ABC’s of Me

Posted on November 22, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Hey, thanks Jo of The Book Jotter for being the one to introduce to me this meme! I shall play along. While I often let personal details drift into this blog, I have maybe never done an intro post; and the “About Julia” link above is admittedly brief. Without further ado, the ABC’s of pagesofjulia.

Age: Just a few months away from 30 now, and just a few days away from knee surgery and feeling my age… :-/
Book Size: Mass market paperback is best because most portable (and lightest), but whatever format the book I want to read comes in is fine!
Chore That I Hate: Toilets!
Dogs: My two babies, Ritchey and Hops:

Essential Start to My Day: Berries with my breakfast, please!
Favorite Color: Green.
Gold or Silver: Silver. Gold, yeck!
Height: 5’9″
Instruments That I Play: Took piano lessons for some 6-7 years but that’s all gone now… I have a djembe I used to like to play but it’s been a while on that, too. I like to drum on whatever’s available though.
Job Title: Librarian. Because I’m in a one-librarian library, I have no specialties or modifiers; just, Librarian.
Kids: Noooooo!
Live: Houston, Texas.
Milk: Soy, please. I’m moderately lactose-intolerant.
Nickname: Occasionally Jules or JJ but mostly, no.
Oldest Living Relative: We celebrated my grandfather’s 90th birthday last year, and he’s going strong…
Pet Peeve: Probably bad cell phone manners, like answering mid-conversation or in a place of business or on a date or IN THE LIBRARY.
Quote From a Movie: Oh heck, I’m not much of a movie-watcher. How about when Alabama said to Clarence, “I think what you did was so… so… romantic!”
Right or Left Handed: Right.
Siblings: None.
Time I Wake Up: 6:00 to go straight to work; 5:00 to run before work; 4:00 to ride my bike before work; on the weekends 6ish to go ride, or 9ish if I’m sleeping in (rarely).
Underwear: My, this IS personal, isn’t it? No.
Vegetable I Hate: Bell peppers and olives! Ew! Love most of the rest of them, though.
What Makes Me Run Late: Husband. 🙂
X-Rays I’ve Had: Ankles, foot, knees, back, neck, wrist, teeth, nose, and skull! (Not all from the same incident.)
Yummy Food That I Make: I like many foods that I make. 🙂 Husband has been known to request curried carrots, spicy plum chicken stir-fry, and ginger chicken and rice. I like my chili-stew and corn pudding, and gazpacho, yum.
Zoo Animal: Monkeys of all kinds!

That was fun! Care to share any personal data with us today? Get to know your fellow blogger?

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movie: The Rum Diary (2011)

Posted on November 13, 2011 by pagesofjulia

I went with my friend Justin to see The Rum Diary, starring Johnny Depp and based on the novel of the same name by Hunter S. Thompson. My experience with Thompson is woefully limited; I’ve seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and that’s all. I feel like I should have read him by now, and maybe someday I will.

Based on that one other Thompson experience, I’ll say that the movie was absolutely recognizable as coming from the same mind; the mood is a rambling, drunken, drugged, yet often profound rush through life with relatively little concern for peripheral consequences. Paul Kemp arrives in San Juan, Puerto Rico to start work at a newspaper there. He’s trying to be a novelist but failing so far; he hasn’t found his voice. Kemp finds it easy to drink & drug with his new friends there. His new boss is not interested in the human-interest, social-justice, exposé-style stories he tries to write. And a new acquaintance wants to hire him to write promotional materials for real estates ventures that will result in the defiling of yet another island of virgin Caribbean paradise. Kemp is not interested in this work; but he’s very interested in the man’s girlfriend.

Kemp and friends get themselves into scrapes; they get arrested, party at Carnival (a Caribbean version), battle the establishment. It’s a story of redemption as well as of drug-addled hilarity. This is a very funny movie. (Look out for the scene involving the operation of a car missing its front seat.) It also offers some serious moments, and seriously cynical ones. My movie date Justin knows Thompson much better than I do, and he feels that this autobiographical work of fiction was a sort of mission statement for the writer. Kemp eventually finds his voice, and I think we can probably agree that Thompson did, too. I thought it was a very good movie; very funny and also very serious and thought-provoking and sad. Also, Johnny Depp was absolutely the perfect choice for the role of Paul Kemp. His wildly expressive, comical face was just right for the character and the movie, and all it had to say.

Hunter S. Thompson: this photo is on the cover of the book

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Challenge Update: “uncle!”

Posted on November 8, 2011 by pagesofjulia

As we’ve reviewed earlier this year, I did *complete* both the Classics Challenge and the What’s in a Name? Challenge, both with relative and unexpected ease. The Where Are You Reading? Challenge has been most interesting, and I’ve enjoyed keeping track of where all the books I read are set. Click on my map below to see my notes.


A month or so ago I realized I was going to have to start making special efforts to read books that cover certain locations. I’ve done some of that. Some of those books have been good, too; but some of them I’ve been only half-heartedly interested in, and haven’t impressed me.

So, I’m giving up. My review of Love Medicine is still to come, filling out North Dakota (and that was a very enjoyable book!). But aside from that, I’m done chasing states. I have to prioritize. Mostly I like to read what I like to read – whatever I feel like at the moment; or whatever I’ve been looking forward to or planning on or been interested in lately. And then there are the books I’m sent for review, which are in theory skewed to my interests – and in practice, too, my editor at Shelf Awareness does an awesome job of sending me good stuff! And sometimes I undertake to read books I might not like, in the interests of expanding my knowledge of what my patrons at the library are reading. On top of all this, to read books based on location for this challenge has turned out to be more burden than fun. This blog is for fun and enrichment and is not intended to be a source of burdens! So, I’m done with the challenge.

But I have no regrets. It’s been not only fun but and interesting and informative to see where I read. And I didn’t do too poorly! So far, I’ve read in 35 of the 50 states, and 24 foreign locations. You never know, I might even find myself reading something set in Rhode Island by the end of the year. But I doubt that it will be on purpose. 🙂 Then again, 59 unique locations (35 + 24) isn’t so hot considering I’ve read well over 100 books this year so far. It was interesting to see how many of the books I read are set in a few big US cities (Los Angeles, Chicago, NYC), Texas, and London (or England generally).

2011 has been my first full year of blogging. (I started in October 2010.) This was my first year joining challenges. It was fun; it made the blogging experience more interactive, for one thing, and made reading kind of playful and purposeful. I like challenges, and I’ll sign up for more again. I just want to be careful not to find any extra stress where I don’t need it! Also, let me mention the readalongs – those have been so great, too! First I did the Mad for Maisie Readalong, of the entire Maisie Dobbs series. (Recommended!) Next was the Great Gone With the Wind Readalong, which was educational and fun. And because that one went so well, I’ve just signed up for the Their Eyes Were Watching God Readalong, hosted by The Heroine’s Bookshelf as was the Gone With the Wind one.

So, today’s challenge update in a nutshell: great fun, challenges! But, uncle!

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another readlong! Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Posted on November 7, 2011 by pagesofjulia

It’s that time again! I so enjoyed the Great Gone With the Wind Readalong that I couldn’t resist the next event at The Heroine’s Bookshelf. This time we’ll be reading Their Eyes Were Watching God together. I read it when I was a kid, but I don’t think I really grasped it; I didn’t get much out of it and don’t much remember it now. When I read The Heroine’s Bookshelf (the book) I knew I needed to reread, and I got a copy, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. So this sounds like a great opportunity! I enjoyed the way Erin wrote up some backstory, links etc. in the earlier readalong. So now’s the time! If you want to join us, you can sign up here. The schedule is…

November 28: Chapters 1-6
December 5: Chapters 7-13
December 12: Chapters 14-20

See you then. 🙂

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what I love about living in Houston

Posted on November 3, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Just because I love lists and bragging on my underrated hometown, I’m riffing off Katie again. Thanks for the prompt Katie! (Go read what she loves about Boston too.)

what I love about living in Houston:

1. It’s such an international city. I love that there is such a diversity of languages spoken and cultures represented in my melting pot port city.

2. …and spinning off #1… ethnic food! Restaurants specialize in Mexican, Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Jamaican, Cuban, Greek, Moroccan, French, Spanish, German, Belgian, Brazilian, Turkish, Malaysian, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Thai, Korean, Mongolian, Peruvian… And if you want to cook, local grocery stores sell all the exotic ingredients necessary to cook ethnic foods, too. (Although you should make your own paneer fresh; it’s quite easy and delicious!)

3. This one’s qualified: when it’s not (ahem) summer, the weather’s pretty friendly. You can play outside (whatever that may mean to you!) year-round here. The summers will challenge your tolerance for heat & humidity, but during the winter you’ll be happy to wear shorts.

4. What we call “culture” is well represented: we have world-class symphony, ballet, and theatre companies; Broadway comes through regularly; and your band of choice is likely to play here if they’re on tour. (And if not here, definitely Austin, which is just 2 1/2 hrs away.)

5. Memorial Park! Almost double the size of New York’s Central Park at 1500 acres, Memorial Park offers tennis, golf, road cycling, running, swimming pool, fitness center, mountain bike trails, an arboretum with nature and birdwatching tours, sports fields and playgrounds – and it’s central. I feel incredibly lucky to have a park of this caliber right smack in the middle of my hometown – which is why I give money to the Conservancy and volunteer there doing trail maintenance.

6. Strangely, the cycling scene. Despite (or perhaps in part because of?) our notorious reputation for unfriendliness to bicycles, we have a great local community. In 2007, I was in the unique position of at least peripherally knowing many different cycling circles: I worked in a bike shop and so knew customers who were roadies, mountain bikers, charity riders, even spin-class-takers; I raced road, track, and cyclocross; I was a commuter and a former bike messenger. When I had my bad wreck that year, an amazing variety of cyclists contacted me to show support in various ways. I’ve been a member of several really awesome teams. It’s an inspiring local scene.

7. Proximity to Mexico and Central America! This gives us great access to vacation spots – and means we have plenty of Mexican food here at home, yum.

8. Low cost of living (and cheap gas), especially when compared with other big international cities. Win-win. Unemployment stays relatively low here, too. I certainly count myself very lucky (although hopefully it wasn’t all luck) and grateful to have gotten a great job right out of grad school in the fabulous economy of 2008.

9. There’s a beach nearby! I can’t imagine being one of those millions of people who live hours upon hours away from the nearest ocean – and they make up most of our country’s population. I like to be near the sea.

10. It’s in Texas. 🙂

What about you? What do you love about YOUR hometown?

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Percussion Ensemble Chamber Concert, Shepherd School of Music, Rice University

Posted on October 24, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Rice University here in Houston is a very prestigious school in itself; its Shepherd School of Music is one of the top music schools in the country. They put on a bunch of free concerts, and I recently (Oct. 16) went with a friend to see a percussion concert in the Alice Pratt Brown Hall:

(photo credit due to the structural engineering company that designed the building)

It was an amazing set of performances. There was a lovely diversity of instruments and styles. Now, I’m no musical scholar, so these are my amateur’s impressions…

The first piece was “Varied Trio” by Lou Harrison (three parts: Bowl Bells, Gending, and Dance). Two percussionists switched around between playing bowls, xylophone and marimba, accompanied by a violin. I was really there for the xylophone and marimba; I love the clear, pure, resonant tones they make. And the bowls were very interesting, too. I liked how the violin was mostly plucked rather than played with the bow; it behaved more like a percussion instrument that way.

Next two young ladies performed Marcel Tournier’s “Promenade a l’Automne” on marimba and cello. This was a truly amazing and beautiful piece of music and far too short! I wanted much more of them!

Bela Bartok’s “Duets for Two Violins” (Pillow Dance, Ruthenian Dance, Arabian Dance) was performed by one violin and a marimba, and the marimba stands in beautifully for the second violin, as far as I can tell. I liked that each movement had its own sound to it. While a violin makes lovely music I really love what the marimba brings. The notes it creates are like liquid or glass, so round and perfect.

John Cage’s “Credo in US” was the evening’s total departure. I would call this piece avant-garde, although I’m not sure of the technical correctness of the term – I’m no music student. It involved a piano, two percussionists playing a bunch of what seemed to be plain old tin cans, and a fourth student playing samples of recorded FM radio. Most odd and cacophonous; my immediate thought here was while Husband would not necessarily have enjoyed the earlier pieces – not enough metal – HERE was the metal; he’d be fine! It was a really, really fascinating and interesting piece. It was suspenseful; I was certainly not sure what was coming next and I’m not sure I would have noticed if one of the musicians had made a mistake. 🙂 It reminded me somehow of Don DeLillo’s White Noise. Make of that what you will. But I mean all of it in the most positive way!

Next came a young lady on the marimba (or xylophone? I’m not sure I recall) accompanied by a French horn, and this was just so lovely! They played Verne Reynolds’s “Hornvibes” in three movements: Fantasy, Riffs, and Elegy. The first and third played with harmonics; my buddy Justin (my date for the evening, and a musician, so we’ll listen to him) said the timing was based on the intervals of the harmonics. The waves of sound were almost tactile; it was amazing.

“Birdsong” by Scott R. Harding was performed on marimba and alto sax, and was enjoyable and kind of jazzy (maybe that’s just the sax getting to me) but I think I was distracted by trying to find the titles of the three movements (Bird of a Feather, Flock Together; Kill Two Birds with One Stone; Early Bird Gets the Worm) in the music, which I couldn’t. Maybe I was being too literal.

Bernhard Heiden’s “Four Fancies” (in three movements, confusingly: Ostinato, Dialogue, and Coda) finished up the night with a xylophone, a marimba, and an electric bass, which was an interesting touch. I’m pretty familiar with the concept of the bass as a percussion instrument; this involved three instruments that are both percussive and melodic. I love that kind of playing around with the definitions.

My favorites pieces of the night were “Promenade a l’Automne” and “Hornvibes.” It was a very special evening; I need more music like this in my life. Best of all, these performances are free, you don’t have to dress up unless you want to :), and just showing up helps local musical talent by showing support (and giving them an audience to practice any stage fright upon). Thanks Justin for accompanying me. I’ll be back for more!

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2011: the year of Papa?

Posted on October 20, 2011 by pagesofjulia
[Updated 2pm]

Before you think I’m late to the party, yes, we all covered the anniversary on July 2 of Ernest Hemingway’s death 50 years ago in 1961. But I guess I underestimated how much this anniversary was going to mean. For one thing, in July I was unaware of the upcoming publication of either The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 1, 1907-1922 or Hemingway’s Boat, both in September of this year. (You can see my review of the latter here.) These two books have been covered in a variety of magazines; I posted already about a blurb of Hemingway’s Boat in Town & Country magazine, and then came across another in Men’s Journal, and a brief mention in Playboy. And now I see coverage of The Letters of Ernest Hemingway in Vanity Fair. I’m not a big reader of magazines normally (just Playboy and Bike), but I receive a lot of them at the library where I work, and I have loving family in California (hi, Grammy!) who clip articles for me. So I’m just sort of marveling at all this coverage – which I attribute to the 50-year suicide anniversary – and observing what a hold Papa still has on pop culture. One of his unique qualities is that he captured the national and international attention, and imagination, as more than an author: he was a character. (Some would say a caricature.) He was a personality. He was bigger than his work – and that’s really saying something. I guess I should be on top of this concept, me with my Hemingway obsession, but I really wasn’t. I think I was too close to things. I’m a huge fan, first of his work; but as I became more and more impressed with his writing I started reading more about the man behind it. I guess I failed to notice how much the rest of the world shared my interest.

So, belatedly, I’m making the observation that 2011 appears to have seen a Hemingway revival. Is this a big duh; was I oblivious? Or are you just noticing, too? Have you seen Papa everywhere this year?

EDIT: I just read another article. Although this one was published in 1997, it fits with our theme today. The author, Nan Klingener of The Bone Island Book Blog, sent me a copy of her article, The Papas and the Papas, about the annual Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Contest in Key West. Thanks, Nan, I enjoyed it! It is certainly a shame that Key West fails to embrace the look Papa wore while he lived there – that is, a 30-something, dark-haired handsome Hemingway. But I do understand the argument given by a contestant-turned-judge: the white-bearded, bellied look is the one we know best in pop culture. And the takeaway lesson of the contest is about pop culture: that, as I wrote above, Hemingway is a cultural icon.

Nan, your article was a lovely little trip into a weird world, a Hemingway theme park if you will, that I did not experience on my recent trip to your fair island! What an interesting event. Thanks for sending me a little reading material. 🙂

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vocabulary lessons: Turn of Mind

Posted on October 13, 2011 by pagesofjulia

One of the things that caught my attention while reading Turn of Mind, about a woman with dementia, was Dr. White’s clarity regarding medical terms and concepts. Get her talking clinically, and she’s 100%. I am very fortunate to have no experience with Alzheimer’s and its effects in my own personal life, so I know relatively little. I found it really interesting what parts of her life were easily and consistently accessed (work-related) and what regularly escaped her (family and friends). At any rate, Dr. White taught me some new medical terms:

brachycephalic: having a short broad head with a cephalic index of over 80 (read more here)

hemangioma: an abnormal buildup of blood vessels in the skin or internal organs. In this case, she’s talking about a birthmark that helps her recognize one of the caregivers in her new “home.”

And also gave me some artists to look up. She says of her husband, “our eclectic tastes in art amused the people around us,” which immediately had me looking up the artists named:

Gorky (google images here),

Rauschenberg (which of course had me erroneously thinking of Rorschach tests – does anyone else think the inkblots always look like ovaries?? what does that say about me?) (google images here), and finally

Dubuffet (google images here). And here is where I was surprised and excited: I know this guy’s work! The sculpture in downtown Houston that I grew up climbing all over is immediately recognizable as a Dubuffet, and sure enough, there he is. (Images here.) I feel certain my parents have a picture somewhere of toddler-sized me climbing into its upper nooks after a Jingle Bell Run in the 1980’s or some such. Isn’t it interesting where we find connections?

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shrine to Papa

Posted on October 9, 2011 by pagesofjulia

I’ve been working on this little project for a month or so now, and it’s finally ready for its photo shoot.

First of all, I have limited bookshelf space (I’m sure you’re shocked). When I read Paul Hendrickson’s Hemingway’s Boat recently, I enjoyed being immersed again in one of my favorite literary and historical figures. It had been a little while since I’d read any Hemingway (or anything about Hemingway), and it was like coming home: it was comforting and comfortable to return to a subject I know and love. It also inspired me to make some purchases.

First, I decided I wanted a smallish bookshelf to dedicate to the Hemingway theme. I thought maybe it could hold all my books by Hemingway, and about him, and also the works of his friend or those authors I’ve picked up directly because of a Hemingway connection (Stein, Fitzgerald, de Maupassant, Beryl Markham). I cleared it with Husband and he even agreed to come shopping with me. It took a little looking, but I ended up with this charming piece.


I was prepared to do some decorating…


I bought this print from the Hemingway House in Key West, and took a second shopping trip to find a beat-up real-wood frame for it. Again Hemingway’s Boat gets credit: I was taken by this picture in my reading of the book, which to my memory is the first time I had ever seen it. I like that it shows him in his non-writing leisure time, in pursuit of an activity he loved, and I like that he’s wearing his glasses in it, which he was not in the habit of always doing. Sorry it’s not a better picture of the picture…


And don’t laugh at me, but this is my own portrait of Papa, a copy of the famous Karsh portrait.


Top shelf, with antique fishing reel donated by Husband. (It’s not specifically accurate to Papa’s fishing, we don’t think, but it sets the mood, if you will.)


Bottom shelf, with four new purchases inspired by my reading of Hemingway’s Boat. They are the four on the right: memoirs of life with Hemingway by his son Gregory (Gigi), by Arnold Samuelson (“the Maestro”), by longtime friend A.E. Hotchner, and by Valerie Hemingway, Gregory’s ex-wife (who was originally a secretary or assistant to Papa). I have not read these books yet…

As you might see, I ran out of room for the friends, so Stein et al reside on the “regular” shelves again. And there’s not much room for the collection to grow, on my Hemingway shelves. But I’m very pleased with my end result: a special space that honors my favorite author on his own. As for growth, I suppose these shelves will begin to look like the rest of them, with books stacked in front of or on top of other books. It’s all organic.

Do you have a special space or special shelves reserved for a particular author, genre, subject, or other beloved group of books?

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a couple links for your Friday

Posted on October 7, 2011 by pagesofjulia

If you have a few minutes to kill today… more lists.

10 Poems Everyone Needs to Read from Flavorwire includes the actual text of each poem – no epics here, although I DO recommend the Odyssey. You can read all in just a minute or two with the exception of the Ginsberg. I am not particularly good with poetry, myself – loved Shel Silverstein as a child, and Homer a little later, and not much else. (Stein’s Tender Buttons tried to kill me.) But I try to keep an open mind. I like what little e.e. cummings and Silvia Plath I know, and Maya Angelou. (All three are represented here.) And I can say, as someone who finds poetry difficult, that this list is worthwhile.

Affairs in Literature: The 11 Most Unfaithful Protagonists in Books from Huffington Post (I love how Huff Post rebels against the classic “top ten”!) contains the two predictable ladies that came first to my mind: those of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Madame Bovary. Go find out who the rest were, too. (Head’s up to the library patron who had JUST come in to discuss Rick Moody with me moments before I came across this list.)

Happy Friday!

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