by Judith Moore
ONE LINE SUMMARY: Moore, an editor at the San Diego Reader, relates her childhood memories and thoughts on being fat.
It’s hard to know what to say about this memoir. On the one hand, it is painfully honest and unflinching. On the other hand, as a book, it rambles for the first 40 pages about fat without heading anywhere. Once Moore gets into a more chronological pattern, I found myself engrossed in her horrible childhood and how awful her parents were. But then she abruptly ends the book, covering her college/married years with quick passages.
I would have liked the book to be longer, but it’s also difficult to criticize a book as honest as this. As the author says, she’s written this not out of self-pity or to explain anything, and there is no “triumphant note” that it concludes on.
This is a sad book.
I was using my computer and feeling a little bored. “What to do, what to do,” I thought.
I glanced over at the dogs. All three had been curled up on beds around me, but now Paco was lying on the floor under the ottoman, looking adorable.
This would have been a great picture, but the new digital camera was downstairs. I knew that if I got up to get it, Paco would jump up and follow me.
Almost as if he could hear me, Paco glanced up. He stood and walked to me, looking plaintively at me. I usually try not to give in to him because if I put him on my lap, his incessant licking makes it hard to type. But he had looked so cute under the ottoman that I gave in.
I picked up Paco and put him on my lap. To my surprise, instead of trying to lick my hands, he lay quietly. I typed a few sentences on the computer, and suddenly Paco leapt off my lap.
Normally I wouldn’t have been overly concerned about this, but then I heard him scraping at the crate. I got up and peered into the crate.
Paco was lying across the back of the crate, facing one of the corners. As I watched, he suddenly started making gulping noises, and threw up a few times.
“Oh, no!” I yelled.
As is my habit, I ran to get the phone. Bad news had to be shared with Chris, and the sooner the better.
As I dialed Chris’s work number, Paco walked out of the crate. He wagged his tail politely at me, and then turned to the side and threw up again, this time on the floor outside the crate.
“Paco threw up,” I announced to Chris when he answered.
“Oh, poor guy! What happened?”
“He just went into the crate and puked all over. And now he puked again on the floor.”
I leaned down and examined the vomit. Alerted to the fact that something was happening, the other dogs got up and tried to examine the vomit with me. I shooed them away, ever mindful that to a dog, vomit is merely something so good that it needs to be eaten twice.
“It looks like grains of rice,” I reported. “Did he have rice in his breakfast? It looks like he didn’t digest it at all.”
“Brown rice,” Chris said. “That’s probably what made them sick last time too.”
So much for Newman’s Own Dog Food. The dogs may have liked it, but what good was an organic dog food that just wanted to be fertilizing the ground and not the insides of a dog’s tummy?
“Well, I guess I know what I’m doing this afternoon,” I said.
I hung up the phone and surveyed the area. I inspected every blanket–not an easy task, since we have 12 beds for 3 dogs in their room–and luckily found no other remnants of breakfast.
I lugged the laundry downstairs and started the washing machine. So much for being bored.
by Jim Meddick
ONE LINE SUMMARY: Robotman gets a visit from his evil twin brother Bruce, explores science, and spoofs the movies all while living with the Milde family.
I bought this book fifteen years ago, and as I re-read this last night, I asked Chris, “Isn’t this comic strip still going on now? But it’s about the guy in the family, not Robotman, right?”
“Yep,” he said.
“Why isn’t it focused on Robotman anymore?”
“I guess it was supposed to be like Small Wonder, where the robot girl lives with the family, and it didn’t really take off.”
I don’t really read this comic anymore, since the focus was taken off Robotman, but I enjoyed re-reading this collection, particularly the Spock depictions. I guess you could say this book was my first real interest into science fiction.
by Sydney Taylor
ONE LINE SUMMARY: The five sisters in the all-of-a-kind family visit the library, learn to dust, and welcome their new baby brother.
I still love this series, and when I was younger, I often wished I were Jewish just like the all-of-a-kind family. There are marvelous food descriptions (the trip to the street market, for instance) that make this a great book to read while you’re eating.
As reported by Christopher, who lay awake most of last night and had some allergies:
“A-choo!”
“Sssssh!”
“What? That was just a sneeze. You can’t shush me!”
“Shut up, Ann!”
(Ann is my older sister, who lives in California, and was certainly not in our bed last night.)
Later in the night:
“(cough cough)”
“OHMYGOD, WHAT THE FUCK!?!” (screamed as if scared)
“I just coughed, calm down!”
“SSSSSSSHHHH!!”
and I apparently rolled over and commenced snoring.
by Donald E. Westlake
ONE LINE SUMMARY: Dortmunder and the gang embark on what appears to be a simple burglary of a bone, but which evolves into kidnappings, light torture, mistaken bone identities and an art heist, all in that hilariously Dortmunder way.
I thought I had read this one before when I picked up a used copy at Powell’s in Portland, but I didn’t remember any of this, so I guess it’s new. I enjoyed it a great deal.
Things always go wrong with poor pessimistic Dortmunder, but always in a tragicomic way that generally leave him (mostly) on top. These are great books.
…is a good show.
But the more I watch it, the more I wonder what purpose Brooke Burke plays. Is she just there to horrify us with her latest miniscule outfit? Is she secretly auditioning for World’s Most Brainless Host(ess)? Does she even listen to the contestants or the other judges, or is there a little switch in her cavernous head that automatically turns on when the camera is on her, and shuts down all her movement when the camera’s on someone else?
These are the things I ponder as I fast forward through her scenes.
by Lois McMaster Bujold
ONE LINE SUMMARY: Mark, Miles’s clone, meets his parents for the first time, and attempts to destroy Jackson’s Whole.
This is gripping, sad, and exciting. Poor Mark gets horribly tortured, and I cried a few times. Interestingly, we spend much of this book from Mark’s point of view, and…Miles Vorkosigan? Not such a hot shit anymore. In fact, we finally see Miles as the somewhat insane hyperactive that the rest of the world sees.
This is terrific, but one that requires some space and distance before re-reading.
by Lois McMaster Bujold
ONE LINE SUMMARY: After pretending that Admiral Naismith is a clone of Miles Vorkosigan, Miles discovers that a clone of himself does exist, and is attempting to assassinate him.
Some of the plot drones on a bit, but the appearance of Cousin Ivan helps liven things up.
by Bill Watterson
ONE LINE SUMMARY: Another Calvin and Hobbes collection.