No Money to Travel - Reading Journeys Part 1

So once again I find myself totally broke. As much as I would love to head out on a real summer voyage, I've decided instead that all of my journeys this season will have to be via book.

I begin my journey with a jaunt to India ala Miss Timmins' School for Girls by Nayana Currimbhoy and a trip to London thanks to Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma... If only I could get the stamps on my passport to commemorate these trips!

Miss. Timmins’ School for Girls, by Nayana Currimbhoy, was the perfect read for the start of a summer when I myself cannot travel. This book takes its readers on a journey back in time to India, to a British missionary’s run boarding school for girls; the year, 1974, the season, monsoon. It is here on her way to Miss Timmins’ that we meet one of our narrators, Charulata Apte. Charu is leaving home for the first time to teach English literature. She has led a very sheltered family-centric life up until this point. The reasons for this sheltering are explained as the story goes on. Firstly her family was forced to flee Bombay for the coast in order to escape scandal, and secondly Charu has a blot that covers part of her face. What begins as Charu’s coming of age tale as she breaks out of her shell and once befriended by the campus wild woman Moira Prince, begins a dance with the forbidden, eventually becomes an Agatha Christiesque whodunit, as one night Moira is pushed to her death off of a cliff of the nearby tablelands. The suspects are many, and it is through the eyes of Charu and one of her students, Nandita, that we piece together the events of that evening.

Ms. Currimbhoy has a wonderful way with words. Her passages were both highly descriptive and beautifully worded. She made India come alive for me as she wove foods, scents, texture, and history into her story, yet I feel that for all of this beauty, elements of the plot were choppy. Though I enjoyed the book, I found the pacing rather uneven. The story would come to fits and starts, rolling slowly uphill to suddenly lose control and veer left as it crested the hill. I suggest that any readers who find themselves frustrated, and have trouble with the pacing, continue stick with the story, for in the end it is all worth it. I also hope that next time around Ms. Currimbhoy stick to a simpler plot line so her soaring prose can have a true chance to shine.

Miss Timmins' may have taken me back in time, but Forbidden rocked my world and threw it off of its axis. While Miss Timmins' came into my life through NetGalley.com, I dove into Forbidden on a total whim (sans description) thanks to Simon and Schuester's E-Galley program. A note before you continue reading: Forbidden is not for the faint of heart!

Forbidden tells the story of the Whitley family through the eyes and alternating voices of Lochan, an almost 18 year old boy suffering from crippling social anxiety disorder, and that of his 16 year old sister Maya. Anxiety disorder is the least of Lochan and Maya's problems, for they have been handed a truly (to borrow a word from the U.K.) SHITE hand in life.

The reader quickly learns that Lochan and Maya's father abandoned the family years ago and their mother is an alcoholic who is happy to believe that she can still party like she is childless and in her early 20s. The care and keeping of the house and their three younger siblings (Kit, Tiffin, and Willa) falls solely on their shoulders. I can barely take care of myself now, so I sure as hell can't picture caring for a family at almost 18 and 16. Lochan and Maya's lives are anything but normal, but they try to soldier on.

It is here at Chapter 2 that I was suddenly struck with the awful feeling that I knew exactly where this story was heading ... all that was missing was arsenic coated powdered donuts and a psycho grandmother. Forbidden wasn't messing around and it wasn't going to hold back any punches. We were truly heading into forbidden territory! To be completely honest I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue on once I glimpsed where the train was headed. Incest isn't my cup of tea, but Suzuma's hypnotic writing kept calling to me.

Her talent is so strong and her characters were so vividly written that I couldn't look away because Lochan and Maya are that gut wrenching of characters. I couldn't look away even as the train ride came to a crashing end ... an end I didn't see coming, and an end which (when I realized what was about to happen) caused me to cry out "no, anything but that ... haven't they already been through enough!?!?". Suzuma and her heart breaking creations cause her readers to question their beliefs. Even though everything is so, so, so absolutely wrong you find yourself rooting for Lochan and Maya, even as you realize how so, so, so absolutely wrong their situation is. Romeo and Juliet has nothing on these two, and as with Romeo and Juliet you will need tissues!

Reading Forbidden shook me so much that even though it was 11:30 on a weeknight when I finished, I had to call my best friend to tell him all about the story. I knew that there was no way that I would sleep that night if I didn't try to process through what I had read. As I said to my friend once I was finally calm, "Forbidden was one hell of a book and I will read ANYTHING that Tabitha Suzuma writes ... even if it's the back of a cereal box ... she's that good!".

What a Mother Hen Feels Like ....

Today was my preschool class' closing ceremony and I'm sure I now know what a mother hen feels like when her chicks head out of the coop. I am both so totally proud of them and yet so sad because I'll miss them so much! It feels like it was just September and they were so little, but now they are all so grown up. They're totally ready to rock Kindergarten :)

I've also cultivated a theory while rehearsing the closing program this week; Wanna hear it? I'm convinced that Raffi is the children's performer equivalent of Barry Manilow. You know how you always get Barry Manilow songs stuck in your head? Well Raffi is the same way. I've had this stuck in my head for fourteen days straight, and well "This song drives me bananas"!



Though this one I still love!



If Raffi is the children's performer equivalent of Barry Manilow then Laurie Berkner is totally the children's performer equivalent of Carole King!!

Little hugs bring BIG germs

One of the greatest parts of working in the field of early childhood education is the hugs. Each day I am in the classroom I get a minimum of 5 hugs. It is nice to be loved, but these little hugs come with big germs attached! Last week most of my class was sniffling and/or coughing. I didn't think to put a stop on the hugs because I figured everyone was just suffering from allergies and they all looked so miserable they needed the extra hugs they were asking for. BIG MISTAKE! I have been infected by the pre-k plague and I find myself acting like a sick four year old. I am sniffly, coughing, and whining for all it is worth. There hasn't been enough Nyquil or Dayquil to make me behave like the adult I truly am. So in one final pathetic act I beg my inner psyche to not send me to school tomorrow!

Fun, Fun, Fun

Tomorrow after I exit the office I am heading down to Atlantic City with a friend. Borgata here I come! Now sadly, I am far too practical and poor to be an effective gambler (and my friend is the same way), but the Borgata holds certain charms:

1. The shower - Seriously the best shower I have ever had the fortune of meeting. I am only going for a night, but I may shower three times during my stay.

2. The ice tea at Wolfgang Puck's American Grille Tavern - It is crisp and fruity. Hopefully this time I will figure out what the exact blend is.

3. The Go Fishing slot machine - I'm a penny slot girl and I discovered this machine while on a trip last year. The cartoon fishies and I were muy simpatico for a time. Hopefully we won't feel awkward when we meet again.

4. Fluffy pillows - nuff said.

5. Endless bacon and orange juice at the Breakfast Buffet - Have you seen how much juice costs now? They serve it in 32 oz cups ... I fully plan to drink my weight in juice on Friday.

6. Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shop - To either celebrate our wins or to drown our sorrows

7. The glass sculptures that are everywhere - They fascinate me.

See?

and finally, 8. The proximity of the Lush store at the Casino Pier Shopping Center - I'm in need of more Rehab shampoo and some Flying Fox shower gel!!

Once I return home my brain is going to go into full summer mode. I have been remiss in my planting so I need to visit home depot for soil so my tomato plants and lone surviving zucchini seedling can get their growth on. I also need to pick up and pot some basil, cilantro, romaine lettuce, and cucumbers. A moment of silence now for the lost seedlings who did not survive the scourge of my fluffy, blue eyed plant killer.

Next up I must search out an Intex 12' X 36' pool to replace the one that didn't make it through a full floating season last year and some coconut scented sunblock.

Happy floating days are here again!

Combine Two Loves

In addition to the genres I have already rambled about I have to tell you that I love cookbooks. This is firstly because I love to cook and bake, but secondly I find cookbooks fascinating. It has rightly been said that books unlock the doors to imagination. I find that well executed cookbooks unlock not only our sense of imagination, but all of our other senses as well. I can spend hours pouring over cookbooks dreaming up special meals.

Recently I joined netGalley, and the first book I read for this program was Food from Many Greek Kitchens by Tessa Kiros, which is being released June 14th by Andrews McMeel Publishing. I love Mediterranean food and have long been on the lookout for a good Greek cookbook. It seemed like kismet when I saw this title listed in the available galleys and I have to say Tessa Kiros does not disappoint.

Food from Many Greek Kitchens is a veritable feast for the senses. Not only does every recipe sound both wonderful and delicious (even the ones with octopus, and it takes a lot to make me want to eat octopus), but the book itself is gorgeous. The pictures spaced throughout the book are breathtaking. They truly make Greece come alive for the reader. I honestly cannot decide which recipe I want to make first. I need to make a grocery list so my pantry and fridge can be stocked and ready for many possibilities! I have already put this book on my Amazon "Need Now" list because I cannot imagine not owning a hard copy. I may never get to actually see Greece in person, but I am very sure that in a short amount of time spent with this cookbook I will begin to feel like I have been there. Each recipe is like taking a trip.

Requiem for an Iced Caramel Latte and a Dryer

Today is one of those days.

I am not a coffee drinker by nature. Tea is more my thing (some may say passion or vice). Today though, thanks to a crappy night's sleep and the wonderful Teacher Appreciation gift of a Dunkin Donuts EGC that was burning a burning a hole in my pocket, I was in need of a latte. Thanks to the overabundance of DD in Monmouth County I pass not one, but two on my way to work. A quick spin through the drive through and a large iced caramel latte was mine.

Then tragedy struck...

Before I could take one sip, the cup slipped out of my hand and the entire latte spilled all over the floor of my car. It created an icy, caramel scented lake. Alas poor latte, we could have been great together!

Sigh ... then I got a call that my dryer had died. Now I really wished I had coffee!

Thank the Lord...

It's Friday!

The end of vacation was like being shot out of a cannon.This week has been a crazy jumble of juggling working at school and working in the office. It wasn't my most successful multi-tasking adventure. Hopefully life will get back to normal next week!