A Girl Named Zippy & She Got Up Off the Couch

I owe Jenny big for introducing me to Haven Kimmel. I loved my first taste of her writing in The Solace of Leaving Early, but didn't enjoy her newest Iodine. That disappointment was more than reversed when I finally sat down to read her first book, A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana. I resisted reading Zippy initially because I couldn't get excited about a memoir. Which just proves how limiting genre prejudice can be!

I loved Zippy! It was a witty collection of stories that were absurd, delightful, and sometimes almost too painful to read because they resonated so deeply with tender childhood experience. Kimmel blends both the heart-breaking and the heart-warming aspects of small-town life, achieving a sincerity that avoids cliche and sentimentality. And all done in her gifted prose that turns it into almost a tactile experience.

I listened to the audio version of Zippy, read by Kimmel herself. This was a disadvantage in some ways, because I would be so struck by something she said that I'd have to replay it in an effort to let the language sink in. It would have been so much more effective if I could have read the printed word directly. But the advantage was hearing it told in her own voice, complete with Midwestern drawl and lisping demonstrations. It added an authenticity to the stories that made them even more inviting.

Then came She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana. This Zippy sequel continues in a similar vein as a collection of personal essays from Kimmel's childhood. But as Zippy grows up (these stories cover her early teenage years) there is a slight edge as she begins to develop an awareness about the world around her. While there are many stories about Kimmel (all delightful and witty as you would expect), She Got Up Off the Couch is really about her mother who turns the family's world upside down by getting off the couch and going back to college. As you watch Zippy try to understand what her mother is doing and why, you also see her coming to grips with her parents' troubled marriage and unhappy home life; all told with characteristic self-deprecating humor and insight that's all the more striking for its understatedness.

In the preface to She Got Up Off the Couch, Kimmel writes:

Indiana is not the state our national eye turns toward for fascinating narratives, strangely enough. Mooreland is definitely not a mecca for the literary arts, although it is rich with crafts. And no one cares about the reminiscences of one more child with one more set of parents and neighbors and friends. I myself have been known to wince as if stabbed with wide-bore needles when faced with yet another coming-of-age memoir.

This is how I felt before reading A Girl Named Zippy and She Got Up Off the Couch. Been there, done that, not interested. Keep your tedious childhood stories to yourself. But this is not the experience that awaits you in Zippy's story. Funny, poignant, and true in the deepest recesses of your childhood self, you will find yourself disappointed to reach the last page, and will carry a taste of her story in the days to follow.

Southern Sass, Faith-filled Imagery and English School Shenanigans

Sometimes I read a book that I honestly don't have much to say about. Write a whole post? Just a blurb? It's a quandary. Such is the case for "Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank: and other words of delicate Southern wisdom" by Celia Rivenbark. It was a collection of essays by a humor writer from North Carolina. It had its funny moments. She writes with a pretty hilarious twang and I could relate to some of the ridiculousness of hyper-mothers of this day and age. The essays on Southern Silliness were probably my favorite. But I can't really recommend it, especially with the newest Fablehaven out there waiting to be read. So don't bother.

The other book I read that I don't have much to say about is "Skellig" by David Almond. It's full of imagery, references to faith and is an uplifting lyrical read. It's about a boy who's premature baby sister's health is in danger, the strange man he finds in his garage and the friend he makes. It's a Young Adult book, which I usually love, and was a quick and lovely read. I can recommend it, but I just don't have that much to say.

The last book of my most recent stack is "What I Was" by Meg Rosoff and that I can definitely recommend with much enthusiasm. I made a big mistake, though. I started out reading it and was starting to wonder if this was going to be worth reading, so I skipped to the end and read a snippet. Huge mistake! Finding out the ending has colored the entire reading experience! I never read endings. I think it's a big fat cheat to do so, but I didn't want to waste time on this book that I didn't think was going to be all that great anyway when I had some other cool books waiting for me in my bag. I wish I could turn back time and not read the ending. Stupid me! As I got further along in my reading, I discovered what a really cool story it was. It's about a sixteen-year-old boy at a boarding school on the eastern shore of England. It's a dreary place and the boy has been sent there after being kicked out of other schools for the crime of making no effort. He settles into his life of non-conformity until he meets a boy who lives in a hut right on the ocean. He's fascinated by the boy's ability to live on his own, not go to school, and do as he wishes. He wishes he was that boy, and so begins his efforts to become more like his new friend, Finn. The whole story is about examining who you are and becoming something else. It was excellent writing and I think Meg Rosoff will make it onto my list of author's that need to be explored some more.

Well, I have the first Libby Bray novel waiting for me, so I'm off to the next literary conquest.

I'm Just a Geek Too

I love Star Trek. I'm not ashamed of it. I fall in the category of The Next Generation lovers. I don't much like the original Star Trek and I've never gotten into the spin-offs from TNG. I'm sure they have their redeeming values, but I'm just not interested. Give me Jean-Luc Picard and William Riker any day, baby. I love the story lines, the characters and all things Trekkie. I remember watching it with my dad when I was a young girl after I'd had cleaned up after a hard day's play. In fact, I don't think I knew there was an original Star Trek until years after I had been watching TNG. By they way, that's what the cool people call it: TNG. Only acronyms here.

I never had strong feelings about Wesley Crusher. I had more of a little-girl crush on Riker than on Wesley. I secretly wanted to be Deanna Troi and I really liked Geordi LaForge. His visor was just cool. As far as I knew, Wil Wheaton--who played Wesley--had disappeared into obscurity after the end of TNG. That's pretty much what happened, but not because he wanted to disappear. I read somewhere on the internet that he had gotten quite a following from his website and blog, so I decided to check it out. I didn't see much that interested me from the website, but I did notice he had written some books. Out of curiosity, I checked out "Just A Geek." Well, one thing Wheaton definitely can be described as is geeky. I have a geeky husband, so I can recognize true geekiness when I see it. Love of technology, all things computer, gets excited about new advances in such fields, reads lots of fantasy and sci-fi, etc. I love my handsome geek. Anyway, Wil Wheaton is a geek, according to the attributes listed.

In this book, he writes about the creation of his website and his transformation from frustrated actor to writer and blogger. It was a long road and Wheaton describes it painfully and honestly. Seriously, why do people become actors? The rejection, the frustration, the critical evaluation of your looks and talents on a constant basis all seems like so destructive of the human spirit. And yet, people go after it over and over again. Reading his book, I couldn't help but keep wanting to grab him, give him a good shake and maybe a slap across the face and tell him to get a real job and move on. But he loved acting. He didn't want to give it up. I can understand passion about something, so I'll forgive his stubbornness.

Wheaton is really honest about his mistakes and failings. He's also honest about who ticked him off or screwed him over during and after TNG. He doesn't hold anything back in his writing, which makes you sympathize with him, but it also shows how immature he can be. He loves his wife and stepkids, but acts really self-involved at times. I guess he's just a person, really.

I think the best thing he ever did was start writing. He's funny and clever, scorchingly honest and can assemble his words pretty well. Other than his perverse love for the "f" word, I thoroughly enjoyed reading what he had to write. Partly because of all his fun inside info on TNG cast members, but I'm geeky like that.

Pure Drivel

I wish I had something witty and profound to say about this book, but I don't. There simply wasn't enough to comment on, though it was definitely a fun read. A good book to pass an hour to so with. This said I have to admit that I love Steve Martin. Not everybody does, but I do. I love his post-"I'm a craaaaazy guy" humor and when he sits down to write a book, I think he is in his true element. I've read his other books, "The Pleasure of My Company" and "Shop Girl" and thought that both were gems. He has a beautiful way of depicting people's journeys and emotional development. But "Pure Drivel" is an earlier book and much different than his later books. I can't seem to find a way to describe them. Prose? Short stories? Essays? Actually, it is just drivel. You might even say it's pure drivel. Where have I heard that before?