Snowed in

It snowed over night so I just stayed in bed and finished two books I was working on reading this morning.

Some signs of Christmas stay here year round

I admit, I do have some Christmas decorations that I just never put away. It is usually just because I like them too much to hide them away.

Bird #1 for 2012

Miniature baby Indigo Bunting.

Happy New Years!

We rang out the old year by cheering the Wright State Ladies's Basketball team on in their nail biting victory over Butler and by enjoying the Wright State Pep Band. Sean had the honor of using a brand spanking new mellophone for last nights performance.

This morning I started the new year by finishing reading my first novel of the year. I have been reading Swamplandia! over the break. I have been waiting ever since this novel debuted to read it and finally found it at the library last week. I could not have been more disappointed. I keep forcing myself to continue reading it thinking that something would begin to click for me. Once I figured out this novel was a cross between a Southern Gothic ghost story and mystical realism, I took a little more interest in it. There were things that just didn't make sense in the story line, but that was when I thought I was reading realistic fiction. I have to admit I was impressed by Karen Russell's commanding use of vocabulary (more than once she had me reaching for my dictionary) and I found the history of the Florida swamp lands and it inhabitants an interesting story. I was hoping that it would be similar to my experience of reading The Life of Pi ~ as you read it, you kept trying to make sense of the story line, but once you reached the ending you immediately wanted to reread the novel in order to understand all of the symbolism and clues throughout the novel that lead to the conclusion. Just when I thought that was going to happen with Swamplandia!, it totally falls apart. The rape of the main character was too much for me, too gratuitous. Is this novel reality or is this mystical realism? The reader knows that Bird Man is an ominous creature, evil incarnate, but to turn him into a child predator breaks from the story for me. Make him the gatekeeper to hell, have him turn into Poe's ominous raven, but don't have him turn out to be realistic evil of this world. I wanted the fantasy line to continue. Don't make him something real that we have to contend with in this world. Let him be symbolic, but keep him in line with the fantastical journey of Ava.