Robert B. Parker Overload!

So . . . I also caught up with the books I hadn't read in the Sunny Randall series.  I like Sunny, sort of reluctantly, so I was happy to find there were four I hadn't read. On Robert B. Parker's website, it says he wrote the series so Helen Hunt would have a Parker movie role.  Really Sunny's just a female Spenser.  They talk and think alike, so the books really aren't noticeably different from the Spenser books.  Except for no Hawk, which is a definite negative.  She has Spike, though, and Spike's wonderful.  And Rosie instead of Pearl for us dog lovers.

I can't quite get my head around Shrink Rap.  The actual book didn't seem familiar, but the plot was so deja vu that I couldn't help wondering if I'd read the book before.  It almost seems like Parker might have used this same plot (woman has to go undercover to trap a psychiatrist who is victimizing women) in a Spenser novel.  Usually I remember actual scenes or phrases from books I've already read, and this didn't ring any of those bells.  Still . . . this plot . . . I've been there before.

Melancholoy Baby was my least favorite of the remaining three because you know who the "who" in "who dunit" is long before the end.  The "mystery" you're left with is "How will they prove it?"  Which isn't that interesting.

The best part about Blue Screen was that it combined Sunny and another Parker character, Jesse Stone.  Sunny and Jesse seem made for each other because they're both having problems moving on to a new relationship because they're so stuck on their exes.  There's some great chemistry there.  

However, I'm guessing some fans (or maybe Parker himself) had major objections, because by the time Spare Change opens, their relationship hasn't worked out.  It could just be because I read four in a row, but the whole angst-driven thing about the Sunny/Richie "relationship" is starting to get on my nerves.  (I'm not much on extracurricular angst, being a middle school teacher.)  Another thing that bothered me was that in Blue Screen Richie had remarried and was having a son.  But in Spare Change Richie is thinking about divorce and no child is mentioned.  What the heck happened to the kid?  Angst aside, the main plot of the book was engaging enough, and it would probably be a tie between Spare Change and Blue Screen for which of the four I liked best.

(R: sex, violence, language)

Catching up with Robert B. Parker

It had been awhile since I'd read a Parker book, and I realized with greedy joy that I had quite the selection to choose from.  Thankfully, even with two junior book lovers at home, my library card was not quite maxed out, so I checked out a bunch.  

I read Widow's Walk first, and it wasn't that great.  It served to remind me of all the things I like about Parker and his main character, tough-guy private detective Spenser.  But the client Spenser is working for is incredibly shallow and stupid (and she's supposed to be).  It's more fun to hang out with Spenser when he's hanging out with people who are worth your while.

I loved Cold Service because it had lots of Hawk in it, and who doesn't love Hawk? Sadly, because all Spenser books are first person point of view, from Spenser's pov, we don't really get to see what happens at the end.  You could claim that just makes it even more mysterious and Hawk-like.  But it's still disappointing.  

School Days I had actually read before and remembered almost immediately upon opening it. So I just breezed through it.  Which is quite the speed read for a Parker book.  Since he does a great job with dialogue and plays to his strengths, some pages have almost no words on them.  I personally think there's a bit of cheating involved when he starts a new line and the same person is still speaking, but it's (again) a picky English-major point.

Hundred Dollar Baby brought back the character of April.  I only dimly remember who April is, and the book was all right, but I wasn't too sympathetic toward her.  Let me just repeat that I like Spenser better when I care about the people he's working for.  

Now and Then had Hawk, and Vinnie, and Teddy.  Tough guy bliss.  I enjoyed it.  But somewhere around here, I started to realize why it might not be a good idea to read so much Robert B. Parker at one time.  It didn't stop me though . . .

 
(R: language, violence, sex)

I'm Obsessed! Naomi Novik and the Temeraire Books!

 

I'm not sure where I heard about these books--possibly on the Creatures 'n Crooks website, since they're having Naomi Novik in for a visit in July.  (I can't wait!)  Anyway, there are actually four books currently, but I didn't have room for all of the graphics.  The fifth book is coming out in July.

I was blown away by His Majesty's Dragon.  I think it's the best dragon series since Pern (and yes, my middle school friends, I have read Eragon).  She even has a quote from Anne McCaffrey on the front of the third one--don't know if you can see that in the graphic.  In fact, it's a lot like Pern with the dragon riders, and the egg hatchings, and the relationship between dragon and rider.  However, it's historical fantasy fiction, and it's set in the time of the Napoleonic wars, with dragons used on both sides in the war.  I thought that was a tremendously clever idea, and even though I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't remember much from that era of history (Waterloo and Lord Nelson, and that's about it), I'm finding it incredibly engaging.    

I think I read the first three in a week, and now I'm trying to ration the fourth one for myself.  I have all this homework to do for a teaching class I'm taking, and once I start reading, I know the homework, the housework, and the caring-for-the-children work is going to go straight out the window.  (Sure, you can play Nintendo!)  So I'm speaking to myself very sternly about it. I'm having a hard time, though, because the books always have an excerpt of the next book at the end, and something completely and thoroughly horrible is happening in book four.  I want so desperately for everything to be all right that I want to just get there right now.

I really like it when I discover a series that has a bunch of books already published so that I can read merrily along without waiting for the next one.  I tend to devour quickly, which is bad for long term memory of the finer points.  (Thank goodnes J. K. Rowling is queen of the catch-up clues!)  The bad thing is, of course, that then it's over so quickly.  Plus I also don't end up spending a lot of time reflecting on the books, which I'm forced to do while waiting for new ones.  Still, I have done some reflecting on these, simply because I like them so much.

So far, the second one is my least favorite.  (Funny, the second Harry Potter and the second Lord of the Rings are my least favorites, too.)  The main reason I like it less is because I thought the climax was unsatisfactory.  After a great deal of thinking about it, I decided it was the most logical climax to have, but it was over in barely a sentence.  You blink, you miss it. That made me irritated because there was A LOT of build up.  Plus Temeraire spent a great deal of time being sulky in this book, and there were a couple things that seemed out of character or obvious.  I won't say what, though, because it was still quite enjoyable, and I don't want to ruin any of it for you. 

Anyway, I am right now neglecting homework I was planning on doing, and that's just to type this.  It's not even for reading more Temeraire books!  So I have to go.

 (PG-13: mild language, some not particularly graphic dragon violence, allusions to sex--but in a gentlemanly way!)

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

I just read this book today, and now I'm wishing that I had spent more time on it, savored it, drawn out the experience longer.  The writing is stunning.  Take this beautiful sentence, for instance, "The air was coloring everything gray, and the fog was coming up from the ground in white shreds and billows, as if the whole campsite had lifted itself up into the clouds overnight."

It's about Holling Hoodhood, a seventh grade boy in 1967, who is the lone Presbyterian in his class, stuck at school with his teacher on Wednesday afternoons while his Jewish and Catholic classmates go to religious studies.  It's not a traditional book where you can say there's one main conflict, solved at one climactic point, and then wrapped up.  It's more like life, where there is a never-ending series of mishaps and adventures, each one having its own climax and resolution, and each one impacting other parts of the story.

Although the story does have some sad and some poignant moments, I'd say, overall, it has a more positive tone than many serious young adult books.  This one's for the people who always complain that YA books are depressing and dark.  This one is touching, inspiring, heart-warming.  And funny.  There are definitely laugh-out-loud parts.

It's told in first person, and Schmidt really does a great job of establishing Holling's voice.  He seemed a little too sophisticated for a seventh grader sometimes, but then I thought about some of the seventh graders I know, and I changed my mind.  Anyway, Holling was so real that I just happily went along for the ride. 

Honestly, I don't want to say too much about the book because I don't want to give anything away or over-hype it.  It did, though, make me feel a little guilty because I spend a lot of time reading, and I'm not always (or, really, very often at all) reading books that I feel are valuable. I read a lot of things just to be entertained.  (And don't get me wrong, I do feel there is value in being entertained!)  But when I read something that's so well done on so many different levels, it does make me realize that I could do better for myself.  Maybe not all the time, but a little more often.

(PG: There is nothing to worry about in this book at all.  Holling self-edits any language, and there are no troublesome references.  I'd give it a G rating, but it's really for a more sophisticated audience--middle school at least.)

Generation Dead by Daniel Waters

Cool cover, huh?  And yet it doesn't quite fit any of the characters in the book.  But that is a small point when you end up with a cover that's attractive, eye-catching, and mysterious.  I understand first time authors don't get much input on the cover, and Mr. Waters certainly  seems pleased, judging by the funny post on his blog.  

This book has one of the most original premises I've seen lately. Some dead teenagers are coming back to life, for no reason the medical establishment has gotten a grip on yet.  In the meantime, their families have to decide what to do with them. Those who have recently come back to life have difficulty speaking, have cold dead skin, no heart beat, but still have the character of their former selves.  The setting is a high school that has a high percentage of dead kids going to school there; prejudice is high.  Phoebe, the main character, becomes intrigued with one of her dead fellow students, and trouble follows. 

This was well written and intriguing enough that I sped through it.  The main characters are engaging and easy to care for.  It is in third person limited point of view, but from multiple chracters.  That is, you're only in one character's head at a time, but you get into quite a few heads.  The only problem I had with this was that sometimes their thoughts don't have a different enough feel to them.  They all think with pretty much the same vocabulary.  At one point, the bully thinks to himself that his former friend has developed a lot of poise over the summer.  "Poise" was so distracting to me that I bounced out of the story and sat there for several minutes wondering if the story wasn't maybe in third person omniscient so that everyone's thoughts were really supposed to be filtered through a god-like narrator.  I'm thinking this is a nit-picky thing only a word-obsessed person like a writer or English teacher might find distracting, though, because clearly when you're in the bully's head there are way more pressing issues than his vocabulary choice.  

Since I'm being annoyingly picky, though . . . there is a lot of skipping in this book.  (Anything more than three is a lot, right?)  Maybe the author means it metaphorically to show his female characters arriving or leaving in a bubbly, enthusiastic manner.  Maybe he has a better acquaintance with high schoolers than I do, and there's more skipping than I think there is.  It was a little distracting.

Anyway, it's different from most of what's out there, and worth a look just for that.  I would think those that have enjoyed Stephenie Meyers would smoke through this while waiting for her next installment and feel lucky to have it.

(PG-13/R: violence, language, sexual thoughts.  The violence that happens in the book is not "R" graphic, but the intention is there in a character's thoughts.  If we saw everything that happened, it would be R.)

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

It's going to look like I do nothing but read Rick Riordan books, but I'm way behind on my blogging!  So I've decided to blog about the most recently read (and therefore best remembered) backwards.

This is the fourth book in the Percy Jackson series.  I had to read it to keep up with the middle schoolers and keep up my credibility.  Plus it's a pretty entertaining series.  Unfortunately, it's been awhile since I read the other three, and I'm having trouble remembering details.   Still, a vague recollection is good enough.  Though if you haven't read any of them, I'd definitely start with the first one, The Lightning Thief.

The basic premise of this series is that the Greek myths do exist, and Percy Jackson is a half-blood, with one mortal and one immortal parent.  It's entertaining to see how Riordan deals with the old myths.  Almost all of them have a new spin on them that fit in with contemporary American culture.  (The sphinx has its own game show, for instance.) If you know the myths, it's fun to figure out which is which.  If you don't, it's just fun to go along for the adventure.  The characters are well done, and Percy has an authentic, teenage boy voice.

I thought this was originally supposed to be a trilogy, so I was really disappointed with the third book, which created way more questions than it answered.  But this one did a good job of creating action and adventure without leaving you hanging too badly at the end.  There's definitely room for more, though.  Which is good news, because my middle school males who like fantasy really LOVE this series.

PG-13:  fantasy violence, but nothing too graphic; no swearing; no sex

 

Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot

This is a light, frothy, summer beach book.  I found out about it from my "book-of-the-day" calendar, and it was a fun, fast read.  It's told completly through e-mails, answering machine messages, IM's, journal entries, and other media (like notes slid under the door). Occasionally, this feels a little contrived, but mostly it's just fun and funny.

It's about Kate (a sweet, innocent girl from Kentucky, whom you could easily see as another Anne Hathaway character) who works in human resources for a T.O.D. (tyrannical office despot).  She's trying to move on from a ten year relationship with Dale, an up-and-coming rock musician who is rather clueless and afraid of commitment.  (He reminds me of the guy who marries Lane on Gilmore Girls.)  The crux of the story is her budding relationship with Mitch, a nice lawyer whose family really puts the "fun" is "dysfunctional" (at least for those of us reading the book, not for Mitch).

The plot wasn't particularly original (very much Working Girl, which it even mentions), but it goes so fast that it's hard to disengage from it.  And the characters are entertaining.

PG-13: a lot of references to sex, but nothing "on scene," some language.  No violence at all.  A lesbian character (addressing more the difficulties of "coming out" rather than sexuality).

VOTE NOW for Hamburger James!

Big Red Tequila by Rick Riordan

I think this graphic is going to be way bigger than my others, but it's so much cooler when you can really see it, that I think I'll leave it.  Plus, if I start fiddling with it, I'll be here for hours.

The first Rick Riordan book I read was The Lightning Thief, book one in the young adult series Percy Jackson and the Olmypians. (A slightly annoying title because I can't spell lightning or thief without looking them up.)  Anyway, I put The Lightning Thief on our seventh grade summer reading list, and the results were electric.  Boys who didn't like to read anything were begging their moms to buy them the second and third books.  (Now there are four.)  So I was interested to learn Riordan had started with an adult action/adventure/mystery series way before he got into young adult fantasy.

The series concerns Jackson Navarre III, who goes by Tres.  Cool, huh?  Tres Navarre?  It's practically worth reading just so you can hang out with someone who has such a cool name.   I like action/adventure and have read a decent sampling of it, and this is a pretty adequate representation of the type.  Tres is typical of the tough guy/reluctant knight errant, a la Travis McGhee and Spenser.  I liked the setting of San Antonio, which I know almost nothing about.  

It was engaging, the mystery pretty much held up, no one really did anything terribly out of character just to push the plot along.  I'm not going to rush out and get book number two, because my "books to read" list is way too long as it is, but if I found it in a beach house I was renting, I'd happily pick it up.

One note. . . Tres has a cat named Robert Johnson (after the Delta blues singer--I looked it up). Now, maybe I was being dense or a poor reader, but I don't think he immediately made it clear Robert Johnson was a cat.  Clearly he's some sort of animal, but Riordan had him in a "cage" not a "cat carrier."  So I was imagining him being a lemur or something really cool.  I was pretty disappointed that he was a cat, especially since I'm not a cat person (achoo).  Plus then I felt stupid.

Anyway, entertaining, light summer reading.  You could do worse. 

(R rating: sex, violence)

Sunless Non-Tanning

So I had a sunless tanning "accident."  My skin is generally so pale that I could convince people of the existence of vampires if I shunned sunlight.  And I should shun sunlight because I can get a sunburn standing outside for fifteen minutes at 10:30 in the morning.  So I'm always thinking I should try these sunless tanning lotions, though in the past they haven't darkened my skin much at all.  

I'm not sure what went wrong this time.  Maybe I was in a hurry?  Maybe I was tired?  (I applied  the sunless lotion, the first time, around 11:00 p.m.)  Maybe I shouldn't have saved the stuff from last year?  (Hey, it says it doesn't expire until 5/09 . . . I thought that was the year.)  Anyway, I ended up looking like I either had some sort of bark-like skin disease or I was maybe, gradually, turning into an Oompa-loompa.  In a streaky sort of way. 

First I tried to fix it by applying the sunless tanning lotion in between the streaks and swirls.  This didn't really work, plus I ended up with several more streaks and swirls.  I tried this twice a day over three or four days.  So it really, really didn't work.  I wore black stockings to an event last Thursday, and if you looked, you could see the blotches through the hose.  (No one was looking.  It wasn't that kind of event.)

Anyway, I went online, of course, and googled "sunless tanning remove" and got a great, hysterical site with lots of good advice.  The main gist of it was, however, "just wait; it's not permanent."   :Resigned sigh:  Maybe what I'd wait on was taking the kids to the new pool we'd signed up for--just until I didn' t look like a mad scientist's skin grafting experiment.

But then something interesting happened.  I put bug spray (non DEET, mostly citronella) on the kids and myself so we could survive on the deck for half an hour, and when we came in, I grabbed some baby wipes and rubbed the bug spray off everyone.  When I rubbed it off of me, my baby wipe came away strangely orangeish.  Wait . . . orangeish??  Could it be?  YES!  Baby wipes remove the color from sunless tanning products.  At least the Huggies one I used did.  And I think it was the baby wipe and not the bug spray/baby wipe combo.

I know.  Moms everywhere are nodding in understanding, not surprised at all.  Baby wipes are the secret mom weapon.  They get out grape juice and pizza stains.  They clean sticky fingers of toxic goo.  I should have thought of them earlier.  Now all I have to worry about is my swimsuit fitting!

The Outlaw Demon Wails - Kim Harrison

This is book six in the Rachel Morgan series, and I've read and enjoyed all six.  The series takes place in an alternate here-and-now, where vampires, werewolves, witches, elves, and demons all more or less co-exist with humans.  It's a bit like Laurell K. Hamilton without the pointless sex.  (The series has sex.  Just not pointless sex.) The characters are truly unique and engaging, and Harrison draws you in and makes you care about even the ones with insignificant roles.   (More about this new gargoyle, please!)  The reintroduction of Marshall is a solitary example of a character I don't really care about.  His presence feels pointless (except to develop more relationship angst, see below).

Harrrison does a great job of catching you up if, like me, you have trouble remembering any but the most sketchy details from the previous books.  Still, despite the plethora of back story, I think you'd only be deeply, deeply confused if you were reading these out of order.  (Dead Witch Walking is the first one.)

One of the author's weaknesses is a way-too-realistic emphasis on relationship angst.  Sure, Rachel's life is 100% screwed up, and any normal person would spend at least as much time worrying about it as she does, but reading about her worrying about it gets a little old.  Plus the whole "Oh no, has my relationship with Ivy changed?" thing is now tedious.  Let's just write down on a pad of paper that Rachel and Ivy are in it for the long haul.  Refer to as necessary.

Another thing I occasionally find irritating is Rachel's charming recklessness.  It's fun most of the time (and I realize she and the author are trying to tone it down this time around), but sometimes she just seems stupid.  If I can remember that her kitchen is not on hallowed ground, she should be able to, even when distracted.   And she takes the word of other characters far too easily for someone who traditionally questions everything.

Still, all of the negatives are outweighed by my genuine interest in the characters and a great sense of pacing.  Would I read it over?  Probably not.  Am I eagerly awaiting the next one?  Absolutely.  And I'm hoping the gargoyle gets a bigger part.

  

(R rating: some sex-like vampire bloodlust, some violence, some swearing [including pixie swearing, which is  more fun than offensive].  This particular volume is probably closer to PG-13, but the series as a whole has an R feel to it.)

Thanks, Wildcat!

Hey, my friend Wildcat made me cookie graphics!  Aren't they cool?  (See the sidebar on the right.  Or go back and look at the reviews, now with cookies.)  

Check out Wildcat's highly humorous site The Wildcat's Lair, and stay tuned for more book reviews WITH cookies!

Teacher Gifts

It's that time of year again, where the school year is spiraling to a close like a penny down a coin vortex, and some of you are thinking about teacher gifts.  This is my eighth year teaching middle school, so I do have some ideas on the subject.

First, it's not necessary to buy teachers gifts at all.  The teacher will not think less of you or your child and will not miss a gift he or she doesn't get.  I know some teachers who would prefer not to get any gifts at all.

That said, maybe you'd really like to show your appreciation, and you're looking for something that best accomplishes that.  The simplest way to go is to write a heartfelt note.  This may seem like too little or too lame, but believe me, a genuine note can really make a teacher's day.  Particularly at this time of year when students' minds are already on vacation and they're telling me things like "is" is a noun and "of" is a verb, some genuine appreciation goes a long way.  The way to write a truly valued note is to be specific.  Has the teacher gone above and beyond in some particular way for your child?  Does your child really have a connection with that teacher?  Could your child write the note?  A note that says, "Thanks for being my teacher.  I learned a lot" is not going to be memorable or meaningful (particularly if "alot" is spelled as one word).   But a note that mentions an incident in class, an interesting thing the child learned, or special attention a parent is grateful for will really stand out.

You don't have to spend a lot (two words) of money to thank a teacher.  The best gift I received was for my birthday.  One of my students had been telling me all week that he was going to buy me something for my birthday, and all week I'd been telling him it wasn't necessary.  On my birthday, there was a lunch cooler on my desk.  Inside was a chilled Dr. Pepper and a printout of funny English errors from an internet site.  There was also this note, "Sorry, my mom wouldn't take me to buy you anything, so I got you this."  But it was a great gift!  Dr. Pepper is my favorite soft drink, and he had paid attention to something particular about me as a person.  Also, he had thought of it himself.  

So you don't have to spend money, but if you want to anyway, here are a few more ideas.  Avoid things that are specific to a sense of style or taste unless you really know what the teacher likes.  Contrary to popular belief, not everyone likes candles, and there is such a thing as too much bath soap.  I can go either way on candy.  It's one size fits all, but, let's face it, teachers can be a sedentary bunch (it's all that grading).  Do they really need the extra calories?  A fruit basket with some funky, seasonal fruit might stand out more.

Gift cards are, of course, always appreciated.  Most teachers supplement their classroom supplies out of their own pocket, so gift cards to an office supply store or a bookstore are good choices.  (When buying bookstore gift cards, don't forget local independent bookstores.  You can buy a gift card from www.booksense.com  that your favorite teacher can spend at independent bookstores all over the U.S.)  Other gifts I've appreciated were a gift card to get my nails done (chalk: bad for nails) and a mother actually packing me lunch for a day (one less thing to do--yes!).

This is not to say that I haven't appreciated every single gift I've ever received.  I have.  Whenever someone takes the time to say "thanks," it gives you a warm feeling.  However, as you search for the perfect gift, I'll leave you with this final thought that I got from a really great room mother.  She told me, "I try not to give things that require dusting."  Yep.  That's a good one all right.

The Light-Bearer's Daughter by O.R. Melling

This is the third book in Melling's excellent "Chronicles of Faerie" series.  The first is The Hunter's Moon and the second is The Summer King.  All three stories are connected, but the characters reoccur only peripherally.  I read somewhere that all will be rejoined in the fourth and final book, so I can't wait for that one.

In this book, Dana, who is being raised by her father in Ireland, is tapped by the Queen of Faerie to go on a special quest.  Melling does a fabulous job in all three books of capturing a real feel for Ireland as well as for the Faerie realms.  All of her characters have depth and passion, and it's easy to care for them.  Some parts could have been developed further and allowed to gain more impact, but perhaps it's my fault for not lingering longer.  I admit that I rushed through in my eagerness to devour it.  If you're paying attention, you'll make some of the critical connections well ahead of time, but the outcome is satisfying either way.

I highly recommend this series to anyone who has enjoyed Susan Cooper or C. S. Lewis, or who simply likes fairies and Ireland.  It is well-written, engaging, and fun.

 

(PG rating: no bad language, young adult pov more accessible to 6th grade and up)

Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata

I just finished this great dog book.  I'll give it 4 out of 6 stars (or maybe I should make that cookies).  Five cookies would be "I can't wait to read it again," and six would be, "I'm soon going to have the opening paragraph tatooed on my leg."  (I don't read many sixes.)

Anyway, it was recommended at a young adult book seminar I go to almost every year, and it mostly lived up to the buzz.  It's about a dog handler and his German Shepherd and what they go through during a small part of the Vietnam war.  Particularly well-done were the parts from the dog's point of view.  Normally, I'd shy away from anything told in an animal's pov, but this is neither mushy nor hokey, and it's pretty much what you were figuring your dog was thinking anyway.  ("Should I bite that guy on the nose?  No?  Well I could if I wanted to.")  Another plus is that I didn't know anything about dogs being used during the war, so it was also interesting in that regard.

This next part might be a little bit of a spoiler, so stop here if you don't even want a hint about the ending.  (Why are you still reading?)  I have to admit by about page ten I had already decided that I couldn't stand it if this turned into the

 kind of "classic" where the dog gets killed off to add pathos and drama to the story.  And since Cynthia Kadohata is a Newberry winner for the very sad (I've heard) Kira Kira, I was wary.  So I did something I never, never do.  I read the last five pages first.  And then I kept reading the book.  I'm not saying nothing bad happens at all, but I kept reading.  And I'm glad I did. 

(PG-13 rating: only mild language, some violence--hey, it's war)

I am not unique!

So, I have this weird spelling of my first name: Katharine.  With an A. Or two, really.  Growing up I found it irritating to always be correcting everyone.  (Everyone except my piano teacher, who said he was only going to learn one way to spell it, so he'd learn my way.)  I kept waiting for someone to give me a cool nickname that would stick.  Not much luck there.  Somewhere around college, though, I decided that I really liked the fact that my name was spelled differently.  It set me apart from most of the other Katherines and Catherines.  (My college registrar told me, by the way, that there are eleven different ways to spell this name, at least that she'd found.)  

Of course, I know that Katharine is not a completely unique spelling. After all, Katharine Hepburn spelled her name that way.  Katharine Kerr is an author who spells her name that way.  Katharine Graham of the Washington Post spells it the "right" way, too.  As you can see, I sort of collect Katharines.

However, all this time, I did at least think that my strangely-spelled first name and my middle name, Thayer, made an unmatched combination.  Imagine my surprise, then, to see in the Richmond Times-Dispatch recently, that there is a Katharine Thayer Bigelow (married to the brother of the Richmond guy who is going to marry George W.'s daughter, if you can follow that).

It was disconcerting.  I can't get it off my mind.  I'm not as unique as I thought I was.  Or at least my name isn't.  So now I want to write to Katharine Thayer Bigelow and find out where she got the combination.  Did she get it from each of her two great grandmothers?  Are we somehow related?   Of course, this means I should probably also write to the Katharine Thayer who is a photographer and the Katharine Thayer who is an obgyn.  (Google is a wonderful/scary thing.)  Are we related?  Do they have trouble getting people to spell their name right?  Have they ever found a mug or a rubber stamp with their name spelled correctly on it? (I actually did once, at Disney World.) 

I'm going to have to bring this up with my parents!  How dare they name me something so common?  Clearly the search for the cool nickname must continue.

Davidson Wildcats!

I don't follow basketball.  I barely remember the rules to the game, though I did get an A on the basketball quiz we took in P.E. in high school (probably just because I was so glad not to be changing into my marigold-colored uniform).  But I did go to Davidson, and even I, sports-challenged person that I am, can understand and revel in the joy of Davidson making it into the Sweet Sixteen!

What I wouldn't give to be back on our tiny campus this week.  I'm eating up the news coverage and laughing at the bewildered people who have never heard of my old stomping grounds.  One newspaper reported in awe that Davidson has a stadium that will "only" seat 5700.  They finished that stadium the year I graduated.  We, in fact, were the first class to graduate in that stadium.  And we couldn't believe it, looking around.  Why had they  built a stadium that would seat the entire college community with room left for 3000?  

There are many, many reasons I'm proud to be a Davidson grad, and my Davidson friends are some of the best, most-enduring friendships in my life.  And this week, I'm happy to be able to share that pride with the rest of the world, who has, for once, a small appreciation for my feelings.

Who Am I?

I've been procrastinating about starting this blog because I didn't know who I wanted to be on it.  Did I want to use my real name, unique spelling and all, or try to hide my identity so that I could rant about things that might get me in trouble?  

I've decided to behave myself and only write about things that will not get me fired, reprimanded, or sighed at by my mother.  I think it still gives me a lot of leeway.