What I've been reading lately

These are a few books that I've recently read:

Sedaris, David. Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. 

New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2013. Print. 

Armstrong, Jennifer K. Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted: And All the Brilliant Minds Who Made the Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic. New York : Simon & Schuster, 2013. Print. 

  

 Black, Michael I. You're Not Doing It Right: (tales of Marriage, Sex, Death, and Other Humiliations). New York: Gallery Books, 2012. Print. 

 Kephart, Beth. Small Damages. New York, NY: Philomel Books, 2012. Print.

Bad timing

Russell and I used to only turn on the television to watch 60 Minutes, The Simpsons, and the occasional ballgame or awards show. We averaged about 3 hours a week. Well, I say used to because I recently discovered a channel that only plays reruns of my favorite shows. It's called MeTV. 

MeTV is just a regular channel on the dial. This is good because we don't have cable or satellite, just a big antenna.  I have gone from watching an average of 3 hours of television a week, to an average of 3 hours a day. I warm up with Bewitched and I Dream of Genie, and then the really great shows begin: The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, The Odd Couple, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. 

This episode of The Odd Couple was my favorite show of the week. Felix talks Oscar into taking a ballet appreciation class taught by Edward Villella of the New York City Ballet. Tony Randall was such a great physical comedic actor. I don't think I truly appreciated his genius when I was a kid.

This post is entitled Bad Timing because I started my new TV habit just in time for Screen-Free Week which starts at the end of the month. I don't plan to participate.

The Beginner's Goodbye

Tyler, Anne. The Beginner's Goodbye: A Novel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. Print. 

If you liked The Accidental Tourist, you will love Anne Tyler's newest novel, The Beginner's Goodbye. Like most of Anne Tyler's novels, this book takes place in Baltimore and one of the featured relationships is between grown, slightly eccentric, siblings. There's nothing overtly religious about The Beginner's Goodbye, but it's a perfect book to read on Easter Sunday. It's an understated story about love, mourning, life after death, and rebirth.

To learn more about Anne Tyler and her newest novel, read the following reviews:

The Beginner's Goodbye: A Grief Observed by Heller McAlpin, National Public Radio.

Grieving Lessons: The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler by Julia Glass, New York Times.

Anne Tyler's The Beginner's Goodbye by Ron Charles, The Washington Post.

Leonard Cohen, K.D. Lang, and Sheryl Crowe

I love this song. It was written by Leonard Cohen and covered by hundreds of different singers. I like K.D. Lang's rendition the best.



Sheryl Crowe does a nice job with the song, too.



Isn't it odd that they both perform it barefoot? Here is the song's creator, Leonard Cohen, performing it at the Montreal Jazz Festival. I'm pretty sure he was wearing shoes.

2013 Pura Belpré Award

Each year delegates from the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the
National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking (REFORMA) present the Pura Pura Belpré Award to an author and illustrator "whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth."

Benjamin Alire Sáenz was presented the author award for the coming of age novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. This groundbreaking title also won the Stonewall Book Award and the Michael L. Printz Award.





David Diaz won the illustrator award for the picture book biography, Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert.

I really loved both books. 

G is for Goat

 

 Photo by Jonathan Segel. Buy his music here.

Here are three of my favorite goat books:

 Polacco, Patricia, and Patricia L. Gauch. G Is for Goat. New York, N.Y: Philomel Books, 2003. Print. 

Genre: Picture Book

Subgenre: Alphabet Book 

Goodness gracious . . . it's an all-goat alphabet book by the author of Pink and Say!

Block, Francesca L. Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1992. Print. 

Genre: Young Adult Literature

Subgenre: Magical Realism for Teens

Cherokee Bat and Witch Baby start a psychedelic rock band called The Goat Guys. This is the third book in Francesca Lia Block's critically acclaimed Dangerous Angels series. 

Galdone, Paul, and Peter C. Asbjr̈nsen. The Three Billy Goats Gruff. New York: Clarion Press, 1973. Print. 

 Genre: Folklore
Subgenre: Eat Me When I'm Fatter Story

"Once upon a time there were three Billy Goats. They lived in a valley and the names of all three Billy Goats was ‘Gruff." Read more about this classic tale in Anita Silvey's Children's Book-A-Day Almanac.

Baker, Keith. Big Fat Hen. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1994. Print. 
Genre: Picture Book
Subgenre: Eat Me When I'm Fatter Story

It doesn't have anything to do with goats, but Big Fat Hen is my favorite "eat me when I'm fatter" story. It's quite suspenseful and always gets a big laugh at storytime.

ps. "Eat Me When I'm Fatter" is an official subgenre of folk literature: pitt.edu. 

This Book Will Save Your Life

Homes, A M. This Book Will Save Your Life. New York: Viking, 2006. Print. 

 If you liked Where'd You Go, Bernadette? and Fear and Yoga in New Jersey, you will love this satire by A.M. Homes. She's the author of May We Be Forgiven which I raved about recently.