Author: Janet

Make ‘Em Laugh

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Some things in life make me laugh easily: my children, “Red” from That 70’s Show, “Grandpappy Amos” from The Real McCoys, and “Miss Julia” from the book series by Ann Ross. However, it is extremely rare that a book or movie can make me genuinely laugh. I am just a tough nut to crack.

The original The In-Laws with Peter Falk is the only movie that has earned that distinction.

Books don’t fare much better. Pontoon by Garrison Keillor is number one on my list followed by Janet Evanovich’s “Stephanie Plum” series.

My next category of books that have made me laugh could be called “living well is the best revenge” group. Lucky Me by Debra Borden, Horseplay by Judy Reene Singer and Whistlin’ Dixie in a Nor’easter by Lisa Patton all deserve a mention.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeffry P. Lindsay brought several smiles to my face – no laughter, just wry smiles. Every belly laugh, every giggle, every smile was priceless.

−Janet

I Had to Graduate in a Dress

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Looking back to high school I remember it as being so serious and repressed. Teachers were stern and quick to let the students know that they might let us have a little fun but we were really “under their thumbs.” My high school years were 1966 – 1969, grades 10, 11 and 12. As a girl dresses or skirts were expected for all thirteen years. Only a year later I was a student at Kent State University. In the fall of 1969 I felt as if I landed in a different world. Jeans and overalls dominated. I arrived on a campus that had 24 hour visitation privileges from day one. The drug culture was everywhere. I let my hair grow and grow. Such freedom! My best friend from high school who was attending Ashland College sent me a memorable book called Five Smooth Stones by Ann Fairbairn which I loved. It was reissued in April of 2009. For the times this was a scandalous book because the main characters were an interracial couple. The song Society’s Child by Janis Ian addressed the same issue and it also caused a ruckus. Both titles were released in 1966.

When you look at the years of my high school education, a lot was going on: The Vietnam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, Woodstock, the riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, Prague Spring, Black Power and a resurgence of the Women’s Movement. However, in Hamilton, Ohio everything was still under control. Our parents sent us off to college and we were innocent children. We had never been allowed to grow up.

Several months later in the spring of 1970, antiwar protests lead to the deaths of four students on the grounds of Kent State University. The remnants of our innocence were gone. I don’t believe there is a definitive book for the Kent State shootings. However, bibliographies can be consulted.

Other books from this time were Listen to the Warm (1967) by Rod McKuen, Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970) by Richard Bach and Love Story (1970) by Erich Segal. It’s hard to believe these books were phenomenal at the time. Perhaps their appeal was their simplicity because they certainly were published in a tumultuous time.

P.S. In 1968 I was seventeen. When my son turned seventeen the book 1968:the year that rocked the world by Mark Kurlansky was published. I gave it to him and said, “When I was seventeen, this is what was going on in the world.”

 — Janet

The Best is Yet to Come

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As one of the outreach librarians I take library materials to the people who live in Rocky River and can no longer get to the library themselves. The majority of the people I see are in their 80s, 90s and 100s. Our outreach patrons have never stopped being interested in life, which I think is one of the secrets to a long life. They stayed engaged with the world while bravely facing difficulties that come their way. They are positive and outgoing. Sometimes I see a quality that I also think is necessary – stubbornness.

In 2011, I will turn 60. This milestone has made me think about what I want to do that I haven’t done. It feels like now or never. At 60 I can audit classes at Cleveland State. I can move things to the front burner that have been on the back burner for a long time. It truly is exciting.

Jeanne Ray is one author that began her writing career at the age of 60. Julie and Romeo was her first book. It was very successful. Since then she has written Step−Ball− Change, Eat Cake and Julie and Romeo Get Lucky. I would highly recommend her as an author.

Another one of my favorite authors who got started at 61 is William Steig. He is a children’s author/illustrator probably best known for Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, which was awarded the Caldecott Medal for illustration. Mr. Steig also won the Newbery Medal for Doctor De Soto. His stories are unique and memorable. Mr. Steig’s vocabulary is also quirky and interesting. Two of my favorites are Brave Irene and Pete’s a Pizza 

We cannot stop the march of time but what we can do is live instead of merely existing. Be spontaneous, reinvent ourselves, find a creative outlet and above all soak it all in.

−Janet

Early Influences

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The Bumper Book written by Watty Piper and illustrated by Eulalie was first published in 1946. The next publication date I could find was 1952. My sister was born in 1949 and I was born in 1951. My mother purchased one of these editions for her girls. The Bumper Book was an anthology of stories, poems, A,B,C’s and 1,2,3’s. This book was one that I claimed as a young adult. I have had it ever since.

Looking at this book over the years has always been a treat. The illustrations just blow me away. As I got older and had my own children I realized that I didn’t want this book to be closed and put away. The illustrations were just too beautiful. I studied the book many times before choosing which illustrations to frame. I really did agonize over my decisions because to choose an illustration meant the picture on the back would never been seen again. Framing would also mean that I would have to dismantle a book! I felt like I was committing a crime. However, the framed pictures are beautiful and I get to see them every day.

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss was first published in 1957.  Our Mom purchased it for us. The other books that I still have in my possession are If I Ran the Zoo, Horton Hears a Who, McElligot’s Pool and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I can’t imagine how these books must have been perceived when they first came on the market. My sister and I are still amazed that Mom bought them. Our idea is that Dr. Seuss’s books must have looked fairly radical for the times and our Mom was not radical or whimsical but then again maybe she was! My sister and I cherish them.

To round out our pre-Kindergarten education my parents also subscribed to a children’s music series. The music was recorded on 78’s. Some of them were educational but most of them were just fun. They each had a paper dust cover with appropriate art work on the front. A couple of the covers are embellished with early drawings by my sister which I love. One of those covers will definitely be framed as well. The good news is that a few years ago Restoration Hardware had a suitcase-like record player which plays 78’s, 45’s and 33⅓’s so my kids and I listen to them at Christmas time.

I treasure these artifacts of early childhood and that includes my sister. (She is 60 years old!)

—Janet

Fabulous Five of 2009

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1. The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread by Don Robertson is the book that has remained memorable above all others. It was originally published in 1965 but reissued in 2008. I did not know anything about this book before I read it which probably explains the big impression that it made. I am not revealing anything here, so go find this book and read it.

2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett is fabulous. I was hooked after reading the first page. Set in Jackson, Mississippi in 1965, The Help explores the relationships between the young, white housewives and the black maids they employ. Unforgettable.

3. Etta by Gerald Kolpano   Etta Place is the focus of Gerald Kolpano’s work of fiction. “Etta” is the girlfriend of the Sundance Kid. She becomes a member of the “Hole in the Wall Gang”. Her life story is interesting, poignant, unexpected, and adventurous.

4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a young adult book that I thoroughly enjoyed. The first book in a trilogy, it is set in post-apocalyptic America, now known as Panem. Panem is divided into 12 districts. Once a year each district chooses one boy and one girl to fight to the death in a televised game until there is only one person left – the champion. The second book, Catching Fire, is listed by Dori and Megan as one of their favorites for 2009.

5. The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano is a unique debut work of fiction. It is the story of a family that is forced into the Witness Protection Program with its lifelong adjustments. The story unfolds with a relaxed telling and it has just the right amount of twists and turns. The movie rights have been sold.

                                                                                                                                                                          — Janet

A Beautiful Friendship

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Published in 1977 and winner of the Newbery Award, Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson is simply a beautiful story that is told with a great deal of sensitivity which enables it to cover some tough subject matter. I love this book. Each year that I was a teacher I would read this book aloud to my 5th grade class. First and foremost Bridge to Terabithia is the story of the friendship that develops between 10-year-old Jess Aarons and 10-year-old Leslie Burke. Jess has lived in a small rural town all of his life. Leslie moves into the house that is the closest to Jess’s. She is a city girl, an only child, who is confident and comfortable in herself.  Leslie needs her inner strength because she doesn’t fit the community’s idea of what a girl should be and do.

 

Using her imagination Leslie begins to expand Jess’s world. Together they create the imaginary country of “Terabithia” in the nearby woods. The castle that they build is a refuge that gives them one place where the outside world of teachers, bullies, and families cannot reach them. Led by Leslie, their imaginations soar. They become each other’s best friend. (SPOILER ALERT!) While Jess is away on a rare Saturday outing to Washington, D.C., Leslie dies in an accident. Her death devastates Jess, but he knows that he can no longer go back to the Jess he was before Leslie came into his life. This wonderful book concludes with Jess realizing that he can take what he learned from Leslie and pass it on to others, starting with May Belle, his younger sister. She becomes the new queen of Terabithia.

 

Seeing the movie is not something I will ever be able to do, but the movie has made me hope that out there somewhere there may be a former student who will remember.

~Janet

The WOW Factor

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I have more than one frame of reference for the word “WOW.” It was my son’s first word; it is an example of a palindrome; turned upside down it says MOM, and it is one half of the current super chamois called “Shamwow.” WOW is also the word that I said out loud when I finished reading the last page of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. 

We all have books that we have liked, books we have loved, books that we want to insist that absolutely everybody we know reads. However, I only have one book that has WOWed me. 

“Extraordinary” has been the only other one-word exclamation that I have said out loud upon finishing a book.  That book was Holes by Louis Sacher. 

Sometimes one word is enough. Sometimes one word says it all.

—Janet

Moving On

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My daughter will be moving into her first apartment soon. She is a person who becomes attached to everything. But recently she told me that if she isn’t using it she’s not keeping it. Those were words I never thought I’d hear. Our conversations about possessions usually finish with the two of us saying to each other, “You have too much clutter.”  We are both right.

With Peter Walsh as my clutter guru, I do have a list of possessions that I continually revise. It is a list that I have in my mind. I hope to leave my children a list of books that I hope they read in their lifetime. I want the list to be short so that they are not overwhelmed. The list will contain five book titles or perhaps three. The book titles that I list are either a book that so moved me that I hope they will read it or a book that might give them insight into the individual that also happened to be their mother.

As of 5/18/09 the list is; 1. Away by Amy Bloom, 2. The Reader by Bernard Schlink, 3. Fortune’s Rocks by Anita Shreve, 4. The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread by Don Robertson and 5. The Bright Forever by Lee Martin.

So even though I have more PEZ dispensers than one person ever needs to have, I do have an uncluttered reading list that I never let grow too long. It’s a start.

—Janet

He Quacks Me Up

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Donald Duck is my hero. I love his temper tantrums and the way he grumbles under his breath. He can express all of the emotions that as adults we are supposed to keep to ourselves. He does it magnificently.

In thinking about Donald, who can do anything without reprimand, I have thought of a few books that he can handle for me. My first category is “the book that you wanted to throw across the room but you didn’t because you are an adult and you love books.” I would have handed Donald Dream When You are Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg. I really enjoyed this book, but the ending did not work for me at all. It still doesn’t.

Toning things down a notch, my second category is “the book you wanted to slam shut and you absolutely refused to finish reading.” The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski gets my vote. Two-thirds of the way through that book I passed it over to Donald so he could slam it shut for me.

My third and final category is “the book you finished and even thought you liked at the time, but as time passed you realized that you would like to delete it from your mind.” The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst is my pick. I think I’ll let Donald quietly whisk it away. Hopefully “out of sight” will mean “out of mind.”

The next time you are reading and feel your blood begin to boil say, “Aw, phooey” and hand the book off to Donald. He will be more than happy to help.

—Janet

Just One Look, That’s All It Took

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Most readers are aware of the allure of cover art and how it entices the reader to explore. Publishers and authors know the value of a good cover shouts, “Pick me!” The cover of Away, by Amy Bloom, literally reeled me in from across the room. It wasn’t quite that dramatic, but that’s how I remember it. I just felt pulled towards that book. I not only wanted to read it, thanks to the cover, I wanted to love this book and I did. It’s possible I would have missed this novel altogether without the gorgeous cover.

Sometimes a cover perfectly represents a book’s contents. Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeffry P. Lindsay, features a drop of blood on a microscope slide. If you look at the blood, you’ll notice that it has a smiley face within the drop of blood. This jewel of a book is about a lovable serial killer who works as a blood splatter technician. The smiley face tells us that there is humor involved in telling this story. Twisted, dark humor – but humor!

When I see In the Woods, by Tana French, I see a creepy cover. It’s a reflection of its contents that attempts to warn the reader. When reading this book I don’t expect to find sunshine, lollipops and cute puppies between the covers. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ll let you know if I was right.

In 1998 Toyer, by Gardner McKay, was published. Toyer is a Los Angeles lunatic who harmed many people before he was caught. Before I read this book I was curious about the variety of people pictured on the different covers. After reading Toyer, I learned each unique headshot represented one of his victims. This may have felt like a bold, stylistic choice for the publisher, but it ratcheted things up to a new level of uncomfortable for me.

Last week, while displaying the new non-fiction books, I saw a book with a photograph of a guinea pig front and center on a plain white background. The guinea pig was adorable. It reminded me of the guinea pig that was our family pet. We truly loved that little guinea pig and his antics. When I checked the shelf this morning so I could take a closer look at the subject of the book, it was gone! I bet that cutey-cute (Stacey’s phrase) photograph grabbed someone else’s attention, too. I selected two books based on their intriguing titles while searching for the guinea pig, so all is not lost. Thank goodness for intriguing titles and even better covers.

—Janet