Honeybee

Naomi Shihab Nye is the author of my favorite YA novel, "Habibi".  The novel read like poetry in many places, so I was excited to see this book of poems.  One of my favorite poems in "Honeybee" is one that I came upon several months ago on a poetry blog.

Consolation

This morning the newspaper

was too terrible to deliver

so the newsboy just pitched out

a little sheaf

of Kleenex.

Another one that I really love is:

Don't Say

God said.

You made it up

then put it in God's pocket.

God may have thrown it out already.

Much of Nye's poetry is centered on peace.  She has little use for the Bush administration, as evidenced in this poem:

Culture of Life

George W. Bush believes

in a "culture of life."

This is very interesting to those

who have recently died

because of his decisions.

They discuss it regularly.

What could they have done

  differently?

to be alive?

If only they had been born

  in another country

or lived in a different neighborhood,

the culture might have included them too.

Actually they liked life a lot.

They can't stop thinking about 

their teacups and blankets.

The scent of sheep wool

in a warm room.

Click of almond shells

in a bowl.

That simple coming-home feeling

when someone happy to see you 

greets you.

Never could they have imagined

being dead and thinking about teacups.

There are also poems of little things in life that having nothing to do with war or politics.  This one made me smile.

While You Were Out

A crow

with a yellow Post-it note

stuck to its beak

paused on the feeder

beyond the window

looked around twice

nodded its head

then flew away.

Big Day

at the office.

Like most poetry, this book was very nice to sit and read for a few quiet minutes every day, and not all at once.

Also, I feel like I should disclose that I was not a huge fan of the poems about Honeybees.  

Kissing Tennessee by Kathi Appelt

 I love this book!  It's a series of short stories all about one dance at a middle school in East Texas.  I felt like it perfectly captured the essence of self-involvement that we all have at that age.  Every person is the main character in their own story and the whole world is watching them.  Anybody remember that feeling?  It's beautifully written and appropriate for 7th and 8th graders on up.

(Oh, and I believe that's a dress on the cover...NOT a tunic, Joan!  Although there are also pants.  This could be a whole new thing for us, ladies!)

Melting Stones

This book begins what I hope is another Quartet for Pierce.  I love that Pierce sticks with characters for so long, and that they make appearances in some of her other books as well.  This particular book is about Evvy, a young stone mage who has been asked to accompany two adult plant and water mages to an island to discover why everything is dying.  

Evvy was rescued from the streets and also has memories of war which make trusting those around her particularly difficult and lead to a number of problems throughout this story.  She does begin to thaw a little, but not so much that we are left with a tidy happily-ever-after ending.

It's been so long since last Evvy was in a book that I wished I had reread "Street Magic" before picking this one up.  There were holes in my memory of her story.  Still, it was enjoyable and I look forward to the rest of the quartet.

(AND it shows a girl wearing a dress on the cover.  I just mention it...)

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Cute and funny in a way that only Neil Gaiman can make fraud, murder, and voodoo cute and funny.

Charles Nancy learns his father has died and then he learns that his father was Anansi the Spider. Hilarity ensues. I should say chaos, then hilarity interspersed throughout...but sort of an understated, sarcastic hilarity.

The Measure of a Lady

This book was enjoyable, but predictable. A good light read. I enjoyed the description of early San Francisco and how fast it grew.
The most significant thing about this book is that it fits into our favorite genre, books with covers featuring pictures of women in dresses from the waist down. Maybe some day I'll figure out how to put a picture in the post, and you'll see for yourself.

Julia's Chocolates

This was our selection for August, but we weren't able to get together until September to discuss it.  We all enjoyed it quite a bit, which is interesting considering that we all found something to complain about.  Several of us were a little annoyed that while chocolate is heavily referred to in the story, Lamb doesn't go into the process of Julia's creations at all.  The characters are so wonderful that we all laughed out loud at all sorts of wonderful things.  I think we all walked away with a few new favorite quotes as well.  (Some of them better for polite company than others.)  

When we gathered to discuss the book, we had a chocolate fountain as our treat.  We all gathered around the table, full of various yummies to dip in chocolate (including bacon...but, never again), and talked and talked and talked until midnight.  I don't know if it was the chocolate or the feeling of female comraderie that the book inspired or just the fact that our book group has some of the coolest broads I know, but it was wonderful to be together to laugh and share and laugh and eat.

Head to the library and pick up a copy of the book.  But be sure to also pick up some chocolate before you head home to read it.

Vive la chocolat! 

Rapunzel's Revenge

The story of Rapunzel as told by Shannon Hale and her husband Dean Hale in graphic novel form and set in a wild west type setting.  I picked this up from the library and when I looked for it later that afternoon discovered that my children had taken off with it.  All three of them had to read it before it was permitted to come back my way.  That tells you something, I suppose.  All four of us enjoyed it quite a bit on our various levels.  As a parent, I appreciated that it was a graphic novel without scantily clad, overly buxom women.  As a person, I liked how spunky the character of Rapunzel was and how she interacted with her sidekick, Jack.  (Yes, he happened to carry around a magic bean with him.)  A short and delightful read.