The Egg and I

Monday, October 12, 2009

Today I decided to tackle my to-read stack. At the beginning of this year I thought that this project would be a great opportunity to get through my to-read stacks, which contain over 200 books. Ha Ha Ha - I was so naive. I completely forgot to factor in my undying love of the library, and so about 75% of the books I have read this year came from the library. But today, I tripped over my to-read stacks about five times, and decided that it's time to start reading more books from there and fewer from the library. I won't say that I'm reading nothing but books from the to-read stacks, because I don't want the people at the library to think I have died.

Today's book, "When Betty MacDonald married and moved to a small farm on the Olympic Peninsula in the State of Washington, she was largely unprepared for the rigors of life in the wild. No running water, no electricity, a house in need of constant repair, and days that ran from four in the morning to nine at night, with barely a moment to put one's feet up. And this was before the children arrived. But the MacDonalds managed to keep their sense of humor, and this account of their adventures with the house and with neighbors is an endearing frontier classic."

Shallow thoughts:

  • I originally bought today's book because it's the book that the Ma and Pa Kettle movies were based on (movies that I'm almost ashamed to admit that I love.) I'm so excited that I actually remember buying this book - something that normally doesn't happen. And I'm not going to let the fact that I only bought the book a month ago take anything away from my victory. Fun fact about Ma and Pa Kettle: Marjorie Main, who plays Ma Kettle, grew up (partially anyway) in the same town I grew up in.

  • I really liked today's book, but Alissa (who is feeling ever so slightly sad that no one found her guest comment from yesterday brilliant) attempted to read the first few pages and quickly got bored (although she did enjoy my favorite sentence of the book, see below.) Do what you will with that information dear readers - I trust you.

  • Thanks to today's book I have found a new favorite expression, "Deargrandmother." - I am going to have to visit my Grandmother soon so I can start calling her that. And I'm contemplating sticking "dear" on the front of everything that I say from now on, Dear Mother, how are you feeling today? Dear mailman, thank you for the mail. Dear gas station attendant, thank you for responding to my request so promptly. . . What do you think dear readers? Too much?

  • Favorite sentence, "Mother had been reared to believe that if you were unfortunate enough to be born with a pale green face, you, if you were a lady, would not for a moment entertain the thought of rouge, but would accept your color as your cross and do nice things for poor people." - Well thank goodness I don't have a green complexion, now I don't have to bother doing things for poor people. Whew!