Read it: Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison

Look Me in the Eye (amazon, WCPL) is a memoir written by John Elder Robison, the brother of Augusten Burroughs ( a famous memoirist in his own right, Running with Scissors, Dry, Sellevision). John grows up in a truly dysfunctional family and finds out at age 40 that he has lived his whole life with Aspergers Syndrome. John describes in a very forthright manner the challenges he encounters growing up. He faces many obstacles trying to socialize with others without really knowing how. He also is very skilled mechanically and carves quite a niche for himself by creating special effects for concert tours in the 70's.
As a writer, Robison not very frilly, but that is understandable given his Aspergian nature. Sometimes he tells a little too much detail just to relate an amusing or interesting anecdote. Overall, his story is a fascinating glimpse into the world of Aspergers.
* My co-worker, Gerald, told me John Elder Robison was interviewed on the Diane Rehm Show. He said it was very enlightening. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but hope to soon.

Read it: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

The Eyre Affair (amazon, WCPL)was the best thing I have read in a while. Fforde creates and alternate world in which a special operations team fights and investigates crime involving literature. It was a great and witty adventure as Thursday Next tries to put an end to Hades Acheron. There is time travel, there is shape shifting, there are people naming themselves John Milton because they love the poet so much and don't forget the dodo named Pickwick *plock plock*

The WSJ review describes it best and most accurately :
"Filled with clever wordplay, literary allusion and bibliowit...combines elements of Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but its quirky charm is all its own."

If you think this sounds too high falutin or snooty, it is not!

The best thing about this book is that it is the first in a series. There are 3 more novels centered around Thursday Next and her work in SO-27!

Made it: Collaging with Kate Klutz and Janet and Toffy

(I was going to spell collaging with a K but...that is just wrong) Today I finally had a chance to collage at Kate's house. Kate works at the State Library and rescues things that are destined for the landfill. As a result, she has lots of neat things useful for collaging. I fell in love with her super sharp paper scissors and various paper punches.

She also has lots of stamps from her dad's collection. Not only does she have postage for life she also has stamps letting us know that "Retarded children can be helped" (probably from the 70's? when people still used that word and that helping retarded children was news) and stamps commemorating the Pap test and its founder Dr Pap...something Greek...or Czech...or Polynesian....

(click on stamp for larger view)








Kate also has a swell dog, Toffy and a nice friend from Durham, Janet. Janet works at DesignBox in Raleigh and will probably move to Raleigh soon.

Petted it: Junior's sore neck

Junior and Addie were playing Thanksgiving Day night and Junior started yelping over and over. We ran in, Jerry held onto Addie because she was freaking out. Junior is ok. He just messed up his neck somehow. I decided to go ahead and take him to the vet this am since I thought it may be something that could get worse. He can walk fine, he just has pain when getting up from laying down and when stretching. I was hoping they would give him a neck brace, that would be so cute! He has to take a muscle relaxant and pain meds for a week or so. Hopefully he will be better by then!

Made it: Cute purse

This was my first attempt at sewing something more than a seam or a square. It ended up looking pretty good. I learned a lot and thinks I can make one with fewer little mistakes.
I got the pattern from a book called Bend the Rules Sewing (amazon, WCPL catalog). I was pretty confused for a while but after reading the simple pattern 4 million times, I was able to sewing it in an afternoon. The freakiest thing is turning the purse so that the outside is pretty and the inside can be stuffed inside the outside. I messed up a tiny bit on it, but trying to figure out how to correct it would cause an aneurysm. As a reward for actually finishing a project I am going to buy some real sewing/fabric scissors and some sort of sewing box (probably a tool box).
The fabric was from a vintage dress I wish I had worn more. I am going to make another purse out of some curtains with a bird pattern. I would definately recommend this book for easy and cute first sewing projects.

Watched it: Pieces of April

I rented this via amazon.com. You can rent movies and have them download them to your laptop. Movie prices are similar to Blockbuster etc and the selection is pretty good. Thiswas perfect since I was "couching it" with some sort of stomach bug.
Anyway, this movie was cute. I did not realize it was a Thanksgiving movie. I love Thanksgiving dysfunctional family movies. The other one that comes to mind is "Home for the Holidays" with Holly Hunter and a pre-rehab Robert Downey Jr.
This was starring Katie Holmes before she was brain-washed by Scientology goons and no, she does not "get naked". It was very low budget and filmed in a few weeks. It was heart warming as April tries to get her turkey cooked and gets to know her neighbors and their functioning ovens. April's family finally gets over their past and so does she. They have a great dinner and make a memory, complete with bow on top.

Read it: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I have read a lot of new fiction lately so I decided to dust off a classic. Actually the book was brand new since the library system I worked for replenished its classics collection. I only wish I'd returned it in the pristine condition, but books are for readin' and sometimes that's not pretty!
I really like the novel even though I had to muddle through at times. I was used to the quick pace of contemporary literature so it was nice to be forced to slow down. I hope to see the BBC mini-series soon. I have not seen a cinematic representation of this book before, which was nice because I really did not know how it ended until the end. I usually prefer books with a not so tidy ending but every once and a while I cheer for the protagonist and want a happy ending with a bow on top. I am glad their pursuit of love was requited!
The next classic I will pick up is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.