The Little Friend

Posted on July 25, 2006
Filed Under Blather, me and my brain, the written word | 3 Comments

I recently finished Donna Tartt’s The Little Friend, and I love it (that’s present tense) so much that it’s high time I wrote about it. (When I loaned it to Ezra–who gobbled it up–I told him to be especially kind to it, as I plan to tie it with a ribbon and keep it my prized possession.)

The Little Friend

I was completely enthralled by it from start to finish. The descriptions of characters and their surroundings are so rich and she includes just the right details; for example, the foods they prepare for a Mother’s Day celebration–all appropriate to where they live, their social standing, and their personalities–with the important note that these foods are a departure from their usual Mother’s Day fare. The author draws the characters through funny little stories that add too much to the book to be considered ancillary. I love the characters so much, and the events of the book unfold to draw the reader ever deeper into understanding them and their relationships. As I read the book, I thought that it was not so much what happened that mattered to me–though of course that is very important, and it is a great story–but the way it is written, who the characters are, and what they do.

In particular, I identify with the main character, Harriet. Tartt begins her introduction of Harriet with the following sentence (which I’ve now repeated often), “Harriet, the baby, was neither pretty nor sweet. Harriet was smart.” When I first read them, those eleven words in all their simplicity shot right into me in their to-the-point (much like Harriet) perfection. I always admire authors who can have that effect on me with language–not using the biggest or most impressive words, but the right ones. I don’t know–that sentence probably doesn’t mean a damn thing to most people who read it, but I love it.

If you don’t want to hear a word more about the book until you read it yourself, stop here. If you don’t mind some minor character points that probably don’t have a whole lot of significance plot-wise but that mean something to me, read on.

Harriet is wonderfully real. I see myself in little things she says and does, and her daring is an inspiration. Early in the book, she makes her small friends–all younger boys, all sort of her minions–act out biblical scenes in costume in the yard (which reminds me of Ez). She makes lists. Lots of people do, but her lists sound like my lists–lists that I still make. I guess some of these kinds of details are supposed to be a part of showing her as an adolescent female, beginning to form a more adult identity. Maybe I am just still living in that adolescent world, but I do that stuff. I reach back for those instinctual tools. Harriet and I make plans.

I could discuss The Little Friend further, and I probablly will. I feel that my connection with this book is somehow very personal. Though I can’t stop talking about it, I’m not sure that my experience is typical. Ezra really liked it though, so I’ll go ahead and make this an official recommendation.

Asobi Seksu-Mizu Asobi

Posted on July 20, 2006
Filed Under Song of the Day, music | Leave a Comment

I think they played here and I missed them.  Sad!

Finished knitting project

Posted on July 19, 2006
Filed Under Blather, family, knitting | 6 Comments

Woo hoo! I have finished another knitting project–mid-summer, no less. I had hoped to finish a little white dress for my niece Eva in time to give it to her when we first met her in Montreal this past April, but I couldn’t quite make it–sewing up the pieces and finishing all the trim takes time! So, this past weekend I worked on the dress in the car on the way to Saratoga Springs to see Simon, Frances, and Eva. I finally wove in the last of the ends on Sunday morning in our hotel in Glens Falls, and this is the result:

It’s my first-ever knit dress, and I learned a lot in the process of sewing up the pieces and putting on the finishing touches. I modified the pattern a little, too.

Even after the Accident, it sounds like Big Ben is a Big Idiot

Posted on July 13, 2006
Filed Under Blather, Pennsylvania, rant, sports in general | Leave a Comment

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5780408?FSO1&ATT=HMA

Roethlisberger was cited for not wearing a helmet when the accident happened.

“That day I wasn’t, I forgot it. I literally forgot it,” he said. “You know there are times that, people that have been making a big deal for the last couple years about me riding first of all, and then me riding without a helmet, but it’s one of those things that I ride with a helmet also. I do a little bit of both. If you don’t wear a seat belt every time you ride in the car should I label you as a person who doesn’t wear a seat belt? And unfortunately I happened to not have it on that day because I forgot it in the basement.”

It’s not like that Ben, old boy. The whole point is that you don’t anticipate an accident. It’s not “Gee, I don’t feel like it today, and no one should blame me for that.” It’s more like, “You wear a seatbelt in a car and a helmet on any sort of bike every time you go out, or you don’t go out at all. Period.” As a public figure, I think he should take what he says a little more seriously. What a shit example he’s becoming.

You know what:
“If you don’t wear a seat belt every time you ride in the car should I label you as a person who doesn’t wear a seat belt?”

My answer to that is, YES.

“Hi, my name is Ben Roethilisberger and I’m a complete idiot.”

Camera Obscura at Great Scott, July 6, 2006

Posted on July 8, 2006
Filed Under Blather, music, photography | 1 Comment

Camera ObscuraI’m pretty dazed from the late night, so please forgive me if my little review of the show is a bit disjointed. With that disclaimer out of the way…

Last night’s show at Great Scott was really fun. The opening band, Georgie James (from DC!, as they reminded us several times) weren’t awful, but they didn’t inspire me to yank out my earplugs. They went on at around 10:30 or so, which meant that Camera Obscura didn’t go on until well after 11:00. Hence the incoherence here.

I’d seen pictures of Camera Obscura before, but I was still struck by how genuine and unpretentious they seemed. (This contrasted a little with Georgie James–but again, I’ve seen worse, and you can’t really blame an opening band for trying, can you?) The setlist pulled heavily from the new record, but also included a few picks from their last two outings, Underachievers Please Try Harder and Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi. I thought it was kind of cute that they wrote out their setlists on Days Inn notepaper–it was somehow both rock’n'roll and quaint. Ezra, who is becoming the seasoned concert-goer, snagged a setlist at the end of the night (woo hoo!).

Camera Obscura setlist

This one doesn’t include the encore, which consisted of “I Need All the Friends I Can Get” and my favorite, “Suspended from Class”. They considered playing a request instead, which would have been cool, I suppose–but I would have been pretty disappointed if they hadn’t played “Suspended from Class”, so I was happy.

Camera Obscura

They sounded quite good, despite having to use borrowed guitars (and this on only the third night of their tour), despite enduring keyboard issues that forced them to restart “Country Mile”, and despite the fact that their little glockenspiel wasn’t well miked and its lid fell nearly shut mid-song. They had a good humor about everything, and even told us a joke (not a particularly funny joke on its own, but it was charming in context). Ezra and I agreed that Lloyd didn’t seem as enveloping as it does on record. I’m not sure if that was because the sound wasn’t right for that one, or just because the recording is so lush and wonderful that it’s a challenge to recreate it fully in a smallish club. We also agreed that “Razzle Dazzle Rose”, which didn’t knock us out the first few times we heard it on record, sounded great live.

More pictures here.

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