Teaser Tuesday

Posted on June 15, 2010 by chowmeyow

In 1943, when Ireland was officially in Emergency mode, an American B-17 Flying Fortress en route from Marrakesh to England got lost and went off course. Almost out of fuel, the crew of the T’ain’t-a-Bird made a forced, unscheduled landing in White’s Marsh, outside Clonakilty. Looking out, the crew of ten thought they were in Norway, until curious locals started arriving on bicycles and enlightened them. By all accounts, they were giving a sustained and rousing welcome. Interned in O’Donovan’s Hotel in Clonakilty, the crew made merry while efforts were made to build a makeshift runway.

A Secret Map of Ireland by Rosita Boland, page 59

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Teaser Tuesdays is a fun weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. I change the rules a little bit to suit my own purposes: I hand pick the teaser, rather than choose one randomly. I also very frequently post more than two sentences. :)

How Did You Get This Number by Sloane Crosley

Posted on June 14, 2010 by chowmeyow

A few years ago, a book of humorous essays got a large amount of positive buzz. It was called I Was Told There’d Be Cake. Titles just don’t get much better than that. It also had a fantastic cover. Those three forces combined into one irresistible book, and I immediately bought it, read it, and loved it. Sloane Crosley was also a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor for that collection. I think it was over a year ago that I first heard Sloane Crosley had a second collection in the works, and that news made me incredibly happy.

I’m delighted to report that the new collection, How Did You Get This Number, does not disappoint. It even soars a bit higher in some moments. Not every essay is fantastic, but all are enjoyable. The last two essays are particularly wonderful, about a trip to Paris and a difficult break-up. Good memoirs & essay collections make you feel like the author is an old friend. Even better ones are when you recognize pieces of yourself, especially the silly pieces. For me, Sloane Crosley accomplished both.

I might recommend starting with the first collection, but this collection stands well on its own. I’m also always partial to the order I read things in, probably because I can’t imagine reading them in any other order. :)

One last note: one essay in the collection brings up the classic girl’s slumber party game of the 80s/90s, Girl Talk. I had forgotten all about this amazing/disturbing game. Raise your hand if you remember having to stick a red “zit” sticker on your face or finding out that you were going to have 9 kids because you were born in the month of September.

A few favorite passages:

There’s no way to convince someone that a doll-head chandelier is tasteful. But this one was. (page 64)

“Is that like cartography?” I asked, wondering if there was a use for such a thing anymore. I was under the impression that the world was kind of done, that we had accepted its parameters and moved on. Like ashtrays. Or ketchup. Or bricks. These things were about as good as they were going to get. (page 155)

Extras: Video Trailer, Sloane’s website & tour info

Teaser Tuesday

Posted on June 8, 2010 by chowmeyow

All immediate hints of purpose went out of the rooms themselves. Showers in kitchens, toilets in living rooms, sinks in bedrooms. It was as if Picasso were born a slumlord instead of a painter. Nothing was where you thought it would be, which would be eccentric in a mansion but was disarming in an apartment. Once, at a party, I opened a door expecting to find a toilet but found a stove instead. Just a closet with a stove in it. And a bare bulb hanging, as if to say, “Here is where we roast the children.”

-(On NYC college grad first apartments) from How Did You Get This Number by Sloane Crosley. (page 44)

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Sunday at the Met

Posted on June 4, 2010 by chowmeyow

A few of my friends and I have established a new tradition this year called “The Sunday Brunch/Museum Group” (yes – we might need a better name).

A few weeks ago we went to brunch at Lillies (now one of my favorite brunch spots in the city) and then headed over to the Met for their exhibit: Playing with Pictures: The Art of the Victorian Photocollage. I adore all things Victorian, so finding out that there was an exhibit that featured the combination of Victorian art and photography into collages made me incredibly giddy. Here are some of the collages from the exhibit:

This exhibit is no longer on display at the Met, but if you’re interested you can still get a copy of the exhibition’s book from Amazon.

One thing you should never do is go to the Met without going up to the roof. Not only is it gorgeous and breezy up there with a great view of Central Park, but they also have rooftop art installations. The current installation is especially awesome, it’s called Doug + Mike Starn on the Roof: Big Bambú. It’s basically a gigantic bamboo fort. It kind of reminds me of the fort from Where the Wild Things Are (the movie). You can also sign up for tours of the fort, where you actually get to walk up into it. (You need to be wearing sneakers and you have to get tickets at the main entrance.) This exhibit will be at the Met through November, so there are several months left to see it.

You can learn more about the Big Bambú exhibition here.

View of Central Park & NYC from the top of the Met: