Monthly Archives: May 2007

Top Five: Gilmore Girls Episodes

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A rare post about The Tube.

Tonight’s Top Five is bittersweet. My favorite television show, Gilmore Girls, airs its series finale tomorrow night.

As a small tribute, here is my list of Top Five favorite episodes. Great Scott – it was hard to pick just five.

1- Season 2, Episode 10: The Bracebridge Dinner. All of the cast assembled for a night of entertainment at the Inn? Absolutely too much fun. Also very cute Rory/Jess and Lorelai/Luke Moments.

2- Season 2, Episode 13: A-Tisket, A-Tasket. Again, wonderful because of how much of the town is involved. And again, more cute Rory/Jess and Luke/Lorelai times. This is the type of episode quality that was gone in the 7th season when Amy & Dan left.

3- Season 4, Episode 7: You Jump, I Jump, Jack. I’ve never been a huge Logan fan, but this episode was perfect. I loved the Life and Death Brigade event, and the end of the episode was incredibly fun.

4- Season 3: Episode 22: Those Are Strings, Pinocchio. Rory graduates from Chilton. Her graduation speech is beautiful and a total tear-jerker.

5- Season 2, Episode 20: Help Wanted. I love how Lorelai helps Richard out in this episode. A touching, sweet change of pace for a relationship that has its ups and downs.

There are way too many great episodes left off this list. Maybe I should just leave it at a “Top Five Seasons of Gilmore Girls” – Decision: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

What are your favorite episodes?

Tomorrow night we’ll be watching the last episode in a fashion Lorelai and Rory would approve of – a large pizza and lots of junk food.

Goodbye Girls.

You Jump, I Jump, Jack
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Links for 5.13.07

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The Modern Library’s list of 100 Greatest English Language Books is pretty well known in the book world, and here’s an interesting NYT page that lists all 100 novels and includes a link to the original New York Times book review, when available.

By far the coolest clock I have ever seen – The Voco Clock talks to you in the morning with charming, clever comments to suggest that you might want to rise at this time. Examples:

I’m so sorry to disturb you sir, but it appears to be morning. Very inconvenient, I agree, sir. I believe it is the rotation of the earth which is to blame, sir.

I’m delighted you have survived another night. May I add my own congratulations to the roar of the world’s approval? Thank you, sir.

You can listen to audio samples on the site as well. The “Good Morning Madam” edition will come out in July.

The Daily Puppy blog brightens my morning every day, and I fell in love with Wilbur, who looks a lot like our beagle did when she was a puppy. (I’m also in love with Lola.)

Beautiful Neatorama post of 10 Divinely Designed Churches.

The Sun Jar is an actual jar of sunshine. It stores sunlight during the day, and then shines during the night. Sort of a grown up “glow in the dark” toy.

Hilarious List of Mundane Dreams from McSweeney’s.

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Recently Finished: Franny and Zooey

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Franny and Zooey
J.D. Salinger

It was incredible to read Franny and Zooey right after finishing Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer. It helped me realize how extraordinarily talented J.D. Salinger is.

I loved the story as well, especially the conversation at the end between Franny and Zooey on the phone – it was beautiful. But the writing was outstanding, and what ultimately gave it a place on my long list of Favorite Books Of All Time. There are countless examples of Salinger’s mastery of Dialog, Detail, Gesture, Sentences, and Character.

Here are some of my favorite examples:

“Lane spotted her immediately, and despite whatever it was he was trying to do with his face, his arm that shot up into the air was the whole truth.” (p. 7)

“But he got up from the piano bench too restively for it to have been a real gesture of dismissal.” (p. 133)

“At one of the bookcases, he gave a misaligned book an orderly little push with his thumb, then passed on.” (p. 136)

“At first piecemeal, then point-blank, he let his attention be drawn to a little scene that was being acted out sublimely, unhampered by writers and directors and producers, five stories below the window and across the street.” (p. 151)

“Tears, presumably, were imminent, if not already on the way.” (p. 150)

“When he moved again, it was as though marionette strings had been attached to him and given an overzealous yank.” (p. 182)

Salinger’s Nine Stories now holds a place high up on my To Be Read List. I’m also going to give Catcher In the Rye another chance – reading more for the writing rather than the plot, which last time (and only time) I found it hard to relate.

But first – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire awaits my attention, waiving at me from my bookcase reminding me of my quest to re-read all of Harry Potter’s adventures before his final one this July.

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Marisha Pessl Book Signing

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The Marisha Pessl book signing was awesome! It was incredible to meet her – she’s so young and talented. Very inspiring. How amazing to be so successful with a first novel, and so young!

She told us the reader’s digest version of how she became a writer, and then read 4 passages from the novel. The passages were: the first part of the introduction, the part where we’re introduced to Blue’s father, the first time we meet Hannah in the grocery store, and the scene in the woods with Hannah – after they wander off from the group.

Marisha told us about how she grew up in a book friendly home; she was always reading. She grew up with Dracula and Catcher in the Rye, among many others. In college she wrote two failed novels. The first was a Who Dun It murder mystery, that she says was way too obvious – it was very clear from the beginning “who dun it.” The second was a southern novel that had no plot. It wasn’t even a stream of consciousness, it was more like a “stream of unconsciousness.”

She graduated from college and took an entry level job at Price Waterhouse Coopers. It was there, under the florescent lights, in her tiny cubicle her co-workers called “veal fattening pens” she thought of the idea of a novel about a father-daughter relationship.

Marisha was extremely warm and friendly to the crowd, and talked to each of us as she signed our books. Along with personalizing it and signing, she wrote a quote from Blue’s Father: “Always live your life with your biography in mind.” I love it! Here is my book:

My signed copy of Special Topics in Calamity Physics
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Newbery Challenge

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I’ve never done internet blog book challenge before, and I’m excited that my first one is Nattie Writes‘s Newbery Challenge. I have been wanting to continue working toward my goal of reading all of the Newbery Medal winners.

Here’s the link to the book challenge page.

And here’s the link to the Newbery Award site.

Here are my 6 selections for the Challenge:

1. The View From Saturday by EL Konigsburg
2. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
3. Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
4. Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt
5. Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski
6. Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer

Roller Skates (Newbery Library, Puffin)
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Vox Hunt: This Book Is A Gift

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Book: Show us a book that you like to give as a gift.
Submitted by Ross.

This is a beautiful collection of poetry. The poems selected are accessible; poems that even people who aren’t into poetry can enjoy. Garrison Keillor is a master of selecting poetry for general enjoyment.

I actually just gave this to my mom yesterday, for her 50th birthday! Happy birthday Mom!

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Top Five: Book Covers

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I’ve been thinking a lot about book design lately, hence this Top Five Favorite Book Covers post. I also decided to limit my selections to only books from my own collection, otherwise the pool is much too vast to chose from in a timely matter.

(all book covers are shown below)

1. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, Jacket art by Carson Ellis. There are several things I love about this cover, but above all I love that it instantly established itself as a book I must read, and a book I knew I would love. Yes, that’s Judging A Book By Its Cover at its most primal. But I admit it. I was hooked. Next, and most likely the reality behind reason 1, is that the art style channels my favorite artist, Edward Gorey. The art reveals so much about what to expect from the book – that it’s fun, quirky, mischievous, charming, adventurous and mysterious. And it reveals details about the characters that we find out in the book. I frequently turned back while reading to gaze at the cover.

2. Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, Jacket design by Paul Buckley. I love the contrast between the bright red and black squares with modern design, and the tan band that’s much more classic. I suppose if you wanted to dig deep you could say the traditional design of the tan band represents Blue’s upbringing and father, a little stuffy and classic, and the other, colorful boxes represent her new school friends and Hannah. I like the “Ex Libris” bookplate for the author’s name. Overall it’s a great package that really pops off the shelf and makes you want to pick it up and read.

Side note: However much I like the US cover, I felt jipped when I saw the beauty of Christopher Silas’s Penguin UK edition of the book. That is the style of art that I go nuts for.  (Shown below)


3. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, Jacket design by Anne Chalmers. This cover starts the book with a bang, and I love it. It’s very bold, just like the story. It’s also very unusual, just like the story. It does a great job of conveying the craziness and shenanigans that are going to occur inside. On the cover of the paperback, the barcode is actual right on the front, stuck in crooked between the words. I love that.

4. The Paris Review Interviews, Vol. 1, Jacket design by Henry Sene Yee. Mainly I just love the beauty of the quotation marks, with the text inside. Everything is perfectly balanced, and the color choices are excellent. A great piece of graphic design. The design would work well on a poster too.

5. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, Jacket painting by Komar & Melamid. This book, as with each of the others on this list, immediately told me that I needed to buy this book, that this book was for someone like me. Simple and gorgeous typography set on a beautiful painting. Just like the title, the complete cover is almost mockingly self important, it goes just far enough to look suspiciously attractive, while secretly not taking itself seriously. That’s the joke. And it’s brilliant.

A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS
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The Yiddish Policemen's Union

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The Michael Chabon signing was pleasant. There was one obnoxious person who felt he had to ask a dumb/embarrassing question to kick things off. But overall it was good, and I’m excited to read the book.

I probably won’t get to it for a while; there are a lot of other books on my plate first. And Reading Like a Writer is adding dozens of books to my To Be Read pile every chapter. The most recent addition is I Sailed With Magellan, by Stuart Dybek. He’s from my hometown in Michigan, and I think this book of short stories is going to be excellent.

I Sailed with Magellan
Stuart Dybek
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