My Great Big Miracle

Yep, two personal posts in a row. On Monday I’d fully intended to do a little bit of bookish blogging; that is, until 11:30 in the morning, when my world turned upside down. Fifteen minutes earlier I’d let Thistle out in the backyard, as I’ve done hundreds of times before. But this time, when I opened the door and called her in, she wasn’t there. And she wasn’t in the house. After five or ten minutes of stunned, disbelieving calling and extra-careful searching, my mom and I split up to canvas the area. Neither of us saw her; she might as well have disappeared into thin air. Even worse, I’d been grooming her in preparation for her bath, and she wasn’t wearing her collar and tags (she is microchipped but that’s only readable by a vet or shelter). So I knew that it was very likely someone had found her, and that whoever it was had no idea where she belonged.

And so launched Operation Bring Thistle Home. Over the next thirty three hours, I designed and printed over a hundred fliers, which my mother and I then nailed into various telephone poles, stuffed into mailboxes, and distributed to businesses. I also e-mailed a pdf version to every vet clinic I could find an e-mail address for; then I compiled a mailing list of clinics in our zip code and all of the eight bordering zip codes and addressed fliers to them all. I haunted every website I could think of, while that evening my mom made the long drive to our biggest shelter to look in every kennel in the four buildings for Thistle. We were both making that drive again yesterday evening when I received a phone call: a woman had seen the flier a business local cheap Mexican restaurant (Taco Cabana for my fellow Texans) whose manager had kindly let me leave them right next to the register. She told me she’d seen Thistle running in the street near her apartment building about a mile and a half from my house, but a girl had called her over and brought her into the neighbouring complex before she could do anything.

After another fruitless check in the shelter, my mom and I drove to the complex but found it gated and the manager’s office closed. I walked along the sidewalk, frustrated and contemplating hopping the fence, and found the mail center. We waited a few minutes, until a resident arrived to get his mail. After I explained the situation, he happily accepted some fliers through the fence so he could put them up on the bulletin board. A few seconds later, he came back out holding another flier with the words ‘Found’ on top and a photo of Thistle underneath. At this point Mom and I might have begun crying. I quickly dialed the number, and after some understandably cautious questioning, the woman agreed to come down and meet me. I waited for what felt like an eternity, trying to hold it together and guess which direction they’d come from, when suddenly a couple and teenage girl came around the corner holding Thistle in her arms. I yelled her name, she raced over to me, and Mom and I began crying in earnest. The wonderful family explained that they’d seen her almost get hit by two different cars before the girl had darted out in the street to get her, and that she’d been a quiet and sweet houseguest. The woman even told me she’d trimmed Thistle’s nails! (I’d been intending to do that after her bath.) A profuse amount of thanks later, and a grateful if likely overexcited call to the good samaritan who had taken the time to give me the tip, and we were on our happy way home.

If you know me (and if you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, I suspect you do), you’ll know that I don’t throw around words like miracle. But this? Thistle returning safe and sound despite a complete lack of identification and a route which included crossing two large, two-lane streets, and a couple side ones for good measure? This is a miracle, built on the backs of people’s goodness. While those thirty-three hours were the worst of my life, they were also a powerful reminder of the goodness of humanity. From the neighbourhood banding together to offer support and keep an eye out to all of the people working in nearby businesses who mentioned their sightings or agreed to display fliers, not to mention all of those vets who quickly replied to an e-mail from a stranger and were happy to print out and display the flier, and of course both the woman who immediately called me with her tip and then answered my later return call about apartment access and the family who saved Thistle from any possible car accident and took such incredible care of her, the kindness of all of these strangers threatens to overwhelm me.

Thistle was already one of the most important things in my life, and I daily bless the circumstances that brought her to me. Now, when I look at her sleeping beside me as I type, I see not only her own incredible self but also everything that is best about people. I didn’t think it was possible for Thistle to bring more hope and love into my life; yet, here I am, brimming over with just such things. And as with every good thing and happy story in my life, I immediately wanted to share it with all of you.

And don’t worry. Measures are in place to ensure this never, ever happens again. Because while I would move heaven and earth to get her home, it turns out it’s simpler to keep her here in the first place. ;)

Checking In

photo credit: me

Hi everyone! I didn’t mean to disappear for a month, but sometimes with a chronic illness that’s just what happens. ;) I was trying a new-to-me medication for my fibro, and it ended up being a little crazy, so that combined with a flare-up knocked me for a loop. Fortunately, I’m finally beginning to feel like myself again!

I did read a bit, but it was all comfort reads (aka lots of mysteries, gothic fiction, and fantasy by white US/UK women authors plus a bit of fluffy nonfiction) and I didn’t keep track. I’m not even sure I can reconstruct the list from memory; oddly enough, despite my detail-oriented personality, this doesn’t bother me too much. I’m still depending primarily on comfort reads at the moment and sticking with one book at a time rather than my usual rotation; I’ve got enough on my plate right now that reading needs to be a refuge rather than a challenge (I normally like it to be both). And that’s ok. These three weeks have reminded me how wonderful books are, in that there’s one for every mood, and while all of my usual interests and goals have gone by the wayside, I am still a reader who’s delighting in the written word. All of the diverse, challenging, and enlightening books will still be waiting for me when I’m ready for them.

I can’t promise I’ll be back to blogging regularly just yet. My mom and I leave for Mexico City on May 29th, and since I lost three weeks to zombie Eva, I’m more focused on studying Spanish and playing with photography at the moment. I’m also being very gentle with myself so that I’m as healthy and prepared as I can be for my trip. :) I miss blogging, though, so I’ll definitely be catching up with my Google Reader and posting here a couple of times a week.

Just wanted to write an update now that I’m feeling better in case anyone was wondering if I’d dropped off the planet. I’m excited to see what everyone else had been up to; I hope spring’s been treating you all well!

Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson (thoughts)

I picked up Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson after Ana mentioned it in a discussion of Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony (which I adored). Once I got it, I was thrilled to see that it was set along the coast of British Columbia, a place I would love to visit one day. I was also thrilled by the beginning of the novel; it’s told from the point of view of Lisamarie, a nineteen-year-old who has just found out her brother is lost at sea. The plot then weaves together her present world with flashbacks to her child, in effect creating a coming-of-age story.

I loved the first half of the book unconditionally. The variety of characters, Robinson’s willingness to leave it up to the reader to fill in the blanks left by Lisamarie’s childhood eyes, the small hints of the supernatural, the wonderful sense of place, everything added up to a book I couldn’t wait to keep reading. But then Lisamarie got a bit older, and the book turned grittier (sexual abuse, drugs, and alcoholism become prominent players), and while I cannot fault Robinson for including that in the story, I found my reading experience becoming a bit stressful. I think the cause, ironically, was Robinson’s skill as a writer and her ability to bring the reader into Lisamarie’s head. She conjured up the emotions and situations so well, the hopelessness and haze, that I felt rather trapped and claustrophobic.

I do think Robinson is a wonderfully clever author, and I’m positive that the contrast between Lisamarie’s childhood, with her strong connections to the natural environment around her town and wise, mentoring figures, and her adolescent hopelessness is intentional. I can also see that Monkey Beach is a stronger book for including that dichotomy, and allowing Lisamarie to process that (I don’t want to give you the impression that the last half of the book is hopeless or anything). But I still couldn’t help wishing to stay in that childhood, fishing with her uncle and hiking with her grandmother, just a little bit longer.

I do highly recommend this novel, and I’ll be seeking out more of her books. Next time, I’ll be prepared for things to turn darker, and I’ll stiffen my moral fiber enough to fully appreciate Robinson’s incredible skill as a writer.

P.S.: Writing this post, and reflecting on the book and my experience, has made me change my mind and mark this as a five-star read rather than four-star. It was so powerful, and I can see myself rereading it, that despite the parts that made me squirm, I think I must have loved it. Does blogging about a book ever make you reconsider it?

Suggested Companion Reads

• Tropical Fish by Doreen Baingana (This is an incredibly powerful interlinked short story collection that tells the story of three sisters growing up in Entebbe, Uganda. It also doesn’t shy away from emotionally wrenching moments and has a strong sense of place.)
• Paper Towns by John Green (If you’re after more teenage hijinks, this would be a fun follow-up to Monkey Beach. Who doesn’t love Green?)
• Medicine River by Thomas King (King is one of my very favourite authors, as well as another Canadian Native American author, and this novel also uses flashbacks and has a wonderful depth of emotion. It’s a bit more cheerful too, which is nice.)

The Vaults and Treasure Chests

photo credit

Every reader has found charms by which to secure possession of a page that, by magic, becomes as if never read before, fresh and immaculate. Libraries are the vaults and treasure chests of these charms.

-Alberto Manguel, The Library at Night

Library Loot: April 11th to 17th

Vlog

Titles Mentioned

• The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
• Tierra del Fuego by Francisco Coloane, trans. by Howard Curtis
• Black Juice by Margo Lanagan
• Michael Busselle’s guide to travel & vacation photography
• Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal
• On Rereading by Patricia Meyer Spacks
• The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman
• The Listener by Shira Nayman
• A Manuscript of Ashes by Antonio Muñoz Molina, trans. by Edith Grossman
• The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Covers (Featuring my new bonsai juniper tree, a birthday present! I shall include a better photo soon so you can fully appreciate it.)

See all the details in my LibraryThing collection!

In Which I Celebrate Turning Twenty Six

Yesterday was my twenty-sixth birthday. My just-turned-twenty-five self a year ago, on the edge of a full-blown panic about entering my mid-twenties, could not have foreseen how content and happy this birthday found me. I feel like in the past year I’ve become more grounded and centered, really growing into myself. My life has also become wonderfully rich. Not only have I added Thistle to my day-to-day life, but the prospect of actual international travel, if on a more modest scale than I had originally planned, has made me feel like myself again. I’ve realised that while I have quite limited means, I can still put my money where my mouth is and save up for trips rather than splurge too often at thrift stores! More broadly, I’ve moved towards a kind of rich simplicity; owning fewer objects but loving them more, enjoying experiences as they arrive, and treasuring my day-to-day routines. I am truly, deeply happy.

Of course, reading and book blogging are both large contributors to that happiness! We live in such a wonderful time: we have access to people all around the world, more books than ever before, and a whole world just brimming with knowledge and stories and relationships. It’s magical, and I feel so grateful to be a small part of it.

I cannot wait to see what the next year brings! But I already know it will be full of books and blogging and so many wonderful friendships. Thank you all.

P.S. If you’re looking for a shortcut to happiness, I highly recommend finding an Indian restaurant with unlimited chai refills. ;)

The City & the City by China Mieville (thoughts)

I read Mieville for the first time in December when I took Kraken with me on a trip. I really, really enjoyed it, but I also had a few reservations that stopped it from being a five-star read. So when I saw that Karen’s book group had The City & the City scheduled for their March discussion, I jumped at the chance to give him another go.

And oh my gosh, I loved this book So. Much. The style is a kind of homage to crime noir, but it’s not too gritty. And there’s all of these delicious political discussions. Not to mention the general wonderfulness of the premise and the way Melville slowly shares more and more information on that point! I went into it completely blind, which made watching it unfold just fascinating. In case you’re a blank slate reader like myself, feel free to stop reading now with the knowledge that this is a wonderful book that I highly, highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a touch of the experimental, a lot of intelligence, and a good dose of playfulness in their fiction.

Are we set? Ok, let’s get into some of the details. So, the two cities described in the book exist in the exact same geographical location, and yet are in two different countries. The citizens of each side are trained from childhood to ‘unsee’ anything that belongs in the other country: people, buildings, cars, etc. While some of the areas are entirely in one country or another (for instance, the west side of a street might be in one, the east in the other), there are other places that are ‘cross-hatched.’ That means that citizens of both countries are walking along in the exact same place, but they mustn’t see each other. Isn’t this awesome!? And trust me, Melville does a great job of fleshing things out, from the mandatory training sessions potential tourists have to undergo in order to get a visa to folk sayings referencing how rain and smells know no boundaries. This is one of those novels where the setting is at least as important as the plot, although the plot was quite fun too (and far more straightforward than Kraken, to say the least). As I said, it has a film noir kind of feel but also plays with the tropes of traditional urban fantasy novels and their different ‘worlds’. One of the things I found most powerful about The City & the City is that it’s at the same time incredibly realistic (an effect of the detective’s narrating voice and Mieville grounding the city in central Europe, complete with Balkan refugee dilemmas) but not completely closed off from the idea of urban fantasy.

This is also the kind of book that is really, really fun to talk about! Even though most of the book group weren’t huge fans (I was the only one that wholeheartedly loved it), I still very much enjoyed the meeting. It’s a wonderfully rich novel that has a very contemporary/relevant feel but also includes some loving nods to the past. If I knew someone who was skeptical of novels but loved reading nonfiction, especially the types of books one might see The Economist reviewing, this would be at the top of my recommendations list. Mieville has used an imaginary place with truly extraordinary qualities to explore important aspects of our regular, modern lives. I adored every page of The City & the City and cannot wait to read more Mieville in the future.

The Invisible Heart by Nancy Folbre (thoughts)

A bit later than planned, but I’m back. :) And I’ve got so many excellent books to blog about! I actually love having a bit of a review backlog, because that means on days when I’m up to writing multiple posts I actually have material.

Today, I’m discussing The Invisible Heart by Nancy Folbre, feminist economist and receipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant. Firmly aimed at a general readership, The Invisible Heart grew out of her grant and explores the limits and biases of neoliberal, ‘trust the market’ economic theory as well as alternatives. She weaves together policy analysis and personal stories (extra-appealing to me due to her displaced Texan status!) and convincingly answers many of the arguments against taxation, government regulation, etc. Indeed, for quite a short book (less than three hundred pages, including index and bibliography), it’s astonishing how much ground she manages to cover. Folbre provides a comprehensive overview of everything from a history of women’s work, both paid and unpaid, to taxation to public schooling from preschool through university to caring for the elderly to health to international economics and free trade. There is definitely a US focus, but Folbre also includes looks at other country’s systems and how they might translate to a US environment. While some of the issues are especially American on a political level, I think even non-Americans will enjoy seeing such a different economic paradigm put into action.

In case you can’t tell, I highly, highly recommend Nancy Folbre, regardless of your current economic philosophy. If you happen to be neoliberal, Folbre will give you much to think about (I think reading thoughtful, intelligent books by authors of different political persuasions is important). And if you’re already inclined towards the belief that a social safety net is a good thing, Folbre will crystalise your thinking and allow you to have better conversations with dissenting friends and family. Even if you have no inherent interest in economics whatsoever, I still urge you to read The Invisible Heart. Ultimately, it’s not a book about economics. It’s a book about what we value, as both individuals and a society, and what kind of behaviors and actions we reward. It’s about how to bring out the best in people and catch up the slack when individuals fail. It’s optimistic without being utopian, and I promise you’ll finish the book a little bit smarter or more thoughtful or hopeful.

It was all the more fascinating to read this book, published in 2001, in light of the more recent rise of Tea Party politics, the financial sector’s collapse, and Occupy Wall Street. She has another book, Greed, Lust and Gender, published in 2009, that my library doesn’t carry. I’ve submitted a purchase request and am hoping to see it in the catalogue soon! (If not I can always ILL it, but some books I want in my library’s system, you know?) In the meantime, just writing this post has made me tempted to get The Invisible Heart back out from the library and read it again. I almost wish I had read this earlier; I suspect if I’d first seen it in college it would have persuaded me to change majors and life plants. It’s that good.

(Oh! Almost forgot! For those curious about the biopsy, it had a mix of good and bad news, which requires yet more blood tests. Good thing I’m comfortable with needles!)

Suggested Companion Reads

• Deep Economy by Bill McKibben (McKibben presents an alternate economic paradigm and questions the neoliberal belief that growth is synonymous with progress.)
• Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber (Another popular economics book that challenge neoliberal assumptions.)
• The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard (Leonard does an excellent job of explaining how allowing ‘the market’ to run things has led to an environmentally-destructive, potentially-soul-destroying consumerism and how we might change that.)
• Bad Samaritans by Ha-Joon Chang (Another economist, this one explains why current development aid/international trade policies are bad for developing nations and counter to the strategies currently developed ones practiced to improve their economies.)

Un Poco Favor

photo credit

One of these years I’ll get around to doing an April Fool’s Day joke. But not this year. Actually, I’m going to be cheeky and come back from a week long blogging break (sorry! I had a liver biopsy done last Monday) with a request. I think I’ve mentioned this already, but I’ve begun studying Spanish for my upcoming trip to Mexico. It’s actually great fun, and I’ve already decided I want to keep up the learning past my trip and the tourist basics I’ll (hopefully) master in the next couple of months. So that’s where you come in! If you read Spanish, do you have an authors or book titles to recommend? I’m a beginner, so I’m looking for writers who use fairly straightforward structures (i.e.: not Borges) and everyday/simple vocabulary. I’m lucky to have access to a public library with masses of Spanish books, and while I could just get simple English books that have been translated into Spanish, I don’t think that’d be as much fun. Short stories & plays would probably be easiest for me to start on, but I’m definitely not opposed to novels! I find poetry difficult enough in English, so I think I’ll save the Spanish poets for awhile down the road. Mystery authors would be a bonus. :) Muchas gracias!

P.S.: For anyone studying Russian and looking for a similar author, I recommend Chekhov. In French, to be honest in my lit class we jumped straight to writers like Camus and Rimbaud, but I suspect Colette would be a very fun place to begin.

P.P.S.: Regular programming should resume tomorrow! :)

Library Loot: March 21st to 27th

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

Vlog

Titles Mentioned
Urban Travel Photography by Richard I’Anson
Travel Photography by Susan McCartney
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Alone Together by Sherry Turkle
Nothing to Declare by Mary Morris
Conquests and Cultures by Thomas Sowell
Dog Sense by John Bradshaw
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (forgot to vlog about, because it’s the ebook version, but it’s for my library book club hosted by Karen of Books and Chocolate)

(P.S. I know I haven’t been around as much lately. Sorry about that! I’ve started independently studying a bit of Spanish in preparation for my trip to Mexico, and since I’m writing out flashcards/exercises, that leaves my hands with a smaller typing quote that before. With any luck, I’ll have my approaches more balanced soon. Or, since I just started acupuncture, maybe that will improve my hands enough to let me do both!)