Nutgraf

This one I can sum up in four words: Couldn’t put it down. Water for Elephants is the incredible story of near-veterinarian Jacob Jankowski and the flea-bitten circus he found himself with.

I thought this book was fantastic. Imaginative, beautifully written, gripping, at once outrageous and realistic. Life in the circus is squalid, stunning and romantic. It can also be brutal and dramatic. And Gruen makes it hard to look away as events unfold.

I burned through it in two days which is record time for me in recent years, since I usually read books in small sips between other engagements. But I raced through Water for Elephants, and will totally buy Sara Gruen’s next book in hardback – high praise in my library.

• Here’s an excerpt, provided by the publisher.
• Author Sara Gruen’s Web site
• BookGraf on Facebook: Good books? Great company? No effort? What’s not to like?

Introducing Veronica Rose [Spouse's last name].

• Born March 1, 2010
• 6 lbs, 13 oz
• The nurses gave her a gold star for her incredible head of hair (not pictured).

Am hoping not to make a habit of blogging about the minutiae of new parenthood. There are lots of people who do this really well, and it’s not my niche. But… maybe… once in a while…

In the spirit of science, here are some initial observations.

• No matter what you tell your mother in the months before your water breaks (or the 35 years of your prior acquaintance), she will still want to stay in the delivery room for the main event. And you just might not care at that point. This happens to everyone, right?
• The moment of delivery is astonishing on a number of levels. And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
• Epidural. Say it loud. Say it proud. Say it early. Don’t wait and go through hours of suffering if you’re heading for the drip anyway – save your strength.
• Let me repeat: Epidural. As someone who has been in pain before, I have the authority to state that there is nothing noble or interesting about it. Nature does lots of painful undignified things to us that we don’t have any trouble interfering with.
• Somehow this six pound human facsimile is controlling four full-grown adults 24 hours a day. I know this does not make us unique, so I won’t bitch about it further. For at least the next five minutes.
• You *can* make a baby almost entirely out of Skittles.
• Those enormous boobs I ordered when I was 15 arrived today. Shazam.

Nobody knows what they’re talking about. Conversely, everybody knows what they’re talking about.

In the last two days I’ve been told the following by a series of legitimate medical professionals:

• Unwrap the baby for feedings so she’s a little agitated and alert.
• Swaddle the baby for feedings so she’s comfortable and relaxed.
• Keep the baby’s hands and fingers covered so they don’t flail around and disturb her.
• Free up the baby’s hands so she can comfort herself – she’s had them in utero, why take them away now?
• Take the baby’s temperature in the ear or armpit.
• Take the baby’s temperature rectally.
• Start good sleeping habits right away, it’s never too early.
• Spend the first couple of months just doing whatever she wants, you can’t start bad habits yet.
• Never wake a sleeping baby.
• Wake her up for feeding times.

So now that we’ve got that straight. Am I missing anything?

I’ve been struggling with this blog for a while – trying to figure out what I want to do with it and what I want it to do for me. And the more I think about it, the closer I get to the immortal words of Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything.

I don’t want to be a meta blogger, blogging and pontificating about blogging (present post excluded), and I don’t want to use the words “meme,” “leverage” or “blogosphere.” I don’t want to be a social media expert, and I don’t want to concentrate on the medium.

I want to tinker with topics and develop new, short-lived obsessions before being distracted by something shiny and moving on to the next new thing. I want to pick the brains of people who really seem to be getting something right, who have found something they care about, have developed an expertise and who seem to derive great joy from what they do. I want to poke at and pick apart some of the mysteries of daily life. I want to read books and talk to people about it, and I want to learn about things that are just totally awesome. And I just want to be funny and make people laugh. Is that so wrong? And I don’t want to be hemmed in by picking one topic or one community. The world is just too full of cool shit to pigeonhole myself.

And so the struggle will continue. I can only hope that you enjoy the ride as much as I do.

Navel gazing concluded.

Well, that’s several hours I won’t get back.

I’d been really enjoying Phillipa Gregory’s series of books about the women of Henry VIII’s court. Yeah, I’ll admit it. While I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of being associated with the bosom-intensive covers on the train in the morning, downloading the books to my phone were a great solution to this petty and childish concern. They’re almost guilty pleasures, but have a little too much history in them to be totally brain candy. So, the other week when I was browsing the offerings at Daedalus books (a truly superior discount bookstore), I was tickled to find a book that looked kind of similar.

• Henry VIII? Check.
• Bosomy cover? You betcha.
• Promises of intrigue on the back? It’s in there.

Gave it a try, and this one was different. It was preachy and didn’t have the right flow. It was more about a guy (named More, actually) who was sanctimonious and good and smart, but got hisself in a heap of trouble with the petulant, egotistical, hedonistic king that I’ve come to know through Gregory’s work. But trouble just made him more beatific and intent on suffering for his beliefs. This is a guy who wears a hair shirt. And the book kind of him. And the trick is that while it’s not hard to admire someone who is noble, it is more difficult when this person isn’t conflicted at all. But that may be more of a treatise on human nature than anyone cares for.

Also, the book is billed as “The Story of the Daughter of Sir Thomas More,” and it’s kind of not that at all.

So, the upshot: A decent book about a man who was probably quite remarkable. But somehow I wasn’t put out when bad things happened to him. Possibly because he didn’t seem to mind. But I found it wearing.

Did you read it? Are you glad you didn’t? Got something to recommend? Hit me in the comments, or join us over at BookGraf on Facebook.

Enormous orange cucumber

Since the Snowpocalypse, I’ve been fantasizing about hot summer days, citronella-infused evenings, and growing some more mutant produce in my yard. Every year I learn something new – like that neglected cucumbers turn all orange and terrifying, and that these Earth Boxes produce an alarming amount of… produce.

So I’m thinking about what to grow this year. Tomatoes are a given, I’m afraid. I think it’s genetic. My grandmother grew them, my mother grew them, and now I do. I think I’m the worst at it, but I just. Can’t. Stop.

Had way too many peppers of various heats last year, and the cucumbers almost took over the world the year before that. On the menu for 2010, we’ve got various herbs, two kinds of the ubiquitous tomato, some small crunchy cucumbers and… what? I’d like to try something new, and am looking for a good candidate with a long harvest period that we’ll actually utilize.

Free-form advice welcome in the comments below, also feel free to get your vote on.

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Also, not that you asked, but here are a couple of gardening-related sites that I’ve really come to love. Ketzel would be proud. Or appalled.

American Meadows – their wildflower seed mixes are pretty cool, and I just love their attitude. Great prices, product and service.

Seed Savers Exchange – dedicated to saving and sharing rare and heirloom seeds.

Seeds of Change – rock on with your organic selves.

Local Harvest – don’t want to grow your own? Find a farm, a farmers market or a CSA program near where you eat.