I don’t hate the Yankees like a great deal of Boston. In fact, I grew up going to see games at Yankee stadium. But it is painful to watch them right now. I don’t like watching them beat my team year after year. The Red Sox are maddening! How many more times are they going to break my heart? They are like that bad boy that girls love but can’t leave. They call you up, sweet talk you into coming over, screw you and make an excuse twenty minutes later to leave. Well, maybe it’s more like, you go over there and they can’t get it up. Anyway, here’s hoping the Red Sox rally starting Friday night.

Sorry for the not posting in a week. We didn’t get back home until late Monday night. Our train broke. But the trip went really well. I got some laughs for my toast on Friday night. And I tried to calm down my sister on her wedding day to no avail. I felt almost as nervous. It was beautiful though. They had a sitar player for the ceremony and robots and chinese candy. Anyway, a good time was had by all I hope.
I did read Stiff while away too and am in the middle of American Pastoral. I loved Stiff. Mary Roach has a great sense of humor, but doesn’t overdo it in the book. In fact, she makes humorous comments carefully timed with the material. Because some of the material is a little disturbing. She did make me respect the use of cadavers for research a bit more, but I have always planned on donating my body to science, if they want it. However, now I know of a few ways I don’t want them to use it. But whatever. Dead is dead. I’ve had a good run, I always say.

Do you ever wonder if the world will be the same place when you go away on a trip? Like, maybe some war breaks out. Or the Red Sox could win the first part of the division series. It could happen. The Yankees lost and the Red Sox won last night. Who knows?! Anyway, I am off to NYC in an hour or so for my sister’s wedding. I am bringing two books: American Pastoral by Philip Roth and Stiff by Mary Roach. Plus I have the new Harper’s and Maisonneuve, so I should be fine for the trip there at least. I haven’t finished Cynthia Ozick’s book, but I am only finding it so-so. Great beginning, but really lagging toward the end. Anyway, see y’all next week. Who knows how the world might change in the next 5 days?

There’s a lot happening today. The ALDS begins with the Sox playing Anaheim this afternoon. The vice presidential debate is this evening. I just hope Edwards gives Cheney the smackdown he deserves. There is something seriously wrong with that guy {yes, I do read the comments.}. I know some people out there hate the Sox, but I love those guys. It’s too bad we couldn’t overtake the Yankees but if wishes for the Red Sox were worth $1….well you know. Keep your fingers crossed.

I might not post a lot this week, as I will be preparing for the NEBA trade show this upcoming weekend. There are many great events and signings, but alas, I won’t be there. My sister is getitng married on Saturday in NYC. So on Wednesday afternoon, I will be on a train (why a train when I can take a cheaper bus? I am one of those freaks who get car sick if they read. Sad but true.) whisking my way to NYC. Hopefully I will get a lot of reading done. I am looking forward to the wedding, particularly since they are not doing much traditional. No wedding parties, etc. So I am maid of honor without the title. No showers or anything else. Just a toast. That I can do. We will see how the toast goes. There is a certain amount of alchohol required for me to do this correctly. Too little and I will be extremely nervous and speak too fast. Too much and you might have to tackle me to get the microphone out of my hands. I have no idea what to say though. Any ideas on what to say to a slightly older sister who is marrying her boyfriend of 10 years?

Terry Teachout points out this article in the NY Daily News about the price hike at the newly renovated MoMA. The admission price rose from $12 to $20 and Mayor Bloomberg more or less tells people to suck it up. “‘Some things people can afford, some things people can’t,’ said Bloomberg, whose estimated personal fortune is $4.9 billion.”
What a douchebag! The price of admissions here at the MFA is high too and they want to renovate. I am scared that they will hike the price even higher. Two years ago, they had a special exhibit of Willem de Kooning and Jasper Johns work. The entry fee for that was $18! Just for that part! And even though my friend worked at the ICA nearby, they wouldn’t allow us discounted tickets. I thought museums were for everyone. I thought that no matter your income you should be able to take yourself and your family to view great art. That’s how people expand their minds. But according to the MFA and now the MoMA, only those who can afford it are able to expand their minds. I know museums have to balance the cost of running the gallery and keeping the people coming back with great exhibits, but at what cost?
And Teachout is correct, this is a great discussion of what this all means.

Some of these tusks have been found buried in the bodies of whales, which the unicorn always attacks with success.

It’s poetry isn’t it? Like others, I find myself increasingly interested in the random bits the spam people include in their stupid messages. Lines like the above are just so fascinating? What does it mean? And what does it have to do with viagra? Is the unicorn a reference to the blue pill maybe?

If you love the Simpsons as much as I do (anyone who knows me knows that I embarass myself at least once a day referencing an episode), check this out. Its a fully detailed map of Springfield. Now you can find out where the 99¢ Porno store is! It’s near the harbor and Little Newark. Apparently it has just been added to the Harvard Map collection (thanks Briana!).

I wish I had something profound to say today, but I don’t. I wish that everyday in fact. Today, I am just plugging along. Today’s excitement was noticing that the plant I repotted last month has grown crazily. I wish there were more time in the day for me to read. My perfect job (though I must admit that my job now is pretty great. I couldn’t ask for a better job. More pay perhaps. I mean, after all, it may be a cool job, but it is still in retail and pays as such. Sucks.) would be to be paid to read. All day.

I got back from Virginia on Sunday evening and immediately lamented the fact that I was home again. I did nothing but read and eat excellent meals. We had duck, steak and lamb! How is that for being carnivorous? I started to read Purple Hibiscus on the plane ride down and finished it on Friday. It made me cry. Such a simple but emotional book. At first, I wondered how this book had gotten nominated with such great and complex books as Cloud Atlas and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. But that was just me underestimating the power of Aidichie’s prose. Not to sound like a cliche, but everything was both spare and lyrical. Aidichie writes the story of Kambili Achike, a 15 year old Nigerian girl growing up in the privileged household of her powerful but brutal father. The political unrest and personal struggles become one and the same, as Kambili’s father is the editor of a newspaper that prints the hard truth. There is so much unspoken in the family, much the way Aidichie leaves things unsaid and lets the reader draw the picture. When Kambili and her brother Jaja get the chance to stay with their liberal aunt Ifeoma, a widowed university professor, they catch a glimpse of life outside the walls they have constructed. The book is beautiful and heart-breaking.
Having finished Purple Hibiscus, I decided to continue with the make-you-feel-terrible books and started Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains, which details Paul Farmer’s struggles in Haiti. The problem I found with this book was that I was in constant disbelief. Farmer’s good works make put me on the defensive since the only good I do is click the Hunger Site everyday (and the other 5 clickable sites there). I give some money to charity each year, but I don’t make that much. It made me re-examine how I see the world, how someone can change things, even in just a small part of the world. It may not change everything, but making at least one person’s life better should be worth the trouble. Kidder does not make Paul Farmer out like a sanctimonius prig. Rather, he is a hard-headed and can be exasperating. But his personal commitment to Haiti is awe-inspiring. He started a complex health facility in one of the poorest parts of Haiti and gave free medical care to anyone who needs it. In the book, you find him making house calls that require 10 hour hikes. The foundation he began Partners in Health (Zanmi Lasante in Creole) has grown considerably in size and has also become extremely influential around the world with their ground-breaking treatment of TB and AIDS. His program for TB in Haiti has a better success rate than those in urban America. And Farmer does not give up the house calls nor his dedication to his patients as PIH’s influence grew as you might expect. His ‘road map’ for decency remains unaltered. He travels more than you can think possible, flying from Haiti to Russia to Peru all within 48 hours. Kidder’s portrait is tremendous and I found myself unable to put this book down.
I finished Mountains Beyond Mountains on Saturday and was left with nothing to read. Luckily, Mr. Bookdwarf’s (heh) mother gave me a copy of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress to read. This book is the story of 2 urban Chinese youths as they are sent to the country for ‘re-education’ in the 70s. Forced to carry buckets of excrement up and down mountains, they find solace in the secret stash of western novels they steal from another city boy. After the 2 previous books, I found this slight novel easy to consume and not particlularly deep. Enjoyable and light fare, the simple tale gives the reader a good insight into the Cultural Revolution and the impact it had on the people.
So, these are the books I read on my vacation. I plan on starting Birds Without Wings today and I am also reading Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kanter. Phew. Hope y’all had a good long weekend.