The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - by Junot Diaz

50-word reviews are really hard to write! I'm actually re-doing this one because I was not pleased with the first attempt. I may change the limit to 100 words. We'll see...

Not brief, but definitely wondrous.
Diaz writes in a style that's all his own, combining passion, pain, and humor with a little bit of Dominican history and lot of fantasy/sci-fi terminology. Although the novel is centered around Oscar, a painfully lovable loser and his quest for love, it is the development of the supporting cast of characters and narrators that really keeps the story moving.

Pick up this book and go with it!

Also, check out this site for Spanish to English translations and references: http://www.annotated-oscar-wao.com/index.html. Thanks to B for the great find!

LOST Lunch Thursday: He's Our You

So, I have a very regular lunch schedule at work. On Mondays I go out, on Tuesdays I eat at my desk, on Wednesdays I knit with the Knit Wits, and on Thursdays I meet with a random assortment of LOST-obsessed coworkers to talk about the latest episode. There's nothing wrong with that, right?

Okay, so on to Wednesday's episode. If you watch the show, but haven't seen Season 5 Episode 10: He's Our You, look away!

This whole season has been incredible, as far as I'm concerned. I almost gave up on the show, and then this season has made me feel like every hour I've spent watching has been worth it. Anyway, I've read on multiple blogs that LOST fans are divided as to whether little Ben lives or dies. Our group unanimously believes that he lives. AND, we all pretty much believe that this is the defining moment, the ultimate betrayal, of his life.

Remember when Charlotte was dying, she said she remembered Farraday telling her not to come back to the island. A whole series of events that technically shouldn't have happened yet...

I'm starting to think that that plotline was actually developed just to help us understand this whole thing with Sayid and Ben. When Ben gets captured by the Losties in Season 2 with the hatch, he already knows Jack, and Hurley, and Kate from the Dharma initiative in the 70s....and he already knows he's been shot by Sayid. Crazy!

So, Sayid is thinking he needs to kill Ben to save the Island and to stop the whole Dharma massacre, but instead, he is the reason that Ben becomes what he becomes.

Or at least that's what my Thursday LOST lunch group thinks :)

And, by the way, we also think there's something way weird with Ethan's mom. And I still can't get over the fact that Sun didn't flash! But I'll leave that for a different post.

Knitting with the Knit Wits

Every Wednesday at lunch, I head down to the cafe on the 6th floor to eat and knit with the AT charity knitting group, the Knit Wits. I've had a lot of fun so far, knitting with the Knit Wits, and am happy I've had the opportunity to get to know a new group of people at work. And I've picked up a few new skills in the process!

Last winter, we knit hats for a charity called Warm Woolies: http://www.warmwoolies.org/

And this spring, we're going to auction off a big afghan and donate the proceeds to an organization called No Child Left Inside: http://www.cbf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_sub_actioncenter_federal_NCLB

Everyone is responsible for knitting one 12x12 square and then at the end, we'll knit them together and add a border. I chose this pattern for a couple of reasons. Not only does it closely resemble Jason's wedding band, but it is also the center panel in the afghan my mother knit for me when I left for college!

I have about 6 more inches to go on my square. I'll be sure to take a pic of the completed afghan this April at our spring charity event!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I actually forgot I took this picture. That's what a pub crawl will do to you!

Anyway, even as a faux Irish, I still love me a good St. Patrick's Day party. We had a ton of fun this weekend, celebrating with our friends Patrick (pictured with my one-eyed husband), Sarah, Kristen, Daryn, and Kylie.

May your heart be light and happy

May your smile be big and wide

And may your pockets always have

a coin or two inside!

Slainte!

March Madness

Even though my beloved Cincinnati Bearcats did not make the tourney this year (again!), I'm still extremely excited about March Madness. And maybe it's a good thing they didn't make it...I can't count how many office pools I've lost by foolishly sending UC to the Final Four. This year, I don't have as much rooting interest in any of the teams, so I'm hoping I won't end up in the bottom of the standings. Still, I have a few rules of thumb that may or may not prove to be my downfall:

1. Pick Big Ten teams to win early and lose late, except for Michigan State
2. Pick Big East teams to win whenever possible, especially when playing Big Twelve teams
3. Hope that Duke and UNC lose as early as can be expected. This year I have both going down in the Sweet Sixteen
4. Cheer for Memphis because Derek Rose went there :)
5. Cheer for Xavier because they're a Cincinnati team
6. Cheer for West Virginia because Bob Huggins is the coach

Here are my picks:

First round winners

The Midwest: Louisville, Ohio State, Arizona (upset!), Wake, West Virginia, Kansas, Southern Cal (upset!), and Michigan State

West: U Conn, Texas A&M, Purdue (against my better judgement...), Mississippi State (upset!), Marquette, Mizzou, Maryland (upset!), and Memphis

East: Pitt, Oklahoma State, Fla State, Xavier, UCLA, Villanova, Minnesota (upset!), and Duke

South: UNC, LSU, Western Kentucky (upset...sorry Illini, but without Frazier, I'm not a believer), Gonzaga, Arizona State, Syracuse, Michigan (upset! they were so excited to make it in this year, I think the momentum is with them), and Oklahoma

Sweet Sixteen: Louisville, Wake, West Virginia, Michigan State, U Conn, Purdue, Marquette, Memphis, Pitt, Fla State, 'Nova, Duke, UNC, Gonzaga, 'Cuse, and Oklahoma

Elite Eight: Louisville, Michigan State, U Conn, Memphis, Pitt, 'Nova, Gonzaga, and Syracuse

Final Four: Michigan State, Memphis, Pitt, and Syracuse

National Championship: Pittsburgh! over Memphis

Note: I probably would have picked Memphis to win it all, but my husband already did. It's more fun to pick a different team. And, it increases the odds that one of us will take home the cash!

Angela's Ashes

From now on, I'm going to write book reviews in 50 words or less. I stole this idea from my friend Andrew's movie review site, FlickFool. Check it out:

http://flickfool.com/

Anyway, here's my first attempt at brevity:

Think times are tough? Get a glimpse of what life was like in Limerick during WWII and you might just feel a little better about the current situation. Through all the hunger and despair, Frank McCourt still keeps us feeling optimistic in this powerful memoir.

Final recommendation: "Read it."

Puppy love

Even though we were in Cincinnati for less than 24 hours, I'm so glad we made the trek. In addition to celebrating my dad's 60th birthday, we also got to meet up with Dana and Alan to celebrate their recent engagement! Dana's ring is super pretty -- the pic is too blurry to really appreciate it in all of its glory. But you can see how it glitters right? Her ring has a new cut, the Tycoon, that was designed with extra facets on top for maximum sparkle. It's called "the only diamond with a diamond on top":

http://www.hlgross.com/index.cfm?page=tycoon

I'm also really happy we got to meet Dana's adorable new puppy Gus. As most people know, I'm not a big dog person. But a dog like Gus? Irresistible! He's a shih tzu-poodle mix and looks like a little teddy bear. I kind of want one.

Everyday Italian

My friend Lindsay and her beau Patrick came over for dinner last night and man, did we have a feast! Thanks to Giada De Laurentiis for her tasty red sauce recipe, Jason for his homemade meatballs, and the Barefoot Contessa for making tiramisu so easy. Here's the recipe if anyone is interested:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/tiramisu-recipe/index.html

A few of the reviews said the rum taste was a little too strong so I only used half the amount. I thought it tasted delicious! And so did Patrick -- he went back for seconds.

I'm actually writing this post from my parents' condo in Cincinnati (Northern Kentucky). Jason and I drove down today to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday. We caught him after a bottle of wine lunch so we got an especially enthusiastic reception :) He's napping it off now so he has the strength to make it through dinner tonight!

Everything Is Illuminated

I don't know why I avoided this book for as long as I did. I had it in my hand at least 6 or 7 times at the library or airport bookstore and yet never managed to bring it home. That might have been because the plot sounded overly intricate or maybe because I didn't like the looks of Elijah Wood on the cover of the paperback that was released to promote the movie version of the novel. Regardless, I waited.

A few weeks ago, my sister B finished the book and said it was funny. But she also paused and said, "I'll be interested to find out what you think of it." Of course that meant I had to read it. And I'm glad I did! I can see why she gave it a mixed review...although the beginning is indeed hilarious, some parts in the middle are kind of tedious. And then the book takes a turn and just becomes totally heart wrenching!

As I mentioned above, the plot is overly intricate, but I will do my best to describe... Most of the story is narrated by Alex, a Ukranian translator who accompanies the hero, Jonathan Safran Foer, on his quest to find the woman he thinks saved his grandfather from the Nazis. In between Alex's letters and book 'divisions' are sections of Jonathan's own novel about the history of the village where his grandfather grew up.

The chapters narrated by Alex are wonderful. His broken English is funny at first and then touching as the novel progresses. The alternating chapters about the history of the shetl use a little too much magical realism for my liking...I found myself racing through Jonathan's novel so that I could get to one of Alex's chapters. And then at the end, I just wasn't really sure what to think.

This may not sound like a ringing endorsement, but I'm very glad I read this book! It makes you think if you know what I mean.

On a side note, I think my sister and I both eventually picked up this book because we loved Nicole Krauss' The History of Love so much. She's married to Jonathan Safran Foer, so it seemed like the right thing to do, to read his book too. Although I did enjoy Everything Is Illuminated, I still think his wife wrote a better book :)

Sunday sew time

One of my favorite things to do on a Sunday is to play with my new sewing machine. I'm still learning the basics, just sewing straight lines and working through the patterns in Diana Rupp's Sew Everything Workshop. Thanks to her good direction and all the cute fabric I've purchased at The Needle Shop, I think I've turned out some decent work!

Check out my lovely sewing maching cover. I don't think it looks too bad there sitting out in the open under the console table in my dining room. And yes, that is a matching pin cushion on top of my sewing kit.

I'm also quite proud of my new tote bag. It has a purple lining. Fun! Jason likes to use my jaguar pillow as a back rest.

Note: pics were taken with my phone. Hence, the poor quality.