Wish List

Thinking about buying more books is probably not healthy for me, but I can't help it! There's a traffic-jam of unread books still on my bookcase (and, with them, a goal of managing to read them all before the school semester starts up again).

Still... I can't help but be excited about books that are scheduled for release in the very near future. 

So without further ado, here's a small sampling of what's on my (amazon) wish list:

The Vanishing Act: A Novel 

By Mette Jakobsen 

On a small snow-covered island—so tiny that it can’t be found on any map—lives twelve-year-old Minou, her philosopher Papa (a descendent of Descartes), Boxman the magician, and a clever dog called No-Name. A year earlier Minou’s mother left the house wearing her best shoes and carrying a large black umbrella. She never returned.

One morning Minou finds a dead boy washed up on the beach. Her father decides to lay him in the room that once belonged to her mother. Can her mother’s disappearance be explained by the boy? Will Boxman be able to help find her? Minou, unwilling to accept her mother’s death, attempts to find the truth through Descartes’ philosophy. Over the course of her investigation Minou will discover the truth about loss and love, a truth that The Vanishing Act conveys in a voice that is uniquely enchanting.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There

By Catherynne M. Valente

September has longed to return to Fairyland after her first adventure there. And when she finally does, she learns that its inhabitants have been losing their shadows—and their magic—to the world of Fairyland Below. This underworld has a new ruler: Halloween, the Hollow Queen, who is September’s shadow. And Halloween does not want to give Fairyland’s shadows back.

Fans of Valente’s bestselling, first Fairyland book will revel in the lush setting, characters, and language of September’s journey, all brought to life by fine artist Ana Juan. Readers will also welcome back good friends Ell, the Wyverary, and the boy Saturday. But in Fairyland Below, even the best of friends aren’t always what they seem. . . .

Splendors and Glooms

By Laura Amy Schlitz

The master puppeteer, Gaspare Grisini, is so expert at manipulating his stringed puppets that they appear alive. Clara Wintermute, the only child of a wealthy doctor, is spellbound by Grisini’s act and invites him to entertain at her birthday party. Seeing his chance to make a fortune, Grisini accepts and makes a splendidly gaudy entrance with caravan, puppets, and his two orphaned assistants. 

Lizzie Rose and Parsefall are dazzled by the Wintermute home. Clara seems to have everything they lack — adoring parents, warmth, and plenty to eat. In fact, Clara’s life is shadowed by grief, guilt, and secrets. When Clara vanishes that night, suspicion of kidnapping falls upon the puppeteer and, by association, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall. 

As they seek to puzzle out Clara’s whereabouts, Lizzie and Parse uncover Grisini’s criminal past and wake up to his evil intentions. Fleeing London, they find themselves caught in a trap set by Grisini’s ancient rival, a witch with a deadly inheritance to shed before it’s too late. 

Newbery Medal winner Laura Amy Schlitz’s Victorian gothic is a rich banquet of dark comedy, scorching magic, and the brilliant and bewitching storytelling that is her trademark.

The Elementals

By Francesca Lia Block

The Elementals is on one level an intriguing coming-of-age novel about a young woman, Ariel Silverman, facing the challenges of her first years away at college in Berkeley, California, while her mother battles cancer at home in Los Angeles. But the book takes on deeper, stranger meanings when we realize that Ariel is haunted by the disappearance of her best friend, Jeni, who vanished without a trace a few years before, closing Ariel's heart and changing her forever.  Ariel wonders if she will ever be fully alive, until she meets three mysterious, beautiful and seductive young people living in a strange old house in the Berkeley hills.  Through them Ariel will unravel the mystery of her best friend's disappearance and face a chilling choice.

The Sweetest Spell

By Suzanne Selfors

Emmeline Thistle has always had a mysterious bond with cows, beginning on the night of her birth, when the local bovines saved the infant cast aside to die in the forest. But Emmeline was unaware that this bond has also given her a magical ability to transform milk into chocolate, a very valuable gift in a kingdom where chocolate is more rare and more precious than gold or jewels. Then one day Owen Oak, a dairyman’s son, teaches Emmeline to churn milk into butter—and instead she creates a delicious chocolate confection that immediately makes her a target for every greedy, power-hungry person in the kingdom of Anglund. Only Owen loves Emmeline for who she truly is, not her magical skill. But is his love enough to save her from the danger all around her?


What books are you interested in reading? 

The Big Apple and the Long Island

I hadn't planned a "vacation" when summer break finally arrived. To me, just getting a chance to cool down from the rigors of school and have huge blocks of time to write (and, uh, other things) is enough of a blessed relief. However, I just got back from a trip that could be called a vacation. I left behind the sizzling heat of Florida for a few days and flew to New York.

I'm not a Florida native - which is probably why I complain so much about living here. I was born in New York and lived there up until the end of elementary school. Most of my relatives are still in New York as well as a ton of childhood memories. My volatile teen years happened in Florida, haha.

More specifically, I grew up on Long Island, only a stone's throw away from the city. My memories are blurry at times, but I remember crawling under the table at family gatherings, staring at bare feet with a belly full of Italian cooking. There was my elementary school, with nuns and stiff uniforms, and the lawns that felt as soft as comforters. Sprinklers, ice cream trucks, dirty snow. And piles of leaves. Millions of leaves to jump in.

My father, brother, and I boarded a plane a few days ago to head first to Long Island. We met my relatives there and stayed with them for a few days, reminiscing about things that I didn't recall, haha. There was a lot of delicious food and lovely showers; for the first time since I moved, I finally had soft, frizz-free hair (No joke. It's the water pressure that's magic).

On Friday evening, my aunt passed me the local paper and asked if there was anything we'd like to do locally over the weekend. I searched through the event page, not expecting to see anything stand out. But as it happened, something special was going to happen.

Saturday was the centennial celebration of Nunley's famous carousel. 

Look at that horse! That's a nice horse.

The carousel itself had stood in Golden City Park before finding a home at Nunley's, an amusement park that operated from 1939-1995 (so says, ye old wikipedia. I'm terrible with dates). Even though the park had a roller coaster, boats, and other interesting rides, its main attraction was the carousel. After the park closed, the carousel was moved to Museum Row where, thankfully, it still runs.

The carousel is made up of forty-one horses, two chariots, and one stationary lion. My brother used to always opt for the chariots; to him, it seemed rebellious not to ride on a horse. My parents used to take me to Nunley's often. I rode that carousel many times before moving away. My mom and dad, aunts and uncles, and even my grandparents rode this carousel when they were little. That's a lot of history right there. We had to go see it again

On top of that, the celebration included turn-of-the-century amusements like knocking down milk bottles, making clothespin dolls, and playing croquet. The whole event (and the park) was set up to mimic a Coney Island feel. There was even a Teddy Roosevelt impersonator to take photos with (and I just couldn't do it. I burst out laughing when I saw Teddy carrying a bottle of Diet Coke. That totally ruined it for me, haha). The staff for the event wore ribboned straw hats and t-shirts that said "Got Carousel?" on the front.

I've been writing a lot of stories lately that are inspired by 1900's ( in and around that time period as well) so I drifted through the festivities with a bounce in my step and a fluttery heart. It was almost like doing research, haha.

Riding the carousel was a wonderful experience - as well as waiting in line for it. No matter how long the line was, everyone had a smile on their faces. Nostalgic stories about the carousel were swapped by the adults and children got to ride it for the first time - the first of many times, hopefully.

One of the many informative boards

One of the chariot my brother loves so much, haha.

Details, marking some of the places around the Long Island of the past

On the carousel at last! And there's the lion too!

From Long Island, we took a cab over to New York City. It's hard to forget a city like this one and I found, as I walked briskly through the streets, that nothing much has changed. Times Square is still as clogged and neon-bright as ever. Garbage continues to be tossed on the streets. Restaurants are filled to the brim.

I loved the movie Ghost... but a musical? I don't know...

Craziness

Knock-off Hello Kitty. That really startled me, haha.

Dinner at Bubba Gump. If you serve me fish with mango salsa, jasmine rice, and other flavorful sauces, I will be your friend for life, haha.

The last thing we did before returning to Florida was go on a Circle Line Cruise. I like boats, especially big ones you can wander on, but this one was overwhelming with the amount of antsy tourists on it. For two hours, I sat out on the deck in the surprisingly hot sun, drinking from my warm water bottle and trying to see the sights despite the flood of people striking embarrassing poses for their facebook pages (or something like that). And on that day, manners seemed to have been lost. But I did manage to take a few decent photos. And, ironically, I got major sunburn. My skin still itches as I'm writing this blog post. I'm used to being pale. It hurts to have burnt skin, haha.

I hate to admit it, but it's nice to be back in Florida. At least, until I step outside my door (ah, how the sun burns my sunburns!).

Dime Stories: Animal Net

Summer is a magical time; with that said, I'm going to try something new on this blog! I'm going to write posts entitled "dime stories." They'll be very small stories, under 300 words, inspired by an image.

The author of The Night Circus, Erin Morgentern, writes what she calls her flax-golden tales on her blog. I've read a few of them and I love the idea. But it wasn't until fellow figgie Hannah decided to give it go that I wanted to try it myself. 

I'm not sure how frequently I'll do this, but I think writing one at least once a month is a good goal for now. We'll see how it goes. 

Found here on We Heart It

Animal Net

  When the world turned plastic, Tina left her home and wandered barefoot through the farmland. She whistled to keep her feet from turning cold and hard, to keep the blood running through her veins like clockwork. 
       The neighbors were frozen in place. Glazed eyes stared, wide-eyed, reflecting the last moments of their lives before their hearts turned rubbery and perfect.  
       “Good morning,” Tina shouted to every plastic person she met. Just in case. But she only heard her own voice echo through the fields.
       Although she had left home before sunrise, she had been too late to save the animals. Tina examined a chicken coop: all eggs pearly and inedible, chicken clucking silently, feathers and feces pristine. The world is clean when it’s wrapped in plastic. 
       Tears dripped down Tina’s nose. She hiccupped and rubbed her face on a dishtowel while the wife of the farmhouse bent over a fresh pie, poised to blow on it. A little black dog curled up in the corner of the kitchen drew her attention. Without thinking too hard, she picked the dog up and cradled its hard, plastic body in her arms. She went back to the coop and stole a rooster, left it perched on her shoulder as she whistled her way to becoming a plastic animal thief. 
       The rain smelled like vanilla beans, the droplets impure as they fell upon Tina and her plastic menagerie of animals. Her skin stretched and she whistled harder. She massaged her cheeks to keep them warm and soft. But the animals didn’t last the rainstorm. They shriveled up like raisins so Tina threaded them into her hair. 

Favorite Films of Buster Keaton

Anyone familiar with by blog, and especially my tumblr, knows how much I love the silent film comedian, Buster Keaton. To be honest, it hasn't been a long affair - I discovered him back in October when TCM had the entire month dedicated to Keaton films. But I was hooked immediately. Needless to say, I stayed up as late as I could on Sundays so I could be mesmerized by his skilled acrobatics, hilarious stunts, and expression-filled "stone" face. And that wasn't enough. I bought a box set containing the bulk of his silent films and I've also gotten a few smaller collections that are the numerous short films he did later in life (after MGM screwed him over) that never came close to the golden years of his silent films (though, in my opinion, they're still fun to watch. It's a treat to hear Buster's voice and he is, even without creative license, still as talented as he had always been).

Silent film, in general, has been an exciting new world for me. I discovered it in the fall - my gateway drug, in a sense, had been Mary Pickford. Even though she was a famous actress that did so much for film as we know it today, getting a hold of her movies is extremely hard (and the ones that are available are super expensive). I'm hoping that, like with Buster, having TCM dedicate a month to her will help fix that. So although I'd love to kick back with a bunch of her films, I had to expand my exploration of silent films before finishing with her movies. I tumbled right into Buster at that time, haha. 

The great thing about silent film is that, when you watch one, it feels like you're being told a secret. The characters are delightful, the music funny and sometimes extremely catchy, and, as a viewer, you are engaged with the film at a higher level because you have to watch the character's expressions and fill in the gaps. It's not that hard, really. A good silent film is easy to follow. 

Buster Keaton is fantastic in those regards. Sure, he's funny, but humor has never been enough for me to engage in a particular actor or actress. He's an artist; his films are surreal and risky and Buster knows how to grab a viewer's attention. Of course, it helps that he's been performing acrobatics and athletic feats since he was a baby (no joke) and that it's a marvel to watch him fall gracefully and dive under moving cars and dodge trains.... yep. The characters he plays are consistently sympathetic, charming, and melancholy. If you're a fan of Ziggy comics, you'll connect with him immediately, haha. 

I could probably go on and on about him until I'm blue in the face, but I thought that it'd be better to show, rather than tell, my favorite Buster films. I've chosen gifs from my top favorites in two categories - feature-length films (45 minute - 70 minute movies) and short films (only about 20 minutes). The gifs respectfully come from tumblr, haha. 

Most of Buster's films can be found online, so I've linked the titles up to youtube. If you like one, please click away! This post is inspired by my friend, Namie who recently posted about her favorite studio Ghibli Films. 

Feature-length Films

1. Sherlock Jr.

2. Seven Chances

3. The Cameraman 
(The only one not available in full - so I just linked a clip of Buster getting a kiss, haha)

Short Films

1. The Playhouse

2. The Scarecrow 

Fruit Salad: A Summertime Delicacy

One of my goals for this summer is to eat healthy.

It's so easy to eat quickly and badly during the school year - especially when you're stressed.  There's a huge paper bag of Smarties in my office, left over from when we gave them out to our students. There was so many left... and I managed to eat my way to the bottom within about two weeks. Mind you, it was during a time where final projects were colliding, grading grew to the size of a mountain, and last-minute events to go to filled up every space in my planner. So eating made sense. I was too hungry to leave the Smarties alone, haha.

Now that I'm home, there's more time to be slow and methodical in preparing food. I'm not a cook by any stretch of the imagination - if you watched me try to make something that did not involve a microwave, you'd probably laugh yourself to tears.

However, I do want to enjoy the few months I have of healthy eating before my last year of graduate school begins. So I started off with something simple: fruit salad.

If you've been reading this blog from the very beginning, you might remember an old post I made about apples. In it, I created a story about a wandering apple and also confessed, after periodic grocery shopping, that I've been in search of Pink Lady apples.

Well, I guess they're in season now. I found them. 

All this time, I thought I'd have to pick the apples out from a display, but it turns out that they've been neatly packaged! The bag describes the taste as "zippy and tart." Woah. So I've now learned what zippy tastes like.

So, these aren't Snow White apples, but they certainly look like they've come out a storybook. It must get its name from the pink blush of the skin - the little speckles on the sides also remind me of strawberries. The taste, since we're on the subject, is really amazing. Some regular apples like Golden Delicious have a kind of dull taste to them - but Pink Ladies are very sweet, tart, and packs a punch of flavor. It's like I've never eaten an apple before this one, haha.

With the apples found, I decided to start on the fruit salad.

Chopping up ingredients for the salad: strawberries, bananas, watermelon, and assorted nuts like peanuts and almonds to toss on top.

But of course, I didn't forget about the apple. For a regular bowl of fruit salad, I discovered that one apple is quite enough. I discovered this by chopping up and tossing in two apples, haha. 

Me and my apple-chopping moves. Actually,  I was really clumsy. It took me forever to chop the first apple in half. I need more practice. And, of course, where would I be without a Disney shirt? Nowhere, that's what.

And then, when you toss 'em all together, it creates a very lovely fruit salad. The thing is, I got so hungry while making this that I ate it very fast. So I feel like, when I make more in the future, I need to do it on a full stomach. All that chopping and cutting was very relaxing though, and I enjoyed just concentrating on preparing the salad. My mind is always running and, even in my spare dozing time, I'm always thinking about writing. So to focus on something else for a bit was nice. 

Done! Believe me, the other fruits are in there. Just on the bottom, haha. All attempts to mix it had been thwarted by pieces of apple flying all over the place.

So ta-da! It's not the recipe post I imagined, but I think it does the job (considering how I eat out of a microwave and yet watch Food Network constantly). What are your plans for summer? What kinds of food will you make to beat the heat?