Saint Mazie by Jami Attenberg

Library Copy

Over on Tumblr, there's a great little blog called The Reblog Book Club - a kind of reading group where they discuss up-and-coming books. For the better part of the summer, the Book Du Jour was Saint Mazie by Jami Attenberg. I'm not a huge participant in reading groups (I'm not organized enough for it) but I really wanted to read this book. To my luck, I found it at my new library on my very first visit!

Saint Mazie, is a novel inspired by the real life of Mazie Phillips - a buxom, raspy-voiced, bottle blonde from the Prohibition (I'm personally very interested in de-glamorized POV from this time period) who referred to herself as a "good time gal" but took the bums on the street under her wing. She's brassy, she's tough, she is exactly what you'd think of when you hear someone talking about "Old Broads." If I knew Mazie irl, I might actually be a little afraid of her. She's intimidating, but that's her shtick. You can be an intimidating woman and still be capable of goodness, you know? She's a really complicated - and interesting - character. Though this fictionalized version of her is inspired by a real person, there's still not a whole lot known about her. However, since the real woman only died about 50 years ago, there's still a lot of people who did know her and could have shared some first hand accounts of her. But try to keep them separate in your mind!

an "artsy" picture of my new library's entrance

Anyway. The book. I typically find books with multiple points of view frustrating to read. I don't know why this device is really common in most things I read lately. Someone who works in publishing might be able to explain this trend. But this time around, my personal preferences aside, I think it was successful and worked out well. The meat of the novel is told through Mazie's diary, starting from her childhood on through her middle-aged adulthood. She lives with her sisters and brother-in-law in New York. Her brother-in-law, a businessman, owns several businesses including a movie theater - Mazie spends several decades working in the ticket booth. At first unwillingly, she soon sees it as home, her clientele become family.

The diary entries are broken up between very frank interviews with people who knew her or about the era she lived in. VERY frank. And though Mazie called herself a "good time gal" and often beat herself up about being "no good," here's the thing about saints (from a practicing Catholic) - the saints weren't even saints. They were human and some of them did some pretty rotten stuff - they were sinners, not just because they broke some societal, morally incorrect rule, but because sinning actually means to do something unloving to God. Saints are our proof that you can be a good person even when you might not think you are. Mazie Was a good person. Rough around the edges, scandalous, tougher than hippie bread, but she fought to help those that couldn't help themselves.

Also interesting about Mazie (as the book character) is that though there was pressure to get married and become a mother, she doesn't. Not because she doesn't always want to (she desperately wants to be loved) but because she chooses not to. Sometimes fate helps her make that choice. But it makes her stand out even more. This is the sort of book that, now that I'm done, I won't be able to forget for a long time.

Friday Payday: Shopping for the book lover

I've been meaning to write about this, but maybe the time is now.
I love the line Out of Print - you can find your favorite vintage book covers printed on t-shirts, tote bags, iPhone cases - and book inspired accessories galore!
For a "limited time" their pull-over sweaters are on sale for $30 - which is the moment I've been waiting for, to be honest. I snapped up a Le Petite Prince sweater without a backwards thought. I've been eyeing it for a while, and I can't wait until it gets cool enough for me to wear, as I'm sure it will get grody from never wanting to take it off.

aside: I'm one of those dreaded aunties who will never buy children toys as gifts - but my favorite books. For newborns I always buy a copy of Runaway Bunny, and when they're old enough to have a story time, I'll get around to sharing The Little Prince. I only read the book when I was still in high school while trying to translate it from French, except I read it in English to get a clearer understanding. Anyway, I'm very sentimental about this book and well up a little when thinking about it.

I have a few other products from Out of Print, including the Jane Eyre tote bag which I've beat up and patched back up as much as I could. It would be better to buy a new tote bag to replace it at this point, but I have a hard time letting it go because Jane Eyre! I was also given one of their Pride & Prejudice notebooks for Christmas last year. The neat thing about those is that while the pages are lined, the lines are actually teeny-tiny text (from Huckleberry Finn, I think). This line is amazing and fun - but it doesn't end there! There's a little for me and a little for you; with every purchase they will donate a book to a child in need. It doesn't get any sweeter than that.

Take the Pledge to Give Books!

Hey All!
Thanksgiving isn't even upon us yet, but I'm sure we're all trying to force that Holiday Enthusiasm! I came across this cool little thing on Pintrest today, and I thought it needed to be shared here too! Chronicle Books has a campaign to give 10,000 books to kids this holiday season. This is something I really care about - so I didn't hesitate to participate.
They're also asking that you add books to your Christmas shopping list this year, too. Most of my family and friends (sometimes begrudgingly) have come to expect this from me already. Amazon has a time saving feature where you can send ebooks to your friends' Kindles - which I'm trying out for the first time this year. My brother, who doesn't ever read any of the books I give him for Christmas, is still going to get a book wither he likes it or not (it's become a kind of joke between us - I buy him books he won't read, he buys me video games I can't play - but we do it anyway, because it's what we're best at buying). But more importantly, I give books every year to children - my cousins and the children I babysat while I was in college. Because I understand that traditions like this are important and become treasured. I understand that it instills a love of reading and (more importantly) learning early on. AND I understand that for Christmas and birthdays, children tend to get an overwhelming amount of clothes and toys as gifts, and if anyone appreciates the change of pace, their parents do. So consider giving a book this year, people!

"Hair For Hazel" and a Full Circle

Almost a year ago, I was prepping for college graduation. As an art major, I was anxious a lot during my college career, and one of the ways I tried to resolve my anxiety was to cut my hair - myself. Always a terrible, terrible idea. I'm not even sure what it was meant to accomplish, but I did it over and over again. At some point I decided to resist the urge and allow my hair to grow out until graduation - by then I could cut it and donate it to Locks of Love as a symbolic gesture. I wanted to know that something good could come from all the stress and fear and pressure I'd spent years under, though Art school doesn't compare to having cancer, or suffering from serious burns. Not at all. Still, as my hair grow longer and longer, I thought of it as the physical compilation of the long hours spent in the studio, away from friends and family, the frustration of never having enough money after having spent it on expensive art supplies that would likely just get thrown out, the arguments I would get into with my teachers and classmates, the blows to my self-esteem, the loss of a beloved pet, breaking relationships, the daily 30 minute (both ways) commute, rising gas prices, the after school job, politics, vegetarianism, bank balances, everything, everything, everything. I let my hair grow well over 18 inches, and when I became a real college graduate, I would cut it off and give it to someone who deserved it more than me. Someone who might never make it to college, but would want to.

This is what it looked like after I cut it.

Earlier that year, the ever popular YA author published the book The Fault in Our Stars. I've never read it, but I hope to. I got on to Tumblr today to see that the new trend among Nerdfightia is a similar project - cutting your hair to donate to Children With Hair Loss in honor of "Hair For Hazel" (Hazel being the heroine of The Fault in Our Stars). Read this article to understand more. Now, I understand that the two events aren't individually related. But I knew at the time that I did it that I was sending something good and wonderful into the world, though it was a little gesture. I'm not going to claim that this was the result of that tiny gesture - clearly it isn't. Still, in my heart I feel like I'm seeing something I did come full circle. I'll never get to see the beautiful kid I donated my hair to, but I did get to see this instead. And I'm going to encourage you all to consider helping too, if you can in some way. I'm so proud of my fellow Nerdfighters, and so in awe of them. This is really huge, and it makes such a big difference. It's totally humbling and so inspiring. Remember, hair grows back.

Hiatus

image source: retronaut.com

Sorry, but this following week I'll be on a much anticipated family vacation. I'll be catching up on some reading in the meantime, so when I return I should *hopefully* have some new books to share with you!

In the meantime, please enjoy this image I found of a well loved classic American novelist: Ms. Fitzgerald. What? No, not Zelda Fitzgerald. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. In Drag. Duh! Pay more attention - my grammar may not always be perfect, but I do take some pride in it. By the way, this photo was taken sometime between 1913 and 1917 - during his years in Princeton and accompanying his first published works.

I made a Goodie

One day as I was sitting in a cafe people watching, it occurred to me that my inner commentary sounded very reminiscent of JD Salinger's prose. Thinking about it some more, I was reminded of Franny laying inconsolable on her couch. (I've been there)
That's when I made this banner for my Facebook profile. Feel free to use it, but please don't alter it. If you'd like to see more Facebook banners or printable bookmarks, please don't hesitate to drop by my comments!

Too Many Books!!

Dear Friends,

I'm very behind on my books right now, and somewhat low on moolah (which means I've been spending some extra time working). I'm not sure how much longer it'll be before I can finish a book, so as a result I'm on a little hiatus of sorts.

There are some new family stuff that's come up, which is somewhat personal, but if you're the praying sort please keep us in your thoughts.

In other news, this past Friday Dad and I went to a used book fair and I got some nifty books to add to my collection. Spring is here, so check your local newspapers and libraries for your own "Friends of the Library" book sales! Not only can you grow your own personal libraries on the cheap, but you'll be helping a nobel cause.

Talk to you laters!

Picture credit: Saskia Keultjes

An Update on The Goodness

In my last post I mentioned that I was going to do 25 good deeds for my 25th birthday. My birthday isn't for 5 days, but I've gotten a head start and already completed 12 of my good deeds. I've gotten some great feed back from friends and family who know about it. The only negative I've gotten was from my grandmother who swore I was going to make myself go broke. I don't need to explain to you that you don't need an allowance to do good deeds, and in fact, if you were to do 25 good deeds it wouldn't have to cost you any amount of money. Why should it? I did spend some money on this project, but it was worth it to me. What else would I use that money on anyway? Stuff. And I have plenty of stuff as it is.

So far, there are two good deeds that stand out the most. The first was a pair of coloring books and boxes of crayons which I brought to a local children's hospital. I expected to leave it, as we say in Louisiana, au cachette, in a waiting room where children might frequent. I explained my intentions to the receptionist who happily directed me to Pediatrics. When I reached the pediatrics wing I was introduced to a woman named Janie. She explained that she was exactly who I was looking for - though she didn't give me her work title, she is in charge of helping the children patients cope with being in the hospital. This was far better than what I'd expected. Think of it, being in the hospital is scary enough for an adult. I can't imagine the misery that a child (and their parents) must go through. My two coloring books, which aren't fancy and cost about the same as a meal from McDonald's in all, will definitely make a bigger difference to someone than filling my belly with an unhealthy lunch. I really didn't expect to help someone with a bigger issue than my own in such a direct way, and with such a tiny act. You hear it all the time, that small gestures amount to big things. You hear it, but I guess you have to act on it to really believe it.
You remember how I said in my last post to help "people, animals, minerals, and spirits"? Well my 2nd favorite good deed involves spirits. I went to school with the really cool guy. He was silly, he was sweet, he was good hearted, but he was definitely all guy. We rode the school bus together for years, and we graduated high school together. He was always nice to me, while most of our class mates teased me because, well, I was shy and deeply, deeply, incurably nerdy. I only found out this year that back when we were in school together and he heard the other students joking about me behind my back, he'd defend me because "I didn't ask for it like some others and was always a lady." Well, after we finished school, I went on to college and he, like most of the local men, went on to do heavy work. I won't say this boy was perfect - he was a little bit of a trouble maker. But he knew boundaries. We'd only been out of school a few years when a terrible freak accident at work killed him. It was jarring. He was my first school friend to die. It wasn't until last year that I realized that his grave was literally down the road from my house - not even half a block, but I live in the country and, well, we can't really measure anything that way. This morning I took a walk in the windy cold to the graveyard and spoke to my friend and left him some silk yellow orchids. I don't know if he liked yellow or orchids, but I do, so I'm going to hope he'll forgive me. I asked him to keep an eye out on my and our friends, like he used to do.

Spreading Goodness

image credit: iizy

This is a break from the usual book related blogging to comment on my current project. My birthday is next week. These last few months were not easy for me to get through, but I made it! I’m turning 25, and this doesn’t scare me. This is my opportunity to spread goodness - something this world doesn’t see enough of. So I’m doing 25 good deeds. I started a bit early, and have already accomplished 6 of them. I’m doing what I can to help people, animals, minerals, spirits. Everything from giving money to a lady who needed it more than me to visiting the grave of a school mate to giving a local dog a squeaky toy. 

(I got pretty creative) It feels amazing - like my heart feels so light & sweet it’s made out of cotton candy. But otherwise I can’t describe it. I’m aware it’s not entirely selfless, though. On a certain level I’m doing this for praise and so that people will say “There is a wonderful, kind person.” Because that certainly does feel good. But on a larger level, this goes far beyond my ego. What matters is that I’m spreading goodness, smiles, and blessings where they need to go. I will never know who received them. That’s what’s important. 

 Go out and spread goodness. Don’t throw money at it - money won’t solve the world’s problems. Be creative. Be spiritually minded. Be brave and wonderful. And as the saying goes, “Be the change you want to see.” That’s my birthday wish: goodness.