Wondrous Words Wednesday

First of all, happy birthday to me! :)

Second of all, I've been inspired by Mo to try to do this meme every now and then. Who can't use a few vocabulary words?!

Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by Bermudaonion, and the idea is that you write down unfamiliar words that you run across when you're reading and look them up and share the meaning.

These words are from Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper.

Tarsier - a small, arboreal, nocturnal primate of the genus Tarsius, of Indonesia and the Philippines, having a long thin tail, very large immobile eyes, and prominent pads on the fingers and toes: all populations are dwindling.

"I think of saying something like tarsier just to show off, but then he'll ask what the hell that is and I can't remember if it is a rodent or a lizard." (page 281)

Neutropenic - ?? I'm unsure of this. I can't find a clear definition of this one and I'm not sure which definition of the root word applies. I know it's the adjective form of Neutropenia.

Neutropenia is defined as an abnormal decrease in the number of neutrophils in the blood.

Neutrophil is defined as –adjective 1. (of a cell or cell part) having an affinity for neutral dyes.

–noun 2. a phagocytic white blood cell having a lobulate nucleus and neutrophil granules in the cytoplasm.

The context of the word is below (she was describing the punch at a dance for cancer patients).


"Like every other food item provided for the celebrants, it's neutropenic." (page 318)

So does she mean that the punch was neutrally colored or that there was something about the punch that made it boost the white blood cells of a group of people who would have a low blood cell count due to all the chemo? Can punch do that??

Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let me Go was my book club's pick for our April discussion.

Eight out of nine of us enjoyed the book which is saying a lot since we have such diverse tastes.

It's set in the 90s, yet it's got a futuristic feel to it.

The narrator is Cathy H. and she speaks to the reader directly throughout the book, as if the reader is her peer. Cathy is a human clone who lives in a world where scientific experiments have achieved cures for cancer and all kinds of horrible diseases. Many of these cures involve the use of cloning. In fact, clone "farms" are common and these clones are raised knowing that their sole purpose in life is to grow up and donate their organs to regular humans to keep them alive.

Cathy grew up at Hailsham, a different type of clone farm. It was set up like a boarding school and was one of the few humane places for clones. The "guardians" at clone farms wanted to give the clones a childhood with a decent quality of life, so they set up an environment where they could be educated and live very similarly to other children.

We get to watch Cathy and her friends grow up and leave Hailsham. Most of her friends become donors, but Cathy herself is a "Carer." Her job is to take care of the other donors until she is notified that it's time for her donations to begin.

It was a very interesting story. The writing style made bits and pieces of the story leak out over the course of the book, but the author always held just enough back to make me want to go ahead and read the next chapter to find out more.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by the Should Be Reading blog. Info about this meme can be found at that link.

Jesse is wrong--I didn't come to see Kate because it would make me feel better. I came because without her, it's hard to remember who I am. -- page 138

From My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

(GREAT book!)

Curiouser and Curiouser

My sister called me today to tell me that she had called home and talked to my dad to see how things were going. My dad cannot talk on the phone without my mom yelling over him in the background to make ammendments to whatever he's saying or correct him or just generally be the center of attention.

Anyway, as my sister was talking to him, my mom was yelling in the background. "Tell her I want her to go to Wal-Mart and buy me a turban to wear to my doctor's appointment this week! I don't want a do-rag, I want a turban!"

What? Does she think she's going to look cuter in a turban than if she'd just brush her hair? I guess she thinks she'll get more attention at the doctor's office if she shows up looking like a cancer patient. Does Wal-Mart even sell turbans?

Ridiculousness.

I haven't even called home since the first couple of days since she got out of the hospital. I just can't handle it. I think maybe something is wrong with me because probably most people would recover from being around that faster than I do. My blood boileth over.

Anyhoo!
_________________

Hope everyone had a good weekend. I had one filled with good friends and good times. I am blessed to know some of the funniest people on the planet.

Skin Deep by Karol Griffin

Skin Deep: Tattoos, The Disappearing West, Very Bad Men, and My Love for them All by Karol Griffin

I got my hands on an ARC copy of this, so I’m not sure that this is available to the general public yet.

The author is a tattoo artist who discusses how she got started tattooing, what tattoos mean to her, and the different reasons people get tattooed. She also talks about how people have taken the idea of what The West is like and have made it into kind of a caricature so that now when we think of what The West is, we think of the décor in a steakhouse rather than what The West used to be about.

She also talks about her personal life and the crazy men she’s been mixed up with.

I thought it was interesting—especially the parts where she discusses how she got to be so good at tattooing (practicing on oranges and Styrofoam cups). How scary would it be to do that first tattoo on human skin and know that if you screwed up, that person would be stuck with your mistake forever?

A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton

This was another one of our Book Club picks.

In A Map of the World, the lives of the main characters, Howard and Alice Goodheart, are shattered when their neighbor’s young daughter, Lizzy, slips out of the Goodheart’s home on Alice’s watch. When the Alice finds Lizzy floating facedown in the family pond, she becomes hysterical and plunges into a deep depression.

The Goodheart’s have always been viewed as outsiders in their small community. After the tragic drowning of Lizzy, rumors start to fly and soon Alice finds herself falsely accused of sexually abusing several children at the school where she is employed as the school nurse.

The story focuses on Alice’s emotional state as she processes her guilt related to Lizzy’s death and awaits her trial in jail.

Discussion of this book sparked some interesting dialogue about how we as a society assign a stigma to “the accused” – whether or not they are ultimately proven guilty. Another conversation centered on the idea that the type of tragic accident that sparked Alice’s downward spiral could happen to anyone.

It's a little bit depressing, but I enjoyed the book.

Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding

Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding

I really enjoyed this author’s Bridget Jones Diary series, so I was compelled to pick this book up and give it a try.

I tried to like it. I really did, but I just couldn’t. If it hadn’t been for my previous good experience with the author’s work, I wouldn’t have bothered to finish it.

The main character goes from hanging around in celebrity circles with her no-good-for-her famous boyfriend to volunteering at an African relief camp. I thought it tried to straddle the world of Chick-Lit and serious fiction and it just didn’t work for me. I got frustrated with the character when she would put up with over the top nonsense from her boyfriend, and I thought parts of the relief camp story were unbelievable.

For instance, there is a plague of locusts which is threatening the crops in a region that is already famine-stricken. So the main character goes on a daring trip to talk to someone important about getting some aid (all the while nearly being blown to pieces) and the next thing you know, she and her companion are hiding out in the wilderness smoking pot and hooking up. What? Just strange.

I can’t recommend this one.

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

I’ve been remiss about posting book reviews, so I’ll try to do a little catching up.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

This was one of my book club’s picks. It’s a LONG book. It looks daunting, but it is extremely well written and worth the time commitment.

The story is set in 12th century England and follows the lives of a couple of different families over a period of many years.

One of the main characters dreams of building a beautiful cathedral and spends his whole life chasing that dream. He and his children experience tragedy along the way, but somehow they manage to keep chasing the dream.

Another of the main characters is Aliena. Her dying father made her promise that she would not rest until she helped her brother become an important lord, so she spends her life bound to this promise and feeling guilt anytime something sets her brother back.

I cannot write a review of this book that will do it justice without giving away spoilers. It is action packed…every page reveals a new twist in the story. Give it a try!

Random Updates

1. The monkey at Doggy Camp is a Capuchin. Very cute, but a little scary at the same time. It makes a lot of noise rattling around inside its enclosure. I'm also told that it lures the dogs over to its enclosure by offering them "monkey chow" and then when they get close, it takes their collars off and hides them in its house. Cheeky monkey! Butter stayed at Camp while I was out of town and the lady said she did really well. So I pretty much can already tell the lady is a liar. :)

2. Mom's surgery went well. She's at home now and is receiving home visits from nurses and physical therapists (because they said she oughta go to rehab, but she said NO, NO, NO.) My poor daddy...pray for him. She's also dealing with bouts of nausea and some fever. Not sure what that's all about, but I'm sure it's not pleasant. The good news is that her pain is much less than before she had the surgery.

3. I got to spend a little time with my great-nephew when I was down there and I just get crazier and crazier about him. I went to his daycare's Easter party and watched him for a little bit, then we checked him out of daycare and took him up to see my mom. That kid sat in my lap and listened to me read an entire children's book to him one and 1/2 times. He's 20 months old. I could not be more proud.

4. What else? We've got clients in town (again) this week, so we've been spending a lot of "team building" time with them. It's a little exhausting being in meetings so much (and devoting our lunch hours and our after hours time to entertaining them), but it's good to get to know them a little better.

It's 8:46 and I'm exhausted. I think I'm going to play a little game of Halo and then call it a night.

Overwhelmed

I just found out last week that my mother is having surgery this week, so I'm kind of scrambling around trying to take care of some last minute things before I go down to spend a few days with her and my dad.

Anyway, this post will seem very disjointed, but this is just how my mind is today, so maybe it's appropriate.

1. I am experiencing shortness of breath due to tightness of pants. I'm serious. Who knew that something that isn't wrapped around one's lungs could cause breathing problems? Anyway, I decided that I couldn't go on huffing and puffing anymore so I broke down and went jeans shopping today at lunch.

I do not like shopping. Maybe I missed some girly gene that makes some people like shopping and talking on the phone. I don't know. I just don't like it. My first stop was Old Navy. I tried on a pair of jeans in a size N regular(n is for number. You will notice that it's a big N.). I could hardly pull them all the way up. I tried on a pair in a size N long (same number) and they're huge on me. The next size down is way too small. This type of scenario seems like some kind of cosmic joke (a very unfunny one), so I was not pleased when I went into the dressing room.

Chick wearing huge sunglasses and training some guy in the dressing room: You have to let them know about the sales, because how else will they know about all the great deals?

Dude being trained: OK.

(I enter center stage)

Chick: (taking my pile of jeans) I don't see any shorts in this pile. Don't you want to try on some shorts? They're on sale this week!

Me: (Suppressing a barrage of snarky comments ranging from "Oh, are the sunglasses on sale too? Is that why you're wearing them when you're clearly indoors?" to "If I had wanted to try on some shorts, I would have deliberately picked up some shorts to try on." to "I don't wear shorts because they draw too much attention to my prosthetic legs.") No, I don't want to depress myself.

Anyway, I bought the too-big jeans because I had a 40% off coupon and I desperately needed some jeans.

After that little excursion, I headed next door to Maurices. I tried on a pair of jeans there that I figured would be the right size. They were huge. YES! I don't give a care that this brand runs big and that the smaller size I ended up buying is actually larger than an N+2 at Old Navy. Size is only a number (again) tra-la-la!

Now I just need to go return the too-big Old Navy jeans.


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2. In other news, I have had it brought to my attention that there is actually a doggy camp in my area (complete with a swimming pond and lots of room to run), so I have hope that it's going to be a suitable place to board the dogs. I talked to the owner on the phone for the first time today.


Camp Lady: Well, you know dogs really seem to enjoy coming here. They like all of the different smells of the animals. We're out in the country, so there are all kinds of little animals in the woods they can smell...and of course the horses, the sheep, and the monkey...

Me: Wha? Wait a minute...the monkey?

Camp Lady: Yeah, I have a monkey.

Me: Oh! OK...

So now *I* want to go to doggy camp so I can see the monkey.

Herding Cats II Challenge

Finally, a reading challenge that doesn't require reading! I'm not kidding. Rules from the original blog entry are posted below.

Here are the rules Herding Cats II (April 1st, 2009 - December 31st, 2009):

1. Make a list of five books you love. Directions:

Five. I'm as serious as a beached whale.
All titles must be books you've read in 2007, 2008 or 2009.
Please don't list a series; just the first book. If you really want to list a book in the middle of a series, you can, but it has to be that specific book.
Feel free to share why you're putting the book on your list, because I am nosy.
2. Post your list:

in your own journal, in the comments here, whatever is fine. Share the list here.
Lists should be public (no locked entries, no logging in to view).
3. Browse the new book list. Stay a while. Read a few (eta: if you want; not even reading is required this time around if you don't have time to commit to a new challenge but still want to share your favorites).

4. If you review your books, you can share the reviews. You know, if you want. No pressure. Definitely not.

The home page for this project is at http://www.echthroi.org/getliterate/herdingcats/ (or http://tinyurl.com/cdxk45). If you twitter, feel free to #herdcats over there. ;)

Important note: this is only a reading challenge if you want it to be!

My Five Books...and this is really hard, so they're not in any particular order.

1. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The story of a society wherein women's rights have been stripped away in the name of religion. A caste system has emerged and handmaids are brought into homes to bear children for numerous infertile couples.

2. Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
My favorite Picoult book so far. Very thought-provoking. I won't say too much about it for fear that I'll ruin some surprises.

3. The Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg
I thought it was one of the most honestly written books I've ever read. The writing style (letters and journal entries) made it a quick read.


4. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Kate Chopin was so edgy for her time. A fabulous story about an overwhelmed woman.

5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I can't believe I waited so long to read this. It's fabulous!


And because it was such a tough decision, here are the honorable mentions:

The Time Traveler's Wife by Aubrey Niffenegger
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell
My Darling, My Hamburger by Paul Zindel
Amazing Gracie by Dan Dye and Mark Beckloff
Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner


Books from the master list that I might possibly read:
Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (it's already on my TBR shelf, so why not?)