Matt actually ate some broccoli! He had eaten it before, but I was afraid we “lost it”.
Meanwhile last week I started taking pictures of some weekday stuff, here was a shrimp stir fry…
over buckwheat and sweet potato noodles. Matt had eaten the “black noodles” before, but I only got him to try a few bites with the sauce.
The start of some short bread cookies.
It’s hard to take pictures during the week cause it’s all about “getting it done”, but I am trying to be better!
Book Review: Reamde by Neal Stephenson
Oh Joy! Oh Rapture! One thousand pages of a new Neal Stephenson novel. Is this heaven? (Yes, yes I think it might be.)
Now there will be some who are disappointed with this book, who will say it’s just a variation on his earlier works. But we have to remember that an artist usually only has one revolution in them. After all, Shakespeare didn’t write “A Doll’s House” after Hamlet. He wrote King Lear and Macbeth. This is Stephenson’s Macbeth (or probably more like his Anthony and Cleopatra). Shakespeare had his five act play, Stephenson has his post-modern techno hero running through a highly improbable plot line that crosses several time zones, involves several million dollars of gold, lots of firearms and cast of diverse international characters where conversations and subplots take place in at least three languages.
I don’t make the comparison to the great bard lightly. I fully expect Stephenson to make the list of authors when early 21st century literature is taught in colleges at some point in the future. If for no other reason than he writes awesome sentences like “Americans honor things by wrapping them in plastic”. So true! Also like Shakespeare he is heavy on the action and heavy on the word count. (I always thought Shakespeare was kind of limited by the special effects possible and rudimentary printing contraptions of his time. I always wondered what sort of plots he might come up with if there was an “Industrial Light and Magic” and Kinko’s in Elizabethan England.)
Unlike Shakespeare, obviously, Mr. Stephenson writes for the tech crowd. He is the myth maker for the geeks, bringing nobility, dignity and purpose to the act of getting ready to sit in front of computer for more than 24 hours at a time by putting a stack food and a bucket to pee in by the desk. (The hero does this at one point in the book and you can’t help but cheer when he does. That’s what talented writing can make you do.)
I enjoy Stephenson’s work even if he is essentially a man’s writer. In fact, this book, he handily takes the “most typically male writer” award in these book reviews (an honor previously held by Tom Wolfe). I offer the following sentence that swiped the prize for Mr. Stephenson:
“She began picking up…some hair management tools.”
I had to stifle a laugh at that. Hair management tools? HA! Here is that same sentence as if it were written by Barbara Taylor Bradford, current holder of the “most typically female writer” award:
“Her charm bracelet clinked cheerfully as she threw her boar bristle Bumble and Bumble hair brush into her open Birkin bag.”
Now, Lest you think commercialism is the purview of women writers only I offer the following evidence from Reamde: (1) Ski lodges built to the specifications of medieval drinking halls (2) a whole lot of guns and fire arms (3) Detail descriptions of the interior of various private aircrafts (and helicopters) (4) a whole lot of computer equipment with new car smell (5) a whole lot of hiking equipment (6) descriptions of home repair to private castles (7) did I mention detailed information on the workings of various types of guns?
These descriptions are not just gratuitous good fun, they support the plot. Now, I hate it when reviews give away plot twists in fiction books, so without giving away details I will say this: Stephenson has a knack for writing what really smart people would say or think in extremely stressful situations. This is the secret sauce that ties everything together.
I have to say this had me at the edge of my seat much more than the Hunger Games. Heck, just waiting for the book to come out kept me at the edge of my seat. I’ll be at the edge of my seat till he publishes again (that shouldn’t be too long, he writes a lot). In the meantime, I can think about the salad days of February, when I was enjoying an awesome adventure novel written by a true master.
Book Review: Whateverland, Learning to Live Here
By Alexis Stewart and Jennifer Koppelman Hutt
Alexis Stewart has her own small cult lifestyle following. Even her mom, Martha, admits that her standards and idea of perfection are different, and also much, much tougher, than her own. Like her mom, she is crazy. But she gets the job done.
“Whateverland-Learning to Live Here” was on the new arrivals rack of the library and I thought it might be worth the three hours to read if it would help me do this. Sadly there are only about 5 pages devoted to organization and cleaning in the book, and the number 1 advice was don’t wear cleaning gloves. Sorry Alexis, the gloves stay on at all times. Oh well, I never liked cleaning that much anyways.
Most of the book goes into how these two women were raised, their neuroses and opinions. In fact, Alexis writes that the whole point of the book is to “share our craziness so you feel less crazy.” Yes, thank you, I do feel a lot better about myself, actually. I wasn’t expecting that, but it happens so rarely I’ll take it.
I wasn’t especially looking for dirt on Martha Stewart by reading this book. I really just wanted to know more about cooking and organization and working out. I’m not offended by other people’s quest for perfection, more power to them. You should do your best to build your perfect life and if I can learn bits and pieces from the about of time you spend so much the faster for me. But even I was amused by the story about how Alexis became a vegetarian -when her mom fed her the pet lamb. I couldn’t help but feel a bit sympathetic about the “glue gun to the head” she grew up with, but not too much, cause well other people had it tougher.
The other author, Jennifer, is a nice foil to Alexis, with severe anxiety issues. I had planned on kinda skipping her part in the book but I was really touched reading about her life and kids and her mother’s passing due to pancreatic cancer.
In general, this book was harmless, but I can’t recommend it since I didn’t learn very much from it and my amusement by it was short-lived. I’ll still check out Alexis’s blog from time to time cause she does link to some nice recipes, but as far as the rest of her unresolved personal issues and her completely manic personal advice… whatever.
