January 28, 2013

• Books & Things

  I am not a fast reader, but I zipped through “This is How You Lose Her,” by Junot Diaz in less than a day. I even read it old school, off actual pages. With my reading glasses. (Because when I read on my iPad, I crank that font up so big that normal sighted aliens can probably see it from outer space. And Iranian space monkeys, too, I guess. If they can read.)

  But I digress.

  What I wanted to tell you, especially those of you who have read it, is that a great deal of the story takes place in a part of New Jersey with which I am quite familiar. Familiar in the sense that it is not far from where I grew up, geographically speaking. I even knew some of the roads, malls, and landfills referenced in the story. (How Jersey is that list of things?) In fact, the main character Yunior, and as a matter of fact, the author himself, went to the same high school as my cousins. I did not know any of this until I read the book. I had read “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” which also features Yunior, but that story took place in other parts of NJ, further from my old stomping grounds.

  So while I was familiar with the geography of Yunior’s/Diaz’s childhood….I was certainly not familiar with his experiences. I was living a pretty squeaky clean suburban cul-de-sac life, as opposed to the tough working class immigrant life detailed in the book. Of course, most of the book details his escapades with the ladies. I did actually (very briefly) date a (squeaky clean) Dominican boy in college…..but yeah, that was not at all wondrous and isn’t likely to be recounted in a book of any kind.

  Anyway, I got a kick out of the parts where he mocked the “white kids from Old Bridge,” because those were my cousins. Or slightly older versions of my cousins. Eh, humor me – I found it funny.

  So now I am onto “Flight Behavior,” by Barbara Kingsolver. I have loved most of her books over the years, so I have high hopes. It is also a real book with pages, and holy crow the type is small. Thank goodness for the spare reading glasses my mom gave me to leave downstairs, because I never seem to have mine in the right place at the right time. Who cares if the kids laugh at me every time they see me wearing them? They’re finally off to school again tomorrow, anyway.

  They just finished up their second consecutive 3 day weekend. Well, except that last 3 day weekend was really a 4 day weekend because of the snow. Don’t worry, though, they’ll only have to get through one full week of school (next week) before they get another 3 day weekend. Whew! We don’t want them to overdo it!

  The Mr. had to leave town today to tend to some family business, and will be gone most of the week. This weekend, he spent his free time cooking for us. Belgian waffle batter was made on Friday night and cooked into tastiness for Saturday morning breakfast. Saturday afternoon, he baked a tray of football shaped rolls from scratch. Saturday evening, he made us 2 varieties of crepes (mushroom/shallot and broccoli/ham/cheese) before heading out to see a movie with some friends. Now he is gone, and we still have a stack of crepes in the fridge just waiting for someone to fill and eat them. The kids had some for dessert, slathered with some pudding/whipped cream/Oreo concoction. I showed tremendous restraint and only ate the filling.

  We eat well when the Mr. is in charge. But, sadly, mom is in charge the rest of the week, and there are lots of activities to keep us on the go. Leftovers tonight, pizza tomorrow. The bar has been officially lowered.

   

   

   

  • 10:43 pm
  • 9 Comments