Did You Ever Think Life Was Gonna Be This Way?

This summer has been deeply satisfying in a number of ways, not the least of which is that several of my favorite series published their concluding tales. Below are two of my very favorites: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness and The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman.   Deborah Harkness made that two year wait worthwhile with her masterful ending to the All Souls trilogy. Diana and Matthew have returned from their trip through time and the problems surrounding them are more pressing than ever. Oh, and Diana is pregnant with twins of course, as all readers of the trilogy already knew! As they race to uncover the secrets held by the Book of Life, Diana, Matthew and their growing list of friends and family find themselves forced to confront the darkest secrets of Matthew's past.  This book is suspenseful and beautifully crafted. If you were expecting Harkness to end her tale by allowing gory violence and death to take center stage, prepare to be disappointed. What re...

We just returned from five days in California. Stayed with family, went to Venice Beach, hit Hollywood and Olveras Street (had to get our cultural immersion, right?), hung out at the pool, and - for the grand finale - made our way through that childhood Mecca, Disneyland. It was the first trip to Disney for the kids and my husband, and I loved being able to see it for the first time again, through their eyes. I got to go on my favorite ride of all time: the "It's a Small World" boat ride (I know, I know...I'm a hopeless optimist and romantic at heart - don't tell anyone!), which has just very recently reopened after renovation and looks absolutely gorgeous. Plus there was a deep satisfaction in being able to help my kids cross something off their bucket list. The whole trip, generally speaking, was a blast. In addition to ticking off the boxes above, I indulged in far too many margaritas (oops), got a good old-fashioned bit of sunburn on my nose (this w...

It took me a little longer than usual, but I've finally finished Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie's Americanah . A bit of a feast, really: This is a big book. A book of lives lived and those left to wither, a book about love and superficial - or maybe not - romance, a book that left me full of more questions than answers, a book about race in America and life in Nigeria, a book that made me feel nice and full. It took me four days to read it, which is forever for me, but I didn't mind, because there's plenty to think about and the writing is good. It's long, but it's tight - the story doesn't meander and it doesn't fade. Once I let go of my idea that the book was about the immigrant experience in America and life in the post-9/11 West, which it's not although the back cover marketed it as such (bastards) - Adichie made efficient use of my time. Since I'm neither black nor an immigrant, I can't really say for certain whether she truly "g...

I was skimming through my FB feed and found this "article" that recommended 101 books to read besides "50 Shades of Grey." First of all, I applaud any effort to redirect people from that particular book. It is, without a doubt, one of the worst books of all time . (It is right up there with the Twilight series and now that I'm considering it, it in fact may have surpassed Twilight  in its utter dreadfulness. At least Twilight  had a plot, however lame.) I mean, just no. If you want some readable erotica, there's this woman named Anais Nin you may have heard of (and if you haven't heard of her, well, there's your summer reading list for hot, sleepless nights - get through that and you can move on to Henry Miller - ooh, la la)...or at the very least, you can read Catherine Millet's somewhat shocking memoir . Anyway. I digress. (Get used to that, because it happens sorta often. I also overuse parentheticals. Don't judge me.) The article, ins...

I'm getting my groove back. I can feel it. I stay awake all day (well, most days). I've been organizing up a storm. I'm enjoying cooking and baking again. The hideous acne/rash I had as a result of one of my chemo drugs is almost gone - I've actually left the house without cover-up on and not scared people. Yay for summer! Yay for recovery! Let's drink to that! June 2013, at the mountain house. God, I miss my hair. But wait. I don't have the energy I want. And I get terrible edema if I have drinks. One or two glasses of wine seems to be okay, sorta. But if I decide to have a vodka and soda, or if I have, over the course of an evening, more than two drinks, then I wake up the next morning having gained - and this is not a lie - at least 4-6 pounds. It's water weight. So then I start taking my edema drugs, which make me pee every 45 minutes all day long, for about three days. Then I am back to my regular weight, and then, sooner or later, the edema ...

It's official - we're headed to Disneyland in August! Anyone have any tips for cheap tickets? We are lucky enough to be staying with relatives but wow. Disneyland ain't for the empty-pocketed among us. I don't suppose those $100 a day tickets include free souvenirs, do they? They should give you a set of ears with your name on the second you walk in the gates at those prices. Sheesh.   We're also going to head to the beach for a day while we're on the West Coast; I'm so excited to show the kids the Pacific Ocean! They have been to the Gulf several times but there's something special about the Pacific...so majestic, and the waves are startling and enormous and blue. I love the mountains but sometimes I wouldn't mind having a little bit of ocean nearby. Speaking of California, I just read a book set there. Appropriately, it's called California .  Huh. Now that I look closely at the cover, it's pretty freaky .  Here's the t...

I turned around this morning and suddenly August - filled with fun trips and family visits and - holy schmoly, SCHOOL STARTING! - is staring me in the face! How can this be? I seem to remember long, gloriously boring summers full of sprinklers and swing sets and, now that I consider it, probably being locked out of doors from morning til night. I did, in fact, eat dog kibble one time. But it wasn't because I was going hungry - I was just in that "Why the hell not? Let's give it a whirl!" sort of summer attitude. (And it wasn't too bad, if you want to know the truth.) But around here, it's all insane. My seven year old turned to me last week and said, "You know, I think I'm ready for school to start." I thought it was just the heat, but no, she keeps saying it. (My son, meanwhile, is keeping quiet - likely because he doesn't like to be up and at 'em when it's school days. He saves his early rising for the weekends. Such a sweetheart. ...