Life, not so ordinary

My post office box — always a source of pleasure — was especially delightful today. Two books arrived! Both funny, tender, light but not vapid. (As a note, I’ve been on a library kick lately but these two are purchase-worthy):

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Just when I can’t take another my-life-is-so-profound memoir, I find this treasure that defies categorization. This 40ish author is clever, without being an ironic mocker, and tender, without rainbows and kittens. It helps that she begins with this disclaimer:

I have not survived against all odds.
I have not lived to tell.
I have not witnessed the extraordinary.
This is my story.

As usual, I’m late to the party. Encyclopedia was published in 2005 and has earned loads of accolades and attention. She’s now deep into another creative project, with yet another twist: The Beckoning of Lovely, a film being made by 200 strangers. Click below to view video.

How Not to Act Old by Pamela Redmond Satran
This book, and its companion blog, is a hoot. After a quick read, it’s clear I'm exhibiting sure signs of geezerhood. Evidence of age:
- using words like hoot and geezer
- leaving voice messages
- talking loudly into my cellphone
- still watching MASH and Seinfeld

The author is laugh-out-loud funny, offering 185 witty and wry directions. Published just this month, the book zoomed to the New York Times bestseller list in its first week, proving there are a lot of old people desperate for disguise.

Young readers respond

Book suggestions abound! Several (young-ish) friends and family members have chimed in with their faves:

• Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke, was suggested by my bright young friend Katy, age 9.

• The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster, got the thumbs up from my book-loving niece Kimberly, age 11.

• Mad Libs. Oh, how I love these fun word lessons cloaked in silly fill-in-the-blank stories.

• A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park, was recommended by dedicated reader/writer Eliza.

Got any more good reads? What are your sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, friends and neighbors reading? What have I missed? Keep those suggestions coming!

Young reads

I remind myself that we live in a society in which people still think of themselves as 'young' when they are 50. When do we stop being young adults? Is there any reason a 60-year-old wouldn’t be able to find some pleasure, and perhaps some edification, in a good Y/A [young adult] book?

— Marilyn Nelson, author of 21 poetry books, for adult and young adult readers

This summer, some of the best books I read weren’t meant for me.

Written for young readers, this season's favorites delivered fresh language and perspective:
• Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Absolutely Normal Chaos, by Sharon Creech
• From the Bellybutton of the Moon and other summer poems, by Francisco X. Alarcón

After a long run of adult fiction that works the predictable paths of mother-daughter strain or husband-wife ennui, I’m relieved to read young adult dilemmas of friendship, trust and identity. None of it trite and all of it memorable.

As I prepare for a new school year (I’ll be leading creative reading and writing activities for grade school, middle school and high school students), I’m seeking new material.

So, here's a call to all ages: What are you reading?

Young (and not so young) minds are eager and waiting. I'll absorb, savor, and post your suggestions here.

On tour

I’m fresh from the Forecast tour.

I use the word ‘tour’ lightly, though I did travel 1,300 miles, got stuck in Seattle overnight, and was detoured by a road closure on the drive home. A few days and states later, I feel very toured.

But the journey was worth the travel: Last week, Forecast — the Tracy Weil-Drew Myron art-poetry exhibition — opened at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Designed in the 1960s by I.M. Pei, the Mesa Laboratory is a collection of abstract, geometric concrete forms perched atop the highlands and in the shadow of dramatic red sandstone formations known as the Flat Irons.

It's a stunning setting for our abstract, horoscope-inspired art. And, as a glutton for press, I am delighted with the attention from Westword and the Colorado Daily. Read all about it here and here.

From the beach church

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

— Naomi Shihab Nye
from The Words Under the Words: Selected Poems