Wordless Wednesday: Afternoon Walk

Review: The Book of Jonas

Time for another BlogHer Book Club review! We read The Book of Jonas, the debut novel of Stephen Dau.

The Book of Jonas gives us glimpses into three very different, but connected, lives. Jonas (originally Younis), is a Muslim teen refugee from a Middle Eastern country left unnamed in the book. After his family and village are destroyed by a misguided United States military operation, he runs away from the trauma both physically and emotionally as he tries to adjust to life in the U.S. Christopher is an American solider who was part of the raid that killed Jonas's family, and who Jonas says saved his life. Although he's been missing ever since that night, we see his inner wrestling through his journal. Finally, there is Rose, Christopher's mother, who channels her despair over not knowing what has become of her son into activism, in part to avoid having to come to terms with her own loss.

You could say it is a story about the effects of war and the how people have to live with choices they're forced to make, or about the different ways people struggle after devastating events. But ultimately I think it is a book about people searching for release, whether that release is absolution from guilt or from the pain of not having answers. The sections of the book (Processional/Remembrance/Communion/Confession/Atonement/Benediction/Recessional) bring to mind a gathered community of faith. That sense of gathering and the way the characters' stories interconnect suggest that the release they all seek cannot come in isolation, but only as they reach out and are open to receive.

Disclosure: I was compensated for my BlogHer Book Club participation. All opinions expressed are my own.

Review: The Weird Sisters

The latest BlogHer Book Club installment is the debut novel The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown. Three sisters, who honestly don't really like each other all that much, return to their childhood home in a small college town when their mother is diagnosed with cancer. The part of the blurb that drew me in? The family--with its Shakespeare-professor father--are all voracious readers.

It is a fluffy book, in that everything-turns-out-right-in-the-end way, but the good sort of fluff: easygoing, engaging, and not too frivolous. The three sisters play awfully neatly into the birth order stereotypes of oldest-responsible/middle-lost/youngest-irresponsible, but that's kind of the point of the story. They need to see the ways they have taken on those roles without thinking and to realize they can grow beyond them.

It's told collectively by the three sisters. The first person plural narration ("We came home because we were failures") took several pages to get used to, but I liked the effect it had of making the family itself a character in its own right in a way. Because isn't that true of our families, especially our families of origin? They somehow become take on a realness in our minds that is more than just the collection of individuals; the family as an entity has a life of its own. I can think of my mother, my father, my brother as separate people, but there is also the influence and pull of Our Family, its shared quirks and flaws and memories.

There was also one bit at the end that stuck with me, "There are times in our lives when we have to realize our past is precisely what it is, and we cannot change it. But we can change the story we tell ourselves about it, and by doing that, we can change the future." It made me think of what many of us do when we write, when we blog. There is a way I think we are sometimes working to wrestle our lives into stories we can not just live with but embrace. That has, at least, been true for me.

Disclosure: I was compensated for this review by BlogHer but the opinions expressed are my own.

Christmas Wishes

To those who are celebrating Christmas today, may your time be marked by the simplicity of his birth and the magnitude of his purpose.

To everyone who reads here, whether it's a day of celebration or not for you, may you know peace and joy--today and every day. I am so very, very grateful for you.

Photo credit: fras1977 under Creative Common license

Wordless Wednesday: Since I Don't Have Your Address

Enter password to view your special-as-a-precious-snowflake holiday greeting

Another One for the Toolbox

I picked up this retort from a co-worker of mine last week and am pocketing it away for future use. Thought some of you might appreciate it as well.

Someone dropped that dreaded phrase, "I'm not a racist, but [insert racially loaded statement here]," and he came right back with, "Hm, I wonder someone who was  racist would think about that?"

Wordless Wednesday: Thanksgiving Eve

(I'd give a credit, but it's bounced around the Internet so many times I haven't the foggiest idea where it originated)

Five Confessions

1. I totally watch Gossip Girl. In fact, I'm watching it right now.
2. I totally say "totally."
3. And "dude."
4. I am also eating Christmas cookies. Two days before Thanksgiving.
5. After telling the kids we couldn't open them until Friday.

Oopsie

Ack! I completely messed up the link in that last post. Luna's love bomb is here, if you'd like to check it out.

One more day to add your bit!

If You Love Luna

You may have heard that the lovely Luna had an adorable baby. Baby Z was a little early, but she's growing bigger and stronger every day in the NICU.

Some of us put together a little something for her. A virtual representation of our love to welcome her to the world and hold up her family during this time.

If you want to add your own page to it, you have two more days. So hop on it. We hope you will.

Road Trip, By the Numbers

21	days away from home
6	cities slept in
2,523	miles driven
2	children trapped safely contained in car seats for all 2,523 miles
4	average age of aforementioned children, who did remarkably well, all things considered
4	times McNuggets were purchased (oh, the shame)
2	happy visits to Zankou Chicken (I'm telling you, their tarna wraps will be served in heaven)
20	children's DVD titles available for viewing in the car
47	approximate number of times Toy Story was chosen
1	car (big) borrowed from my parents that made trip possible
3	rules imposed by said parents as condition of using big car (no eating, no drinking, no shoes inside car)
10	hours of driving time added by trying to comply with said rules
0	percent chance we had of actually following every rule, every day (shhh, don't tell my parents)
2	conferences attended
12	online friends met in person
-1	days worth of clean laundry we had by the final day of the trip
4	people brimming with good memories but very happy to be HOME

Hi-tech

Well, look at this: assuming you're actually reading these words, I figured out how to post from my iPod. We may be back in business during this road trip, folks.

(Guess which blogger and her adorable, round-cheeked toddler brought scones to our campground this morning? So fun to see her. San Gabriel Valley, we're headed your way!)

Out of Office

Hello, friends. We're headed out camping for the rest of this week. For the next several days I will be outside without internet (gasp) and with much cool, damp weather (boo). But also with banana cookies (yay) and the very fun family (more yay).

I've got some posts scheduled while I'm gone, including a new open adoption blogger interview. So stick around and I'll see you in a few days!

Saturday Fluff: Judge Me, Not Yourself

If any of you parents out there ever get down on yourselves over the fact that anything other than organic-healthy-homemade-from-scratch-grass-fed-fair-trade-local-in-season-Michael-Pollan-approved-Martha-Stewart-photo-spread-worthy foods ever pass your children's lips, I offer you the gift of the picture above. Behold our drawer--yes, drawer--dedicated to McDonald's Happy Meal toys.

Portland Meetup Tomorrow

Just a quick reminder that the Portland-area blogger/reader/commenter meet-up is this Saturday, July 9. Join us at 2:00 p.m. at Old Wives Tales. Family members and friends are more than welcome.

I don't want to out any bloggers' location, but some very cool people have emailed to say they're coming. If you're reading this and in the area, you should come, too!

Nudge Nudge

Just a reminder that you can vote once each day for my blog (and others') at the Circle of Moms Top 25 Adoption Blogs deal.  Simply click on the badge over in the sidebar to vote.

I haven't been tracking my exact standing. Then Todd helpfully called out the other night, "You're only losing by two! Not bad for someone who doesn't have any friends voting."

Thanks, dude.*

You can vote for my blog here and for any on the list here. Definitely consider taking a minute to support the voices of the adoptee and first parent writers in the running, who are typically appallingly underrepresented on lists like these. Thank you!

* Turns out he was talking about the fact that I blog anonymously, so I'm not asking my family or offline friends to vote. He's wonderfully supportive of all my bloggy activities; I'm just poking fun here. Hi, Todd!

BlogHer Tidbits

Tidbit the first:

If you write about adoption and are headed to the BlogHer conference this August, don't forget to add your name to the growing adoption blogger list! This will be my first time going to BlogHer. I have no idea what kind of madness it is trying to connect with people or if there is even a snowball's chance of accidentally bumping into someone, but I'm really really hoping I get to meet as many of you who'll be there as I can. It's always fun to put faces to (screen)names.

Tidbit the second:

I did a couple more book reviews for the BlogHer Book club that you can check out if you're so inclined. The first was for for Geraldine Brooks' new novel, Caleb's Crossing. My mom and her friends are all abuzz about this book right now.

In the early seventeenth century on the tiny island now now known as Martha's Vineyard, twelve-year old Bethia Mayfield is growing up cloistered in a small pioneer settlement. Alone on a beach one afternoon she encounters Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, son of the leader of a local Wampanoag band whose lands are shrinking as English settlers press in. Across a language divide and against strict societal mores, the two strike up a secret friendship that spans a lifetime.

The second was for Jean Kwok's debut novel, Girl in Translation:

As anyone who speaks more than one language knows, something subtle always changes in the process of translation. Languages are so filled with symbolism and culture that a text can never be exactly duplicated in another language; every word choice brings with it the possibility of losing something of the original tone or meaning, or of inadvertently adding something new. And so it is with Kim as she shifts between her different worlds every day, morphing into different versions of herself at school and work and home. In each context she is Kim, but Kim translated: subtly different, with something lost and gained with each successive decision about how to present herself.

The BlogHer Book Club opened up its waiting list this week to everyone this week--you don't need to be part of their publishing network anymore to participate. It's a really well-run review program, so I thought I'd share the word with any of you book-lovers out there.

Clicks Respectfully Requested

This is a tad awkward considering how absent I've been lately. (Look, there's an actual new post below this one!) But my blog is in the running for the Circle of Moms Top 25 Adoption Blogs by Parents, along with lots of other blogs I like.

This is the embarrassing part: there is voting involved. It's like a high school popularity contest in which everyone can see the results. Dear bloggy friends, I did not win at high school.

If you'd like, please click on the badge or this link to vote for me and any of the other bloggers listed. You can vote daily and for multiple blogs at a time. Meaning "vote early and vote often" actually applies in this case!

My Favorite Movie is Books

Well, hello there! Remember when I used to have a blog? For which I actually wrote posts and everything? Good times.

Life has been chugging along at its typical pace. Work is busy, but no more so than usual. Everyone in the family is healthy. No relationships in crisis or major events looming on the horizon. My days are very full, but that has always been true. Post topics spring to mind every day. Nothing obvious, in other words, to explain why I have not been writing.

It’s kick in the pants time! Conversations are always more fun, anyhow. Ask me anything. The floor is open for questions.

Here is a question from me to you: What is a favorite movie of yours? Recent or old, doesn’t matter. My Netflix queue is rather sparse and bedraggled.

* A big gold BFF star to anyone who gets the post title reference.

Saturday Fluff

Five words that make me wince:

1. moist
2. belly
3. saliva
4. cockroach
5. maggot

I typed that list with my eyes closed so I wouldn't have to see the words sitting there on the page. I wish I were kidding.

My father can't stand the sound of "crotch" and "trousers". Is this an inherited family quirk, or does everyone have an aversion to certain words?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go clear my mind with some of the more perfect English words. Like "lettuce". And "crisp". And "salutations". Ahhhh...