YouTube videos

Have you seen these videos on YouTube? I think they're fun.

• The communications students at University of Quebec at Montreal lip syncing to the Black Eyed Peas (and the making of)
• The songs done by the California couple/band Pomplamoose (and this cover of Book of Love by the girl, Nataly Dawn)
• The Vlogbrothers' Gift of Gary Busey video

Peace out.

Books I've Been Reading

Here are some more YA books I've read and enjoyed lately:

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (the authors of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist)

Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan

Will Grayson, Will Grayson (due out in April 2010--an advanced reader copy) by John Green and David Levithan

Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson

Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle

The Mysterious Benedict Society (the first in a series) by Trenton Lee Stewart

How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier

Some of them, such as Love is the Higher Power, deal with difficult topics (in this case September 11). All of them, though, particularly Love is the Higher Power, focus on the uplifting.

Speaking of which, I loved this post by Meg Cabot, the author of The Princess Diaries series. She writes in favor of the good-old escapist read.

Another Look at YA

I heart essays and books of essays. Lately I've been into these two books, full of essays by adults about the books they read as kids and teenagers.

• Everything I Need to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume edited by Jennifer O'Connell--This fun anthology is filled with essays by grown women writers about the Judy Blume books that shaped them growing up. Contributors include Meg Cabot and Stephanie Lessing. Most of the essays are that mix of comic and tragic that pretty much adolescent experience seems to embody. Even though I've read relatively few Judy Blume novels, this book still had me rapt, and I felt like I had read Judy Blume's full body of work by the end. This anthology is an excellent illustration of the power of books to reach out across divides and give lonely, confused, or curious readers something to run with.

• Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stop Reading by Lizzie Skurnick--This got its start as a column on Jezebel.com. The book is filled with book reports on a range young adult novels--some I'd heard of (Judy Blume, of course, is included) and some I hadn't. I haven't read much of it, but I have skimmed the whole thing, and it looks great. I love thinking about why the books we love matter so much.

Both of these books steer far away from a dry, academic tone. I know that literary analysis, even that with a light, conversational tone, isn't for everyone. To me, though, nothing makes YA novels better than a little analysis. And this is just the way to do it--to make it fun.

A Love Letter to The Enchanted April

Dear Enchanted April,

I think the stars aligned for us to meet. First, I saw a flier for your play version, and the description sounded so lovely that your title remained on the surface of my mind. I never saw the play, but when I was in a bookstore that month, walking by the clearance wall, what book should be prominently displayed, half-off, but you? It didn't matter to me that you were filled with typos because the sale edition was published by one of those online companies that scans in out-of-copyright books and spits them out without proofreading. It only mattered that I found you.

You embody everything that is good about literature. You are filled with gut-busting comedy. Your main character, Lotty, is my existential hero. You make such prudent observations about people. Your character's lives are all transformed for the better.

I am so thankful that Elizabeth von Arnim wrote you, and that Mike Newell directed a film version of you in the '90s that finally came out on DVD this year. But truth be told, it's the book version of you that I like the best. The actors are great in the movie, but they just don't sound as wonderful as they do in my imagination, when I read your words.

Thank you so much for taking me to the coast of Italy for a month in the 1920s, just by reading your pages. You make me believe in change.

Love,
SewBissy

So Very Cheesy

It's time for some cheese. So far I've only acknowledged the stuff out there that avoids, for the most part, being corny. (The Singles Ward not included.) So I'd like to take a break now and acknowledge those works out there that are perhaps not high quality, but oh-so-good anyway.

• Center Stage--This movie about young dancers in a prestigious New York ballet company can be a little nauseating at times (namely the salsa dancing scene--"Your sweat is sweet!"), but the dancing is good. It's worth it for that alone. (Especially the jazz class scene and the year-end performance.) This movie came out when I was taking dance, and our teacher, after hearing many students rave about the movie, finally had to say, "Girls, I understand that the dancing is great, but that love story was awful." I guess that's just what happens when you get amazing dancers to try and act, too. Oh, and it has a soundtrack with Mandy Moore. I somehow have a weakness for Mandy Moore music. She just makes life sound fun. (While looking up the link on IMDb, I realized that a sequel, Center Stage: Turn It Up came out in 2008.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Father of the Bride (and Father of the Bride: Part II)--This is almost too good to be included on this list. I mean come on, it's Steve Martin and Diane Keaton. Still, since I have a hazy sense of embarrassment around expressing just how much I like this, I think it's eligible. This is one of those times when the sequel is as good as, if not better than, the original (although the original original, of course, is the one with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor).
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Sleepless in Seattle--There's just something so comforting about Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in innocuous romantic comedies, and when they're in them together--even better. I'm looking at you, too, You've Got Mail.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• High School Musical 3: Senior Year--Why are you so good, High School Musical 3? Is it your song? Your dance? Your smiley Zac Efron? (I am forever endeared to the kid after my first exposure to him, playing an autistic boy in the TV movie Miracle Run.) I don't even enjoy the first two movies that much. This last one is just so...infectious in the best way. It makes me wish I'd gone to a singing, dancing high school.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Meg Cabot in general--This is the author of The Princess Diaries and many, many more novels for both young adults and adults. I've only read the Queen of Babble series, but I've seen the Princess movies (with Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews), and all these combine to make me a big Meg Cabot fan in general. The fact that I've included her on the list gives me pause, though--doesn't she deserve some real recognition? Chick lit gets a bad reputation, but unjustly so. Just because a book is written for a female audience, that automatically makes is seem shallow? Of course not! Here's a blog post by YA author Maureen Johnson that elaborates on this point.

This is actually just the beginning--I'm just too embarrassed to list more. I'll work up the nerve someday, though.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

I just finished this book by E. Lockhart. So good! I'd heard very good things about The Disreputable History before I read it (like this NPR recommendation by the author of Book Lust, Nancy Pearl), so I had very high expectations. When I got to the last third of the book, I started to really get what all the good reviews were talking about.

How do I even describe it? Let's start with the facts. Main character (you guessed it): Frankie Landau-Banks, a girl at an elite boarding school in northern Massachusetts. When she becomes aware of the presence of an active secret society on campus, she's first intrigued and then indignant. It's an all-male affair, one that has no room for her. That is, until she hatches a brilliant scheme.

And the brilliant scheme? That really hits its stride in the second half/last third of the book.

What I really loved about this book was its girl-power message. E. Lockhart did a wonderful job of describing what it's like to grow up girl. Wanting respect and caring/loving relationships at the same time. Feeling like you have so much to say but no one to hear you. Wanting to be seen and be a part of a world that excludes you.

This was no helpless heroine, and it also wasn't a caricature of a feminist, either. It seemed like a portrait of a real girl, one with a healthy sense of self, one caught between who the world was telling her to be and who she wanted to be.

And you know, reading this was an eye-opener. It made me realize how rare it is for a fiction book to openly discuss a girl/woman's place in society. The only examples I can think of off the top of my head are Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska by John Green. In those, it never really gets thoroughly worked out, though, because narrators are boys. Don't get me wrong--these are great books, because the narrators are acknowledging that there are three-dimensional females in their lives, but you don't get inside the heads of the females actually having these thoughts.

So here's what I'm really trying to say: As someone who's been that girl struggling to feel like she's more than society says she is, I like this book. As someone who's been that girl unable to understand why, when she does speak up, she's either viewed as a cute, harmless, nearly invisible ladybug or as a trampling, destructive, hostile elephant, never just a person something important to say, I like this book. As someone who wants girls these days to know that they're not crazy for wanting to feel empowered, I like this book.

So The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks? Highly recommended.

P.S. New Moon Girls magazine is, in my opinion, the best place for young women to find support in growing up girl. It's aimed at a slightly younger audience than this book, though.

Sewing

This post will pretty much be interesting only to people who like to sew or would like to get into it. But this post qualifies as uplifting--well, because sewing makes me happy (which you may have guessed if you noticed my username).

Yes, it really, really does. A lot of people who don't sew consider it old-fashioned or the like. But you know what? If I were to look at the choices I've made in my life and pinpoint the one that made me feel most empowered, choosing to learn more about sewing would be really high up there.

Think about it. How much of your life do you spend merely choosing from a variety of pre-fabricated objects available to you? Houses, foods, furniture, cars, even office supplies, and clothes. In all these instances--except clothes and food--I am limited to the ones that already exist. I don't know how to build houses, furniture, or cars, and the paper I've made in my life would hardly suit my everyday needs. So when I pick vegetables from my garden, and when I make my own clothes, I relish the opportunity to choose exactly what suits me.

So much of the fashion industry is based on image and "standard" body types. Which aren't even standard. If you've got a long waist, a belly that expands when you eat, or long arms, finding clothes gets a little trickier. And that's not even talking about taste. What if the prints, colors, and cuts just aren't your style?

Well, if you're me, you take out some fabric, take your measurements, and begin sewing away.

All that is meant as introduction to the below. Here are my favorite blogs and books about sewing.

Blogs

• Posy Gets Cozy--This is the lovely blog of Alicia Paulson. She's written one book, called Stitched in Time, about memory crafts, and I believe she has a new one coming out soon about embroidery. I just love her voice on the blog. Gentle and introspective.
  
  
• Angry Chicken--Amy Karol's blog is a very fun place to visit. She used to be a painter, then got into quilting when her first child was born, as a way to express herself without exposing her daughter to toxic fumes. On the site, she talks about clothes she's made for herself and her daughters, craft projects, and anything she's come across and liked. Amy's also the author of two books on sewing, Bend-the-Rules Sewing and Bend the Rules with Fabric.
  
  
• Dress a Day--This blog by the lexicographer (writer of dictionaries) Erin McKeen is always a delight to visit. She blogs about vintage dresses and vintage patterns, and she often puts a fun twist on her posts by imagining scenarios for the illustrated women on pattern envelopes. Very amusing.

Books

• Generation T by Megan Nicolay--This is the book that reintroduced me to sewing. I've always sewn. I can't remember not knowing how to sew. But it was always so commonplace in my family that I never thought to be passionate about it. Often, I'd feel bogged down by the rules and just never get started with projects because of them. This book changed that. It's all about cutting up t-shirts making completely different fashions from them. I was just in the bookstore this weekend as saw that she has a new book on t-shirt revamping out: Generation T: Beyond Fashion.
  
  
• 99 Ways to Cut, Sew, Trim, and Tie Your T-Shirt into Something Special by Faith Blakeney, Justina Blakeney, Anka Livakovic, and Ellen Schultz--Ditto to the above. I bought this at the same time as Generation T when they came out a few years ago.
  
  
• Sew U: The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe by Wendy Mullin--This book was the perfect next step for me, after I'd had my fun refashioning t-shirts, I wanted a litte more challenge, but I wasn't ready to go back to making ill-fitting clothes from commercial patterns. The book includes three patterns (for a shirt, pants, and A-line skirt) that fit beautifully. The book really excels in showing you how to customize patterns for yourself. Sew U is also the book that taught me how to (painlessly) make a zip fly. There's a sequel of sorts, which is also excellent: Sew U Home Stretch: The Built by Wendy Guide to Sewing Knit Fabrics
  
  
• Sew What! Skirts: 16 Simple Styles You Can Make with Fabulous Fabrics by Francesca DenHartog--I love how this book shows you how to make your own skirt patterns from your measurements. It walks you through A-line, straight, circle, and peasant skirts (and maybe more; I can't remember). Very, very helpful.

That's not even the beginning. There are still more sewing books that I hold dear, and I haven't even mentioned the sewing websites (not blogs, websites) that have helped me along on my sewing self-teaching. They'll just have to wait for another day.

Happy sewing.

Oh, Canada

I'm not Canadian, but sometimes I wish I were. Several visits there have confirmed that it is a truly great country. It's been a long time since I've gotten to stay there for any extended period, so I get my Canadian fix these days with books and DVDs. Here are some of my favorites.

• Anne of Green Gables--The book series by L.M. Montgomery and the movie versions with Megan Follows. My deep, abiding love for L.M. Montgomery as a girl inspired not one but two trips to Prince Edward Island, where the author is from and where the books take place. The sands are red there and the landscape just as enchanting as the books describe.
  
  
  
  
  
• Road to Avonlea--A TV series from the '90s based loosely on L.M. Montgomery writing. This aired in the US on the Disney channel for awhile. Admittedly, the Disney involvement did alter the show, making it a bit, well, Disney-fied. Still, this is a great series for kids, if you edit out the couple violent-action-movie-type episodes. The show has beautiful natural scenery--it takes place on Prince Edward Island, too, though some of it was filmed in Ontario. As far as the cast, it includes the inimitable Jackie Burroughs, Mag Ruffman, and Sarah Polley as regulars. Also, there are a number of cameos, including ones by Christopher Reeve and Stockard Channing.
  
  
  
  
  
• Slings and Arrows--This is another TV series, but it began in 2003, and it's definitely not children's entertainmnet. It lasted three seasons, and apparently it aired on some American station like Bravo, but I didn't find out about it until all three seasons were on DVD and my father received them as a gift. This is a great series! It's all about a Shakespearean theater company in the fictional town New Burbage, and it's very smart. Each season follows them as they put on a different Shakespearean play--Hamlet, Macbeth, and then King Lear. The drama of a drama company is at once hilarious and fascinating. Oh yeah, did I mention that the main character, played by Paul Gross, is haunted by the late company director? So yes, where there's a ghost there's usually a dark element. But my criterion for something to be uplifting is what it does with potential darkness--it has to turn it around somehow. And this series does that for me, mostly with humor. It has such a great, quirky cast, too, including Rachel McAdams in Season 1 and Sarah Polley in Season 2 (as well as her father Michael Polley throughout the whole series).
  
  
  
  
  
• Corner Gas--This is a half-hour sitcom that takes place in Saskatchewan, mostly at a corner gas station and the attached diner. It stars Brent Butt, who has apparently been described as the Drew Carey of Canada. I like this show much better than I did The Drew Carey Show, though. It's not crude, it's just funny. I've heard that this show is very popular in Canada. If the number of cameos, including the Canadian Prime Minister, are any indication, this must be true. I haven't seen all the seasons yet. I think it just finished its sixth and final season this year.
  
  
  
  
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  Robson Arms--Another half-hour TV show, though not as kid-friendly as Corner Gas is. I admit, I'm not a fan of every episode of this one. Some are just downers, other are a bit crude. But other episodes are great. The reason for the discrepancy between episodes is the format, which is actually clever. The show takes place in an apartment building in Vancouver, and each episode profiles a different resident of the building. So the subject matter is vastly different each time. Sometimes it's the family that runs the small convenience store on the first floor, sometimes it's the gay couple, sometimes it's the young techie guy, sometimes it's the roommates who deal pot. The list goes on. The only constant in each episode is the Super Intendent, Yuri. As for cast, this features two of the same actors from Corner Gas, Gabrielle Miller and Fred Ewanuick, as well as Mark McKinney (from Slings and Arrows) and Megan Follows (from Anne of Green Gables) in Season 1. There's also a cameo by Leslie Nielsen in Season 2. Apparently Dave Foley from NewsRadio appears as the new building owner in Season 3.

So, looking at this list, it becomes apparent how little I've mentioned Canadian books. That's because I haven't read many by Canadian authors--or at least I haven't known they were Canadian. Anne of Green Gables is the only one up there. So, I sense a new mission. To sniff out Canadian literature.

Poems

Here are some good poems.

• "Kindness" by Naomi Shihab Nye
  
  
• "Eagle Poem" by Joy Harjo
  
  
• "Little Summer Poem Touching the Subject of Faith," "The Journey," and "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver
  

Dakota Skye

So I watched this movie yesterday, Dakota Skye. It was kind of fun. Maybe not high art, but definitely unique. The main character, Dakota, is a high schooler who can see lies. She calls it her "super power." No else knows about it, though. She just goes through life fairly miserably with her slightly cocky boyfriend and her nagging but well-meaning friends, seeing through every fib and falsehood. (Mind you, this doesn't make her stop lying.) Then one day someone new shows up in town, and he doesn't lie. Ever. And that's pretty refreshing, but it also means Dakota's got a lot of thinking to do.

I liked the way this film showed you Dakota's insight into lies. Every time someone tells a whopper, subtitles appear onscreen with the truth. There are two great scenes when Dakota's in history class, and for every statement the teacher makes about American history, there's a subtitle with what really happened. That would have been so helpful to have in school.

The concept behind this whole movie was intelligent. It brought to light how much lying is part of our social interactions--from saying that the embarrassing story you just told was only a joke to insisting that you're not angry with someone when you really are. It really made me put on my thinking cap. Well done.

A Watched Pot Boils

It does! It does! You know how people are always bandying about that supposed piece of folk wisdom, "A watched pot never boils?" (Wait, where does the question mark go there? After the quotes? I can't remember. Bear with me, though.) The truth is, a watched pot does boil. I've watched before. It can actually be a very Zen experience, hanging in there with patience as you watch a pot of water transform from still and cool to rolling and steaming.

Okay, so how does this apply to life? Easily! How many times have you been so anxiously waiting for something to happen, and you just can't get your mind off it? Maybe you're a teenager waiting to turn whatever age you have to be to get a driver's license in your state. Or maybe your a working fella or lady, oh-so-excited for the launch of your new business. It's all you can think about, all the time staring at this future you can't have in the present moment. People tell you to distract yourself, think about something else for awhile, and sometimes this is very good advice.

Sometimes, though, it's impossible to follow. I'll tell you what example made me think of this in the first place. I was sick, and it was taking a long time to get better. Lying on the sofa all day, all I could think about was what I should be doing to get better, what I would do when I was better. Then I'd realize that that was all I could think about, and I'd throw myself into a tizzy for not being able to shift my focus. I got worried that I'd never get better if I obsessed about it, but I saw no way to stop obsessing, because ill health brings your attention to it ALL THE TIME.

So you know what? I gave myself permission to watch my pot boil. Whether or not I thought about it all the time, I was going to get better. Eventually, I did. And with much less angst than if I'd kept on worrying about not being able to think about something else while I recuperated.

Peace out, y'all.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

This book is so good! I read this in the spring, and, along with ten million other people am such a big fan. If you don't know the premise, here it is:

World War II has just ended. The protagonist, Juliet, had become somewhat famous during the war for a regular newspaper column, and an anthology of her columns has just been published. She's looking for a new project. By happenstance, she comes into correspondence with the titular Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, becomes fascinated by their experience of the war on their isolated but German-occupied island, and finds her inspiration. The novel, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (aunt and niece), is completely in letters, a form that works very well for the story. It's uplifting while dealing with the very difficult subject matter of war. Definitely an accomplishment.

Enjoy. Peace out.

Through Closed Eyes

Today I was lying down, trying to nap. I've just come back from a whirlwind road trip that involved much visiting of family, many late nights, and hours upon hours of driving. I was wiped. I needed the rest.

But it was bright out. Even with the blinds down, summertime light was pouring in through the gaps in the slats. I couldn't just drop off to sleep with the light still apparent through my closed eyelids. So my mind wandered, too tired to get up and do anything, too awake to doze off in slumber.

This is what I thought: Even when we try to shut out the light, we can't. I mean this in the metaphysical sense. (NB: I'm not trying to be religious or particularly New Age, either. Although if either of those apply to you, I'm not dissing them. By all means, if what I'm saying speaks to you, no matter what you consider yourself, let it speak to you. I'm just explaining in terms of my own life. I don't consider myself religious or New Age. Rather, I'm just a person seeking meaning. And sometimes the words that describe this meaning for me--light, faith, grace--overlap with the terms used by other institutions and communities. Side note over.) So back to the light. The metaphysical kind. In my life, I've tried to shut it out before. I'm not sure exactly why. It hurt to see the truths light made evident, maybe, the cobwebs it exposed.

The point, though, is that I couldn't shut it out. My metaphysical eyelids, if you will, could keep me from seeing, but they couldn't keep me from knowing the light was still there. So I always ended up opening my eyes again, like I did today when I couldn't sleep, and greeting the light and all it had to show me with grudging respect.

(For the purposes of full disclosure, I do realize that there are other methods of blocking the sunlight when you're trying to sleep in the day--sleep masks, a pillow over the eyes, blackout curtains. None of those are equipment we're born with, though. For this metaphor, let's go with that as a criteria both physical and spiritual. Your means for light-blocking must be something you're born with. Is that fair?)

Metaphors

Now, over the past few months, I've been thinking a lot about metaphors. Good, old metaphors that help us get through the days. Do you know the kind I mean? Maybe not--I'm not coming right out and explaining them. So I will.

Here's an example. I looked down at my knee one day and saw a bruise. I had no idea how I'd gotten it. I had to think back. Oh yeah, I finally remembered, I did bang my knee a few days ago. I guess it just takes a while for bruises to form. That phrase--"it takes a while for bruises to form"--starting echoing through my head.

It's something true of life, too, I realized. We get hurt, and it can take a while to sink in. We're in the middle of something else days later, talking to a friend maybe, and suddenly something in the conversation bumps into us where we were hurt. Ouch, we think. Why does it hurt when she tells a joke about someone making a mistake? It hurts because a few days before, maybe someone yelled at you for a mistake you made. And it's taken a little while for the bruise to form. The emotional bruise will fade, though, just as the one on my knee did.

Metaphors like this help me. I have something physical to relate to something unseen. In this case, it's the reminder that that some out-of-nowhere emotional bump isn't anything to get all worried about. I don't have to analyze it, worry about how I'll get over a neurosis, it's just somewhere I've been recently bruised. And it will go away.

An Abundance of Recommendations

It's been--hmm, months--since my last post. Not that anyone is reading this, which is perhaps why I went away. Of course, why would anyone be reading an unadvertised blog after three posts? But I'm posting again, because hey, someday people might read this, right? And then they'd go back and read old posts?

I didn't run out of uplifting material. No, I still read wonderful books and rent Netflix movies that I'd like to recommend. Let's see what I can think of off the top of my head as examples.

Books: Paper Towns, An Abundance of Katherines, and Looking for Alaska by John Green. All these books had dark elements, but they weren't written in a way that glorified the darkness, and that I appreciated. My favorite of the three? I don't have one. The order they're listed in is the order I read them. Paper Towns has a great mystery component that keeps you turning the pages. An Abundance of Katherines is humorous--the main character spends his time coming up with a mathematical formula to explain why he's always been dumped by his girlfriends. Looking for Alaska is sad and vivid in its portrayal of boarding school life (something with which I have experience). John Green is definitely one of my new favorite authors. I heart deep young adult fiction. (I'm on a YA bender, apparently. Honestly, I've never outgrown the joys of young adult fiction. So fresh, so honest.)

Website: Vlog Brothers' You Tube Channel. This I found through John Green's website. He and his brother Hank Green set out to communicate every weekday without the written word for a year, and this is what it became. Video blogs back and forth, and they're hilarious. That year ended a while ago, but they're still at it just for the fun of it. Watching their old videos got me through days of lying on the couch feeling under the weather. I laughed out loud, all by myself in the room. I really don't know how to describe these at all, besides hilarious. Here's some of my favorites: July 18: Accio Deathly Hallows and Peanut Butter Face. This one's just interesting because haven't you always wondered how audiobooks are made?

Movies: The Singles Ward, The Singles 2nd Ward, and God's Army. I don't happen to be Mormon, nor have I ever been, nor do I ever plan to be. However, these three films were made by Mormons about Mormons. And you know what? It's really cool to see into their world. I rented the first one by accident--hazily noticed that the description of Singles Ward mentioned a Mormon character, but figured that was just the one character. And then the whole movie was about Latter-Day Saints doing Latter-Day stuff. It was a good movie, too. In a normal movie, many of the laughs come from people getting drunk and doing stupid stuff when they're drunk. The Mormons don't drink, though, nor do they even consume caffeine. The humor is tame, but good. I will say this: Singles Ward is cheesy. There are sound effects and the un-ironic wearing of a metallic silver shirt. But it's entertaining and all around fascinating to see how a whole world of people with whom I've had very little contact live their lives. So much so that I sought out the next two films knowing full well they were Mormon productions.

So listing examples took up some room. I didn't realize how much I had stored up in my head. Have fun reading or web surfing or watching. The world has good stuff in it. It's our job to find it and make more of it.

Lost in Austen

During this movie, I actually clapped with delight at several parts. Lost in Austen is a British production, originally a short TV series, about a modern-day woman in her twenties who finds herself in Pride and Prejudice. That's right; in a novel's events. For fans of the novel and of the A&E film version of P and P, Lost in Austen provides many inside jokes and twists that will nevertheless entertain newcomers to the story.

Having been a fan of the novel and the A&E adaptation since 9th grade, when we read it in school, I was ready for the licenses that Lost in Austen takes with the plot. Amanda Price, the main character, switches places with Elizabeth Bennett, the protagonist from P and P, and then must deal with the ramifications of her presence in the story. Her comments and actions change events, and it all becomes a fun soup. It was exciting to wonder what would happen and how matters would work out from the jumble, having gotten the original's plot pretty well down by now. Definitely an uplifter.

As a side note, this reminds me of some of the spin-offs that Jane Eyre prompted. First, the novel Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys was written in 1966. In it, we learn a possible back-story of Mr. Rochester's wife in the attic, Bertha. Going back to their meeting in the Caribbean, where she originally lived, the novel paints a much more comprehensive picture of Bertha's state of mind. This is definitely not a happy-go-lucky novel; it is bracing in its honesty, but definitely of interest. The other related novel is completely different. Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair is about a literary detective in an alternate universe. I don't remember much more than that, other than that her literary detective skills somehow get involved with Jane Eyre, but it is definitely entertaining--I remember that much.

Young Adult Books Rock

My foray into the library's young adult section was fruitful. Not only did I discover Jeremy Fink--see last post--but I found two other books I liked.

First off, another book by Wendy Mass. This one is called A Mango-Shaped Space. It's about a girl named Mia who finally discovers that there's a name for her ability to see colors when she sees letters and numbers and hears distinctive sounds. Learning that name, synesthesia, and meeting other synesthetes empowers her to embrace her colors. Of course, it's a rocky road that leads to her own acceptance and the acceptance of friends and classmates, but the book has a definite uplifting note.

The final young adult book that I read recently is Someday This Pain Will be Useful to You by Peter Cameron. The title comes from a quote by Ovid: "Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you." This book is a great example of a specific type of uplifting material, the type where (a) you feel validated in hearing a characters struggles in life, because you've known similar feelings or struggles, and (b) the character makes something of that struggle. Here, the main character James is generally unhappy, not able to pinpoint an exact reason for it at first. He knows that his confusion around his sexual orientation, his parents' divorce, and the falling of the Twin Towers (he lives in New York) two years before the book takes place must all factor into it, but it takes the course of the book to work toward a new understanding of how to function despite these truths. Someday takes place during the summer before he's supposed to go to college, and though he doesn't have a perky personality, James nevertheless delivers a heartfelt story of subtle change.

Both of these books were as good at the beginning as they were at the end. I love a book with good follow-through. I'm looking forward to reading more by both of these authors.

Uplifting-ness

Do you ever just need something to lift your spirits? I do. Actually, it's become a minor mission of mine to sort through the media out there and find the movies, the books, the websites, the essays that uplift and sustain.

Maybe you're ill and stuck inside all day, staring at the wall again as thoughts float past. Meditation is one approach, a very good one. Crafts are another outlet, but they take energy. During my times of illness, though, there has always come the point when I need a distraction, a message of hope. Stimulation of a positive nature.

Maybe you're going through a rough personal relationship. A breakup, a fight, or a time of little communication that leaves you confused. Sometimes you need to turn to a different world or hear of another's experience that turned out okay.

Maybe you're just bored or a little down after an exhausting day. Enter the uplifting material out there. It's harder to find than I would have expected before I started seeking it out specifically. The definition of "uplifting" isn't saccharine--we're not talking about cream puff happiness here, the type that fades as soon as you've experienced it, giving you a sugar crash soon after. It can be silly, downright stupid, intelligent, thoughtful, serious, or outlandish. Just as long as it leaves you feeling good about life.

Taste, of course, varies. When I Googled "uplifting," the first hit was the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary definition: "to improve the spiritual, social, or intellectual condition of." We're all so different in our experiences of life, so let's just lay it out now that we won't always agree about my picks, and that's okay. I just want this to be a fun place to share my latest discoveries, whether oldies unearthed or more recent fare.

Here's where I'll begin: Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, one I finished last night. The last time I was at the library, I wandered over to the young adult section. That's where I found this. I often find these novels more honest and real than some of the adult fiction out there. You're often grabbed right from the beginning, and that was certainly true with this book. Jeremy Fink narrates the tale of his journey with his best friend, Lizzy, to uncover the keys to a box his father left him. Engraved with "The Meaning of Life" and the mandate to open on his thirteenth birthday, the box's arrival in Jeremy and Lizzy's life throws them into wholehearted search for a way to open it. Still processing the death of his father about five years earlier, Jeremy soon finds himself deeply questioning life's meaning as he begins to wonder if he'll ever see the box's contents.

I truly enjoyed this one. It was fun and honest. The friendship between Jeremy and Lizzy is quirky, as is that between Jeremy and his mother. Unexpected events and discoveries keep it fresh until the end.

Thanks for reading. If anyone is reading this, I welcome your suggestions for uplifting material out there!

Hello

This is just to say hello.