Pethricks

You Shall Know Our Velocity | Dave Eggers

I’ve heard a lot about Dave Eggers via the NYT Book Review and the like and so was pleased to find this novel in the stacks at the Stratford Library.

I’ll be honest with you, after the first couple of hundred pages or so, it was pretty hard going. Not that struggling with a book is not an enjoyable nor worthwhile pursuit, but after all is said and done, you expect a little bit of reward for hanging in there and I’m afraid, I was left wanting a little more payoff when I turned the last page of this one.

There’s no doubting Eggers’ writing chops, it’s just that, like many talented folks, these are best employed with discretion to provide readers like myself, with a bit of space to appreciate what they’ve just experienced. I’m not talking about the plot being more literal here, rather that there are a few more pointers to remind the reader that they are still on the right path!

That all said, I haven’t given up on Eggers and having thoroughly enjoyed watching “Away We Go” recently, which he co-wrote, I’ll look for a copy of his perhaps more acclaimed novel “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.”

I’m Not the Target Customer

There are a couple of things that frustrate me when shopping at the grocery store. One of these is the height of the keypad that one use to swipe your card and then enter a PIN number. I’m 6′3″ and I always have to assume a semi-limbo like pose to position myself in such a way to both see the small screen and accurately key in my numbers etc.

For a while I put this down to bad design and that whoever built this unit hadn’t done their homework to see it in use and refine it to the point where it is usable. Then it occurred to me that they probably had. The trouble, for me at least, is that I’m not the customer that they had in mind when they designed them.

All stereotypes aside, the typical customer in a grocery store is not a male the other side of six feet. Rather, it’s likely to be a female less around five and a half feet, and for someone of that size, the keypad is probably optimal.

So grocery stores, you get a free pass on that one, but I’ll keep looking!

Car Service for Dogs

Spotted a small SUV near Grand Central with signs telling me that it was a car service for dogs. I wonder if they offer upgrades to let canine passengers stick their heads out the window or even better, out the sunroof, Vegas-style?

Shakespeare | Bill Bryson

Another book on CD and one thoroughly enjoyed. Bill Bryson has done a good job here focusing on the things that we don’t know about William Shakespeare, rather than the things that we do know, or, more to the point, think that we know. He of course has a point in doing so – for what we the things we don’t know for sure about the Bard and his contemporaries, significantly outnumber the things that we actually do know, and then, for someone of his time, we know an extraordinary amount about him. A publisher with a glint in their eye (and perhaps more restraint than yours truly) could have even subtitled the book, “Much Ado About Nothing!”

Bryson doesn’t pretend to be scholarly and this is what makes this book refreshingly credible. He doesn’t over-reach nor take himself too seriously, as more than one Shakespearean academic has done in the past.   He has done an excellent job in placing Shakespeare in his historical context. If one already knows a little about British history for the period, then Bryson’s explanations only serve to enhance your knowledge and make your appreciation of Shakespeare and his time even richer. Yet again, a little context goes a long way.

One of my favorite snippets: the only thing that our collective understanding of the hallowed Globe Theater in London (which showcased many of Shakespeare’s plays) is based upon nothing more than a tourist’s sketch. What artifacts for the future are we then creating today?

“Only one man had the circumstances and gifts to give us such incomparable works, and William Shakespeare of Stratford was unquestionably that man – whoever he was.”

A Snow Cone for Your First Born

So, I’m not afraid to say it, we’re at Disney Princesses on Ice. They’re charging $12 for a snow cone!! $12!!! My kids can beat out the Zamboni at intermission before I’ll pay $12 for a snow cone.

Snow

As someone who didn’t grow up with snow, I’ll be honest to say that I am still fascinated by it and the way that it can change a landscape in a matter of minutes.  To me, cold weather is really a novelty even after almost three years of living in New England.

It also makes me wonder a little about how my New Year’s childhood memories of the beach and burnt feet on searing pavement compares to those of my kids with snow angels, sledding and frost bitten cheeks and noses.

New Year's Eve Snow From My Office Window

Freddo… Molto freddo

Translation: Brrrr

Darby

App test

Testing the Wordpress iPhone App

Rag Man | Pete Hautman

I was pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of Pete Hautman books at the Stratford Library having read “Doohickey” a few years back. “Rag Man” is a tidy read that dwells upon what happens when an individual, part through choice, part through circumstance, decide to change what they value and how they value others.

The book kept me intrigued and I like the way the author situates his novels in places where he resides, you get a feel that can only be conveyed through a little local knowledge.  For mine however, Hautman brings ‘the plane in to land’ a tad too quick and so I was left feeling a little rushed and unresolved over the last few pages.