more and more interesting and about a third of the way through I was hooked.

Mercy is working tending bar and bouncing, which keeps her from drinking quite so much herself. A close friend from her Army past reappears in her life, but he has been employed as a spokesperson for the oil company that is trying to build a pipeline in the area and she is greatly opposed to this. However, Jason had saved her life and she feels she owes him. They have a huge history. But then he is murdered and she has no idea why or by whom.

Mercy is also having a secret affair with the sheriff, Mason Dawson. (The author, Lori Armstrong, says she'd have Josh Duhamel play him in a movie.) He was her father's hand-picked replacement for the job of sheriff when he died. However, when Mercy feels he is not attempting to investigate Jason's murder, she decides to run against him for sheriff. Okay.

Investigations proceed. The federal government is involved. There are all sorts of family and ranch things going on. The townspeople are always around and in her face. There are bad guys. Drugs and drug deals. Guns. Shooting. Interesting story. And yes, I'll read the next one, which is currently in the works.

Favorite Words: Cacophony

I am a word person. Give me a simile, a metaphor, alliteration, a snazzy verb and I'm happy. My friend, Sheila, loves the word flummoxed. Great word. The one I get a kick out of the most is cacophony. It's a word full of onomatopoeia, hard sounds, sounds that describe what it means. And every time I find it in a book or article I'm quite excited. Perhaps it's because a few years ago, when teaching 8th grade at Sonoran Science Academy, I had a dad come in to take issue with one of the words on the kids' weekly vocabulary list. He had never heard of cacophony and certainly never heard it used. Huh? So every time I see it, I can envision him standing on the other side of my desk smirking at me. So take this sir. I just found it again!

"I ducked through the barbed wire and heard the sputtering engine of the ATV beneath the cacophony of crackling wood." -from Mercy Kill (Armstrong), page 127

"Their voices were like ladders of sound --- up several notches, down a few, up and up again, and in that queer syncopated rhythm that might have sounded cacophonous to somebody else but sounded to her like harmony." -from Biting the Moon (Grimes) page 6

"It was so quiet he could hear the cacophony of frogs from Wildcat Creek a quarter mile to the south." - from Pray for Silence (Castillo) pgs. 2

"As I start toward the front door, the forest around me comes alive with a cacophony of rickets and frogs from the creek." - from Pray for Silence (Castillo) pg. 173

"This remark earned me the sensation of my head splitting in two as a bloodcurdling shriek tore through the air.  A cacophony of horrifying sounds followed.  They were so painful I sand to my knees, and covered my head with my arms." - from A Discovery of Witches (Harkness) pg. 371

"She slept poorly for months until it bacame part of her, until she had to listen consionsly to her the cacophony.  And now, back in the middle of nowhere, the silence seemed alien." - from The Weird Sisters (Brown) Chapter 21, disk 9

"Jet-lagged and exhausted, we went to sleep early -- or rather we went to our beds and lay in them with pillows covering our heads to block out the thumping cacophony that issued through the floorboards, which grew so loud that at one point I thought surely the revelers had invaded my room." - from Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Riggs) pg. 72

MOVIE - The Fighter

Wow - Great accents - Great acting - Lowell, Mass!
Released 12-17-10
R (1:54)
3-6-11 (a gorgeous Sunday evening) at El con with Sheila & Terri
RT: 90 cag: 95
Director: David O. Russell
Amy Adams, Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale

Both Christian Bale and Melissa Leo won Academy Awards for supporting actor & actress in this riveting true story about two brothers from Lowell, Massachusetts in the 1980's. They were wonderful, but so was Amy Adams. Wow.

Micky Ward (Wahlberg) has always adored his older brother Dicky Eklund (Bale) who, for a short time, was "the pride of Lowell" after he beat Sugar Ray Leonard in a fight. Now, years later, Dicky is a crack addict and Micky is trying to work his way up the ladder as a fighter. However, he's not getting very far. Then he meets Charlene (Adams), a brassy bartender who helps him see that it's time he stop bailing his brother out and lying for him one more time. His world is centered around his outrageous mother, his seven grown sisters, and the young daughter whose mother is doing everything she can to poison their relationship.

Then Dicky goes to prison and cleans up while Micky is guided by a new trainer and manager....and begins to go places. And, oh how the family hates Charlene!

As the credits begin, the real-life Micky and Dicky are seen chatting about the film. I'd love to see more of them....

Totally entertaining. It's much more a story of family than a story about boxing. There are only a few fighting scenes, and those were quite acceptable to me - a person who seriously dislikes boxing.

Gloria Whelan

Gloria Whelan was born in 1923 in Michigan and has remained there throughout her life and writing career. She lives in a somewhat isolated cottage on the edge of a lake and writes (when the snow is not a couple of feet high) in her "Secret Garden." She was born six years before my own mother, which makes her 87 years old...and still writing prolificly! Bravo Gloria Whelan! I love your writing AND your stories....and so do my students!

• See What I See (2010)
• The Listeners (picture book) (2009)
• Waiting for Owl’s Call (picture book)
• K is for Kabuki (2009)
• The Locked Garden (2009)
• After the Train (2009)
• The Disappeared (2008)
• Yuki and the One Thousand Carriers (picture book) (2008)
• Parade of Shadows (2007)
• Yatandou (picture book) (2007)
• Summer of the War (2006)
• The Turning (Russian Saga / Book 4) (2006)
• Mackinac Bridge / The Story of the Five-Mile Poem (picture book) (2006)
• Listening for Lions (2005)
• Chu Ju's House (2004)
• Burying the Sun (Russian Saga / Book 3) (2004)
• Friend on Freedom River (picture book) (2004)
• The Impossible Journey (Russian Saga / Book 2) (2003)
• A Haunted House in Starvation Lake (Starvation Lake / Book 4) (2003)
• Are There Bears in Starvation Lake? (Starvation Lake / Book 3) (2002)
• The Wanigan: A Life on the River (2002)
• Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect (2002)
• Jam and Jelly by Holly and Nellie (picture book) (2002)
• Rich and Famous in Starvation Lake (Starvation Lake / Book 2) (2001)
• Angel on the Square (Russian Saga / Book 1) (2001)
• Homeless Bird (2000)
• Welcome to Starvation Lake (Starvation Lake / Book 1) (2000)
• Return to the Island (Mackinac Island Trilogy / Book 3) (2000)
• Miranda's Last Stand (1999)
• Forgive the River, Forgive the Sky (1998)
• Farewell to the Island (Mackinac Island Trilogy / Book 2) (1998)
• The Shadow of the Wolf (1997)
• The Miracle of St. Nicholas (picture book) (1997)
• Friends (1997)
• The Indian School (1996)
• Once On This Island (Mackinac Island Trilogy / Book 1) (1995)
• That Wild Berries Should Grow (1994)
• Night of the Full Moon (Libby Mitchell Trilogy / Book 2) (1993)
• Goodbye, Vietnam (1992)
• Bringing the Farmhouse Home (picture book) (1992)
• Hannah (1991)
• The Secret Keeper (1990)
• Silver (1988)
• A Week of Raccoons (picture book) (1988)
• Playing With Shadows (adult book) (1988)
• The Ambassador's Wife (adult book)
• The President's Mother (adult book)
• Next Spring an Oriole (Libby Mitchell Trilogy / Book 1) (1987)
• The Pathless Woods (1981)
• A Time to Keep Silent (1979)
• A Clearing in the Forest (1978)

16. HeartSick - Chelsea Cain

#1 Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell
Audio read by Carolyn McCormick
Audio Renaissance, 2007
7 unabridged cds
10.5 hrs.
336 pages
Rating: 5

This was quite an unusual story. Archie Sheridan is a savvy Portland, Oregon police detective who spent ten years heading up the task force looking for the Beauty Killer. But then, she caught him. Gretchen Lowell is gorgeous. She is also psychopathic. She mutilates her victims while they are awake and feeling. She is loving to them.....and kills them slowly. She does the same to Archie Sheridan. She feeds him all sorts of drugs, including hallucinogens. She breaks ribs with nails and a hammer. She removes his spleen. She carves up his chest with an Exacto knife. And then she poisons him by having him drink drain cleaner. All this without anesthesia.

Gretchen has always killed her victims, numbering 200. However, she spares Archie and allows herself to be caught and jailed. Now, two years later, Archie, totally addicted to various pain killers in large quantities, goes back to work heading another task force, to find a new serial killer that's killing 15 year-old schoolgirls.

The story weaves in and around Archie's current investigations, his memories of the time he was abused by Gretchen, his Sunday visits with Gretchen in prison, and the thoughts and life of Susan Ward, the mid-twenties journalist who has been assigned to profile Archie for the Portland Herald. Pink-haired, frisky, smart, and flawed by her father's death when she was 14, she is a character that pulls us in and makes us like her whether we want to or not.

And what a story this is. It was absolutely mesmerising. I can't wait to find out what's in store for the next installment. It looks like Chelsea Cain has just published her fourth about Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell. I hope they all include Susan, too.

Next books in the series: Sweetheart, Evil at Heart, and Night Season, which was just published four days ago.

MOVIE: Gnomeo and Juliet

Ho Hum
Released 2-11-11
G (1:24)
3-1-11 at El Con with Rachel G.
RT: 54 cag: 58
Director: Kelly Asbury
Voices include James McAvoy and Emily Blunt
the music's by Elton John, and if I remember right, he produced it, too.

Next door to each other, in contemporary England, live the garden gnomes of the Capulets and the garden gnomes of the Montagues. They come to life whenever there's no human in the vicinity. They, too, hate each other for no remembered reason, just as the humans do. They are constantly trying to outdo and out race each other. Then Gnomeo and Juliet meet and fall in love. I more or less follows the same story, but they don't die at the end, they life happily ever after.

It wasn't boring, but it sure wasn't great. It was rated G and a movie I could take a ten-year-old lady to see. So it served its purpose.