Hi, Tara.
Yesterday's in-depth Anne Tyler review really took a lot out of me. I've decided that from here on out, it's going to be nothing but short, to the point, completely unreasoned reviews based entirely on personal preference. Because she's probably the only one reading this and because I adore her, here's my first top five list...
Top Three Books to Tell Tara About that I Keep Forgetting to Tell Her About When We Talk On The Phone Because We Are Too Busy Hating Ourselves And Talking About Making Over Our Lives
1. The Thurber Letters--James Thurber
Tara has probably already read this but when I think of James Thurber, I think of her and a story she told me once about how she brought a book of his to the Aveda Salon in Vancouver and was trying to read it quietly as some young biscuit cut her hair but the chick just kept asking unreasonable and uneducated questions and it really pissed her off. This might be an amalgam of a few stories involving Tara and Aveda but I don't care. Anyway, we just got this lovely new edition in at the biblio, and it is very pretty. Till I figure out how to edit the html on this bad boy you're going to have to make do with long amazon links.
http://www.amazon.com/-Thurber-Letters-Wit/dp/0743223438/sr=8-1/qid=1156888843/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-2344763-5295266?ie=UTF8
2. Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack--M.E. Kerr
During library school, making Tara read YA and kids' books was my most time-consuming hobby (after watching Gilmore Girls and cake baking, of course). She took it in stride and only hated about half the books I forced down her throat. I know she will love Dinky Hocker because it contains in-jokes about librarians, references to McCarthyism and the failure of 1960s radicalism (and it was actually written in the 1970s, so it is, like, TIMELY), articulate young people, and hilarious 70s Brooklyn diction that has not stood the test of time and is therefore endearing. Kind of the book version of The Squid and the Whale in some ways. M.E. Kerr is still a really wicked and relevant writer, but her earlier books are sometimes forgotten. I hope Tara will help me choke a new generation of teens with this one. Literally and spiritually.
http://www.amazon.com/Dinky-Hocker-Shoots-Smack/dp/0064470067/sr=1-1/qid=1156890263/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-2344763-5295266?ie=UTF8&s=books
3. Caddy Ever After--Hilary McKay
I haven't read this one yet but one of the great successes of me trying to make a children's lit afficionado out of Tara was my introducing her to Hilary McKay. Tara fell in love with her because her wonderful series, The Exiles, features numerous very precocious, verbose female heroines. The follow-up series about the children in the Casson family, which began with Saffy's Angel, doesn't have quite the same magic, but the books are still drier than a stiff martini and gloriously sarcastic, given that they're intended for the 12-15 set. They've just rereleased these books with swishy new covers; if you haven't read them before, you should begin at the beginning, as apparently you need the back-story to follow this latest installment.
http://www.amazon.com/Caddy-Ever-After/dp/1416909303/sr=1-1/qid=1156891014/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-2344763-5295266?ie=UTF8&s=books
I also wanted to include all of the Ottawa Public Library's holdings on raw foodism (foodism! it's a word, apparently!) on this list because I have been reading them, against my better judgement, and they remind me of the days when Tara and I would check out the whole vegan section of the Kitsilano Branch of the Vancouver Public Library and sit around our living room reading them while we noshed on chocolate cake and slices of non-organic cheese. Those were the days.
posted by caitlin @ 4:07 PM
7 Comments:
Hey Tara... do you really read books while getting your hair cut?? is it because you are always reading books, or because you don't want to talk to the biscuit??
Nice work Cait... you should add "buying a car" to the list of unsuccessful pursuits. :)
Freya, I will buy a car when I am ready. That time is not today, as I am too busy being an internet star and planning my new fall wardrobe. And man, I totally wish it were fully kosher to read or do something else while you get your hair cut. Avoiding the whole awkward stylist conversation is the main reason I hack away at my own hair with cheap Ikea scissors.
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH READING BOOKS AT THE HAIR SALON! And the answer to both your questions is "Yes", Freya. Sometimes, on the rare occasions when I don't have a book, or can't read because my head is being jerked around by people who don't understand that you can't brush curly hair without placing a firm hand on the top of the head THEN pulling, I just close my eyes. If needs must and I feel bad for the biscuit, I make some excuse for the eye closing such as, "I'm really tired...I was out drinking all night," or "Ooh, that is so relaxing, it's making me sleepy." I've also now learned that when they ask you "What are you doing later today?" that what they are really asking you is, "Is anyone important going to see how badly I fuck up your hair?" So now I always tell them I'm going on a date or going to a party or some shit like that so they feel bad and try to do a good job, though often that just makes them do a half-assed blowdry job and say, "Big hair is in." And BTW, to use the parlance of the medium, I would prefer you to address me as DrunkTara, Great Cait. Honestly. What's a username for? If I want to be known as "Cocaine Hallucination Induced Purple Unicorn" then you should damn well call me that!
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH READING BOOKS AT THE HAIR SALON! And the answer to both your questions is "Yes", Freya. Sometimes, on the rare occasions when I don't have a book, or can't read because my head is being jerked around by people who don't understand that you can't brush curly hair without placing a firm hand on the top of the head THEN pulling, I just close my eyes. If needs must and I feel bad for the biscuit, I make some excuse for the eye closing such as, "I'm really tired...I was out drinking all night," or "Ooh, that is so relaxing, it's making me sleepy." I've also now learned that when they ask you "What are you doing later today?" that what they are really asking you is, "Is anyone important going to see how badly I fuck up your hair?" So now I always tell them I'm going on a date or going to a party or some shit like that so they feel bad and try to do a good job, though often that just makes them do a half-assed blowdry job and say, "Big hair is in." And BTW, to use the parlance of the medium, I would prefer you to address me as DrunkTara, Great Cait. Honestly. What's a username for? If I want to be known as "Cocaine Hallucination Induced Purple Unicorn" then you should damn well call me that!
dear drunktara,
I don't know how to delete the second posting. your interweb illiteracy will rival my own. To clarify--I CONDONE reading at the salon. I condone anything that keeps me from making social contact with people, as you know. If anyone needs me, I'll be at home training my cat to get the mail for me so I don't have to leave the apartment.
PS I am NOT a character in your blog.
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