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Weekend Words

February 23, 2008 – 8:40 am

Guess what is on the New York Times top ten “Most Popular” articles on its Web site? Was it about McCain and the lobbyist? No. Strife in Pakistan? Good guess. However, the hot article this past week has been about the semicolon. The article titled “Celebrating the Semicolon in a Most Unlikely Location” tells how a New York City Transit placard uses this old-fashioned punctuation and started a buzz. What a wonderful thing that we can be excited by the proper use of punctuation! As my favorite grammar book, Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, explains the semicolon is the proper mark of punctuation to join two gramatically complete clauses when not joined by a conjunction.

“Indeed, this simple method of indicating relationship between statements is one of the most useful devices of composition.”

I agree. The semicolon is useful; let’s dust it off and bring it back.

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Owl Moon

February 22, 2008 – 11:20 am

Nothing in the meadow moved. All of a sudden an owl shadow, part of the
big tree shadow, lifted off and flew right over us. We watched silently
with heat in our mouths, the heat of all those words we had not spoken.

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen is the story of a young girl going owling with her father for the first time one wintry night. There is good reason why this 1987 children’s book remains popular, has won several awards including a Caldecott and has been translated into many languages. The story reads like poetry. Yolen’s language takes the simple activity of a walk through the woods at night and makes it magical. Officially, the book is for ages two through six. I say it’s for us big people too.

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Mayle the Foodie

February 21, 2008 – 10:46 am

I’ve been conditioned by the propaganda: Cheese is bad for you, the sun is bad
for you, and don’t even think about alcohol or tobacco. Remarkable how the
French manage to survive to a ripe old age, isn’t it? They must be doing
something right.

I’m reading a fun book by Peter Mayle who always includes luscious descriptions of food, usually French, in his books. My book club and I have discussed what to call books which fall between beach books and literature — and this is an example. Well-turned sentences, no dumbed-down vocabulary, active plot, and memorable characters. The novel is Chasing Cezanne; Mayle’s better known book is A Year in Provence. What do you term books that aren’t trashy like the typical beach book but that won’t be required reading in literature class either?

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Twelfth Night’s Music

February 20, 2008 – 9:59 am

If music be the food of love, play on.

By itself, this is a joyous sentence. In context, the opening line from Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night is spoken by Orsino who is frustrated in courtship and wants an overabundance of love so he can lose his appetite for it. The happy interpretation is timely for me. We’ve recently been introducing the pre-schoolers to more music. Now they say, “that’s a fiddle” or “that music is sad.” We dance and smile and tap our toes in the car. Music often plays an important role in Shakespeare’s plays and I hope in our children’s lives too. Play on!

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Orwell’s 1984

February 19, 2008 – 8:53 am

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking
thirteen.

I’m ready for spring but I don’t think there will be many daffodils blooming after this sentence. In this opening to George Orwell’s landmark book 1984, he sets the bleak tone immediately. Terms such as Big Brother have crossed over from the book into our political lexicon. This is worth re-reading. Have you recently read this classic from your school days?

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Kafka’s Cockroach

February 18, 2008 – 9:02 am

One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself
transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin.

That’s the captivating opening sentence to Franz Kafka’s short story about the salesman who woke up as a giant cockroach. It is simple, yet tells the reader the pivotal moment in Gregor’s life. The Metamorphosis is a wild tale of alienation and family relationships. There are endless commentaries on the symbolism of this famous story — yet with all its serious underpinings, there is humor too. It’s one first sentence that certainly made me curious to read on. What first sentences have grabbed you?

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Weekend Words

February 16, 2008 – 8:15 am

No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting.

One man in my book club would weight each monthly book in his hand and talk about the entertainment value he had gotten. And I often compare the hours of reading enjoyment with other things like movies. I have to agree with this quote from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu — reading is entertainment that lasts. One of the sentences in an earlier blog I remembered from a book I read in college (and that was many years ago!). What books have lasting power for you?

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Atlas Shrugged

February 15, 2008 – 10:52 am

Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not
replace you as the driver.

Most of the books I blog about here I’ve read. But not this one. However, I feel I “should” because it tops several must read book lists and continues to be influential decades after it was published. Devotees to Ayn Rand’s book include CEO’s and leaders such as Bill Gates and Alan Greenspan. There is even The Atlas Society which promotes business achievement the Rand way. The 1,000-plus page novel laying out her objectivist philosophy seems daunting. Have you tried it?

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Happy Valentine’s Day !

February 14, 2008 – 10:18 am

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,while loving someone deeply
gives you courage. Lao-Tzu

I hope you are the giver and receiver of loving words today…

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Last Night at the Lobster

February 13, 2008 – 8:32 am

In the final hours of a closing restaurant, the manager is losing both his job and the employee he loves.

He wants to make a final declaration out here in the dark before they rejoin the
others – “I love you” or something equally futile – but she’s already headed for
the door, escaping him again, as always.

Stewart O’Nan’s writing is simple yet paints the atmosphere with well-chosen words. Here, we sense how futile the effort is with words such as dark, door, escape, always. I enjoyed Last Night at the Lobster for the quiet dignity O’Nan shows in an unlikely hero.

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