Happy Birthday, Mark Twain!

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Jorge Luis Borges is 112!

The Art of Poetry by Jorge Luis Borges

To gaze at a river made of time and water

and remember Time is another river.

To know we stray like a river

and our faces vanish like water.

To feel that waking is another dream

that dreams of not dreaming and that the death

we fear in our bones is the death

that every night we call a dream.

To see in every day and year a symbol

of all the days of man and his years,

and convert the outrage of the years

into a music, a sound, and a symbol.

To see in death a dream, in the sunset

a golden sadness such is poetry,

humble and immortal, poetry,

returning, like dawn and the sunset.

Sometimes at evening there's a face
that sees us from the deeps of a mirror.
Art must be that sort of mirror,
disclosing to each of us his face.


They say Ulysses, wearied of wonders,
wept with love on seeing Ithaca,
humble and green. Art is that Ithaca,
a green eternity, not wonders.


Art is endless like a river flowing,
passing, yet remaining, a mirror to the same
inconstant Heraclitus, who is the same
and yet another, like the river flowing.

Happy Birthday to you!  May you live on in the words that we read.

Swamplandia!

So..(yes, I know you should never start a sentence with "so", but it sounds good conversationally) I deliberated finishing this book; mostly because it was quite odd and weirdly sad.  I actually didn't really even finish the last two chapters; just skimmed through, but I got the jest of it.

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell is a bizarre tale about the Bigtree family who run an alligator wrestling show in the swamp islands of Florida.  The main attraction is Hilola Bigtree's alligator wrestling act, but when she dies suddenly the family's ties unwind and the show fizzles out.  Ada the youngest of the Bigtree siblings never gives up hope, but when her sister Ossie falls in love and runs away with a ghost boyfriend she goes out to search for her.  Their father, The Chief, leaves to try to save the park and make ends meet. Big brother, Kiwi, goes to work for the competition next door, The World of Darkness theme park.  When things couldn't get any worse...they do.  Will Ada find her sister and will the Bigtrees' keep the park alive?

This tale is for the very imaginative mind and dry-humored souls.  But I'd say this book is a bit of a bore. 

Happy Independence Day!

I hope everyone has a spectacular and safe Fourth of July!

Take a moment to remember why we are free and should fight to stay free.

I thank the Lord everyday for the breath I breathe and for being born in this amazing country called

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

Make memories that will last forever.  Sirida!

"Good Stuff"

You have got to read this great book by Cary Grant's daughter, Jennifer Grant.  Take a look at the video to learn more or go to www.carygrant.net.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7364508n

Of Mice and Men

This is a book by John Steinbeck and wonderfully written.  A somewhat short story and very fast read. 

Set in the 1930's in the countryside of California two men are looking for farm-hand jobs.  George is short, thin and quick-minded.  Lennie is tall, stocky, and dumb.  Running from problems that happened at a past job, they are hired on at a large ranch miles away.  George has a plan to save the money they earn and buy their own land.  The only thing Lennie can think about is the rabbits he will get to raise.  Always on guard, George tells Lennie to keep his mouth shut, so no one will know he is not of sound mind.  Trouble erupts and chaos explodes by one mistake and a woman with a lingering eye.  A story that is both thrilling and sad will keep you wondering why.

I liked this book particularly because the author kept me engaged in the moment and made me have compassion for the unfortunate and feeble-minded.  Check this classic out at your local library!