The Gathering, in the beginning

There are very few novels which grab you before page 30 and have you thinking, "Yeah. This is going to be really good," but The Gathering by Anne Enright is hitting me just that way.

I get really excited by books that read like literature, not like entertainment only, but which are thought-provoking throughout their texts. That's probably why I end up reading Evelyn Waugh rather than Sophie Kinsella despite the social trends of those in my demographic. But Enright invites the reader to question her and wander (and wonder) away from her with the first lines: "I would like to write down what happened in my grandmothers house the summer I was eight or nine, but I am not sure it really did happen. I need to bear witness to an uncertain event." I count three blatant uncertainties and could produce a couple more if I were truly to analyze the tone and diction and go serious literature student on you, but I'll spare you.

Immediately I start thinking about the essence of memory and story-telling, how the truth we proclaim isn't really the truth, but our own perception of a slightly (or enormously) tweaked version of events, of half-truths and partial-events. There are tons of studies out there on the reliance of memory, especially over time, questioning its accuracy to history...and here is a story where a grown woman, with children of her own, proclaims she is going to recollect what happened in her elementary school days.

Already, the voice is so caustically honest at points (ie: There were girls at school whose families grew to a robust five or six. There were girls with seven or eight - which was though a little enthusiastic - and then there were the pathetic ones like me, who had parents that were just helpless to it, and bred as naturally as they might shit) and other times where the image is too romanticized to seem possible. (ie: She walked into the foyer and did not look about her and sat in an oval-backed chair near the door. Lamb Nugent watched her through a rush of arrivals and instructions as she removed her left-hand glove and then picked off the right. She pulled a little bracelet our from under her sleeve, and the hand that held the gloves settled in her lap. She was beautiful, of course.) Enright paints a world tainted with vivacious colors or dripping in sepia. Either way, it's engaging.

All this, and I've only briefly touched upon a topic I could expand upon for pages. And this, only one of several topics I could discuss in the 30 pages I've read. And those 30 pages being less than a sixth of the book. And really, I have spoken hardly an ounce about any character or plot line but rather about the intricacies of the text, where literature really rests. Talk about the tip of the iceberg.

New Music

Here's the sampler I sent out to several close friends. My favorite find on it was Jaymay, who I saw live at The Hotel Cafe (on the hotel cafe tour) in October. (She's in the picture.)

Ingrid Michaelson (of Old Navy sweater song fame...her new album has some new songs and some covers. I included one of each.)
1. Be OK
2. Can't Help Falling in Love

James Morrison (one of my favorite male voices. but his first cd was better than this one)
3. You Make it Real
4. Nothing Ever Hurt Like You

Jaymay (apparently has a thing for colors)
5. Gray or Blue
6. Snow White

Jem (not the cartoon. the welsh artist. i waited several years for this album...nothing is worth that wait. but i'm very glad she finally released this because I am loving it)
7. I Want You to...
8. It's Amazing
9. Got it Good

Jenny Lewis (lead singer of Rilo Kiley's second solo album explores a number of different genres, as influenced with these two songs)
10. See Fernando
11. Jack Killed Mom

Low vs. Diamond (a band that's been around but never broken through. solid rock songs)
12. Don't Forget Sister
13. Actions are Actions

Meiko
14. Reasons to Love You
15. Boys with Girlfriends
16. Under my Bed


The songs all come off of recent albums or EPs (in the case of Jaymay). I wrote a review of the show I saw which included Jaymay and Meiko as well as a few others including Erin McCarley (whose January release I am eager for) and Rachael Yamagata. The site I wrote it for is temporarily down but check in at iamthatgirl.com to read it.

Evil Villainy Amongst Losers

In an episode that at first seemed to announce Armageddon, the first prophecy to fulfill the protevangelium came through at the end. No. I'm not talking about "Left Behind" (book or movie). I'm talking about "The Biggest Loser."

This season began badly and got worse when the duos of family members split up into the traditional two teams: black and blue. I'd never complain about Jillian; her tactics bring a smile to my face. And I have my individual favorites....and not favorites. The not favorites, as fate would have it, ended up teaming up on the blue team and birthing the demonic Vicky/Heba stronghold (or death hold, as you will).

Though Heba is simply annoying in her strident attitude that she's in charge, we all know Vicky's pulling the manipulator's reigns. She sparks conflict, fuels feuds, and feeds contestants to elimination....until tonight.

In the greatest turn of events in any single episode, Vicky's husband (and alliance) was up for elimination with a member of the opposite team. Blue vs. Black. Blue with 4 votes, black with 2. It was going to be a dark, dark day. Vicky confidently announced to the audience that it didn't matter that Brady was on the chopping block, blue had the dominant number of votes. But she underestimated the quietest teammate (and thereby the ONLY blue member I can stand to watch), good ole Amy C. Amy voted Brady and tossed him off the ranch, presumably igniting the wrath of Vicky, and effectively redistributing herself back onto the black team.

I honestly don't think she cares about losing weight--it's all about winning the money. The weight is only a means to the money. And money, as we know, is the root of all evil.

Advantage: black.
Hopeful outcome: the defeat of evil.

It's the American way. May the good guys win and the vi[cky]llain get her due.

I feel like doing an evil laugh in anticipation.

The Ugly Duckling

I'm currently reading a book called The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived. Now, clearly, they use the term "people" rather loosely because #55 is The Ugly Duckling. And though most of the book's short essays are rather comical (and therefore sometimes confusing if you're not familiar with the character being discussed), I thought this one was rather poignant. So the following is that essay, taken directly from that book....

The Ugly Duckling--#55
Parents have related this story to their children for the past 150 years and will undoubtedly continue to do so unless we can find a way to successfully boycott this outrageous tale. For those of you who do not recall Hans Christian Andersen's 1844 story, here it is in brief.
On a summer's day in a farmyard, a duck hatches several ducklings, all of which are adorable except the last. He came from the largest of her eggs and was "different," ugly. Because of this, he was physically and emotionally abused.
Unable to endure this mistreatment, he ran away. During the following fall and winter, he survived many dangerous and nerve-racking adventures. He was almost killed by hunters and their dogs, but escaped and found shelter in a woman's cottage. However, she soon turned him out because he could not lay eggs.
During the winter, he became frozen to the surface of a pond. A peasant freed him and took him home, but the bird frightened his children. As a result, he was again turned out and had to spend the rest of the hard winter in misery and privation.
In the spring, he saw three lovely white swans and flew into the water next to them. Totally discouraged and depressed by his constant rejection, he told them to kill him and bent his head down awaiting death. But in the water he saw his image. He was no longer ugly, but a graceful, beautiful swan; the most handsome of them all. The older swans bowed their heads before him. In his bliss, he tells us that he could never have been this happy if he had remained an ugly duckling.
While parents may rationalize that they are merely introducing their children, especially their young daughters, to the realities of the world, they should think of the distorted values they are promoting and stop this nonsense. In fact, it's wore than nonsense. The story is downright insulting and degrading to the overwhelming majority of us who have remained "ugly ducklings" throughout our entire lives.
The tale ignores our inherent worth, our intelligence, wealth of acquired knowledge, hard work, and creative capacities. It give tacit approval to childhood bullying and marginalization of those who are "different," while ignoring the humanistic concept of the worth of each person.
We should encourage our children to develop mental, emotional, and physical strengths. We should teach them not to rely on physical attractiveness.
Let's stop telling our children that beauty is the central focus of their worth, that a woman's attractiveness is her "wealth" in life. The Andersen story reinforces the endless advertising messages that tell a girl that she is inferior unless she is beautiful. If you accept these values, you have stepped into a world in which her husband can be expected to reject her later in life for a younger, more attractive "trophy wife."
Please join those of us who have closed our doors to the offensive message of the ugly duckling because we treasure the intrinsic merit of all children.


It begs the question.....how is this still a popular story???