Good Books Are Like Macaroni and Cheese

I have a love-hate relationship with top ten lists. I love reading other people's lists, and I love the idea of creating my own... but when it actually comes down to it, I struggle to pick just ten. Especially books. It's like choosing a favorite kid, for crying out loud! Yet here I am, trying once again to concoct such a list, because it seems like an appropriate thing to do before the semester starts. Actually, I'm going to be unconventional with a list of Top Eleven. Somehow that extra book makes me feel better about being selective. The titles listed below are my tried-and-trues, the ones I go for when I'm tired of hunting through the library shelves and just want to curl up with something familiar.  To me these books are like macaroni and cheese - comfort food in readable form.  My hope is that you'll find something interesting here to add to your own bowl of mac n' cheese. (By the way, much as I adore them, this does NOT include picture books... because that's a little too ambitious for my taste.  We'll save that list for another day.)

1. The Princess Bride by William Goldman – Everyone has seen the movie. How many people even know the book exists? Okay, maybe everyone knows and I was just in the dark for years. Thanks for telling me, guys. Anyway, it's hilarious, possibly even funnier than the movie. You should read it. Really. It's my go-to when I need something fun and don't want to think very hard.

2. Arthur: The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland – This is the first in a trilogy. (Appreciate my sneakiness here – that's three for the price of one!) If you like medieval fiction or Arthurian legends and have not read this... well, for shame! Get thyself a copy. Beautiful prose and vivid characters.

3. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt – In a nutshell, it's about an eleven-year-old girl who finds the fountain of youth in the woods beyond her house. When I was younger, I used to read this during the first week of every August, because that's where the story begins. I've since broken the tradition, but I still read the book at least once a year.

4. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones – I was foolish enough to start the first chapter at ten o' clock in the evening. But then again, how was I supposed to know that I wouldn't be able to put it down? I ended up hunched under a blanket with a flashlight and sore elbows at two o' clock in the morning. If you like fantasy... heck, if you like to laugh and enjoy clever prose, this is for you. Spells, mobile castles, cranky fire demons, melodramatic wizards, eighteen-year-old girls disguised as old women... lots of exciting stuff, folks. PS: Hayao Miyazaki adapted the story into an equally quirky animated film.

5. Flight: Volume II edited by Kazu Kibuishi – Throwing you for a loop here. This one's the first on the list that isn't a novel. It's a comic anthology of thirty-three stories by young, unconventional artists. Volume II is lovely, displaying a diverse blend of styles and genres. The stories range from oddly poetic to downright eerie. A must-read if you like graphic novels or art in general.

6. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie – Everyone knows the story of Peter Pan. (Thank you, Disney.) I'm not sure the same number of people have read the original book, but to miss the opportunity would be a tragedy. J.M. Barrie is brilliant. You can't help laughing out loud at his wonderful, spot-on dialogue. Few authors know how to write children with so much honesty. This is one of the most enchanting stories I've ever read. (The edition featuring Scott Gustafson's illustrations makes it even better.)

7. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis – He's one of my all-time favorite authors. And The Great Divorce just might be my favorite thing he's ever written. In brief, it's about a bus ride from heaven to hell. C.S. Lewis is one of those authors who can write about eternity without sounding saccharine or preachy. The book is thoughtful, convicting, sometimes funny, and always full of joy.

8. Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender – Here you will find fifteen diverse short stories. Bender writes surreal speculative fiction that is both bizarre (a boy with keys for fingers, potato babies, a child born with an iron head) and utterly heartfelt. Her short stories are some of the best I've read in the genre.

9. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak – It's a story about World War II, and it's narrated by Death. Wait, you say, doesn't that sound terribly morbid? Well, yes... I suppose it does. Yet Zusak somehow manages to make it humorous, heartbreaking, and bittersweet. Besides, it's pretty hard not to be intrigued by a first chapter entitled “Death and Chocolate.”

10. How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn – Set in the coal mines of Wales, this story contains some of the strongest characters I have ever met. I say “met” because that's how real they are – by the second chapter, you feel like you've known Huw Morgan and his boisterous family your whole life. The book is like a wilder, grittier, Welsh version of Little House on the Prairie. Except much, much better.

11. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery – My lists change all the time, practically every time I read a new book. It takes a lot for a book to stay on the list for more than a year, let alone permanently. The Little Prince is one of the few exceptions. This title has been a favorite ever since I read it for the first time as a freshman in high school. Narrated by a pilot stranded in the desert, it's the whimsical story of a prince who leaves his tiny asteroid and journeys to earth. From the endearing dedication page to the melancholy last page, I love, love, LOVE every word of this story. Saint-Exupery knows how to write straight at the human heart.

There you have it: my current top ten eleven list.  This is my bowl of macaroni and cheese.  (Gosh, all this talk of metaphorical noodles is seriously making me hungry.  I need to stop.)  How about you? Do you have a list of your own? Like I said, this is the time of year in which I start hunting for new titles... so recommendations are welcome! Who knows, in a couple of months I might just have to revise my selections.  In the meantime, check these books out if you haven't already done so.  Happy eating!  Er, reading...

Let's Take The U.S. Postal Service By Storm

I used to loathe the very idea of social networking websites. I thought they were a shallow, stupid way to avoid real friendships while still feeling “popular.” That was before I got a Facebook account, of course. “I'll never be on Facebook!” I used to rant to the amusement of my friends, who had already been lured away by the siren song of social networking. “There are better ways to maintain long distance friendships! I'll rebel! I'll – I'll write letters!” And for a while I did. That very day I sat down at my desk, pen and stationary in hand, and composed several epistles. It was fun. I felt like a character in a Jane Austen novel. To my great delight, a few people even wrote back once or twice. Okay, two people. One of whom was my grandma. But still. A letter is a letter, right?

Several months later, I broke down and made a Facebook account anyway. Well... so much for revolutionizing the world with letter-writing. I, um, sort of tried. The problem with letters is that most people don't have the time to write back, or even to write in the first place. (At least, that's what everyone says. My personal theory is that all our potential letter-writing time gets sucked away by... other sources. *cough, Facebook, cough*) So the sad fact about letters in today's world is that everyone loves getting them and almost nobody has the motivation to write them, except for those rare souls like my grandma.

Happy news: I'm blessed to have a handful of those rare souls as friends. In fact, they're the reason I'm typing away here, simultaneously lamenting the lack of letters in our world and rejoicing in the fact that... (drumroll, please) I GOT MAIL TODAY! Huzzah! Nothing makes my heart sing like a letter with my name on the envelope. This morning when I woke up, I found not one but TWO letters pushed under my bedroom door. My heart could have sung an entire opera.

Now, don't take this the wrong way: I'm not saying we should all delete our Facebook accounts (or blogs), throw our laptops into the nearest dumpster, and start buying stationary in bulk. Modern conveniences like email and social networking sites can be incredibly useful. Relying on mail delivery for everything would be a royal pain. I like the fact that I don't have to plan three days in advance every time I need to contact my boss or want to plan a get-together with a friend. However... there's just something sad about opening your mailbox every morning only to find bills and junk mail. A well-crafted, lovingly doodled-on letter is a beautiful thing. To all my letter-writing friends (and you know who you are): thank you! You are quite inspiring. I'm thrilled that I'm not the only one still licking envelopes and buying stamps.

So, I've decided to try something this year because I like goals, and I like challenges. Here it is: The Letter-A-Week Challenge. Fairly self-explanatory. Pick one person each week, and write them a good old-fashioned letter. Who's with me? Seriously, you should do it. Make someone's heart sing an opera.

As for me, I'm off to be Jane-Austenish and write a letter or two.

Grave of the Fireflies

Stories are dangerous things. Every time we open a book, sit in a darkened theater, or watch a film in the privacy of our own living room, we choose to leave our worlds behind, to become so fully absorbed in the characters that we almost forget ourselves. We spend hours in their skin, rejoicing and weeping with them. In a way, we know them. Whether or not they exist as tangible beings in our world is beside the point – they have become real.

Yesterday I met Seita and Setsuko in the 1988 Studio Ghibli film Grave of the Fireflies. I've loved Studio Ghibli for years. Their canon of films has a kind of beauty, strength, and childlike whimsy unlike anything else. Grave of the Fireflies, directed by the studio's co-founder Isao Takahata (friend of Hayao Miyazaki, who created classics such as My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke) absolutely took my breath away. Five minutes into the film, Seita and Setsuko stole my heart. Yes, it sounds cliché, but I can't think of a better way to phrase it. Ten minutes later, I found myself in tears. Even now I can't stop replaying scenes over and over in my head. It will be days until they fade.  

As Japan erupts in a storm of firebombs and ash during World War II, Seita and his little sister Setsuko fight to survive in a place stripped of everything they once knew to be safe. After losing their mother in an air raid, the children are sent to live with their aunt, a harsh woman who chastises them relentlessly and eventually drives them out of the house with her coldness. Left with only each other, the siblings build a home for themselves in an abandoned bomb shelter. Seita does everything he can to provide for himself and Setsuko, but without food or resources, his efforts are not enough to save them.

Takahata makes it clear from Seita's first line (“September 21^st, 1945. That was the night I died.”) that our two small heroes will become casualties of the war. In fact, the opening scene ends with Seita and Setsuko's ghosts leaving an empty train station as symbolic fireflies dot the grass around them. The scene then switches back to the first air raid and the red haze of firebombs and smoke. Yet in the midst of chaos, starvation, and broken villages, the story is full of light. Takahata's depictions of Seita's loyalty and love for Setsuko are beautiful. At the beach, running through the rain, sharing fruit drops at the train station, releasing fireflies under the mosquito net... Seita doing endless flips on the school chin-up bar to coax a smile from his crying sister... Setsuko weeping over Seita's bruises after he is caught stealing sugar cane for her... Lovely scenes, and almost too overwhelming to watch in one sitting.  I had to keep hitting pause because I couldn't see the screen through so many tears.

Grave of the Fireflies is the most powerful war movie I've ever seen. Sitting in front of my laptop, I felt like I was there. I flinched at the sound of sirens, cringed as airplanes droned overhead, and wept with Setsuko as she hunched in the dirt and cried for her mother. This is not a film to be watched on a whim. Although it's a visual masterpiece, it's not meant to be entertainment or a pretty piece of storytelling. It will change you. It should change you. I've heard Grave of the Fireflies described as an anti-war film, but I don't think Takahata's message is as dogmatic or clear-cut as that. The story is powerful not because of what is said, but because of what is left unsaid. Takahata wastes no time preaching, manipulating, or pressing an agenda. He simply shows us the lives of two doomed children caught in the wrong time and the wrong place, and he dares us to love them anyway. We're left to draw our own conclusions. That is, perhaps, the most powerful thing he could have done after all.

I Like To Write In The Witching Hour...

...or something like that.  I just love that there's an hour known as The Witching Hour.  It sounds like an hour full of adventurous things waiting to happen.  Actually, writing at this time of night always seems to happen whether I like it or not.  Maybe it's a procrastinator thing.  I get stuff done when it's technically way too late to be anywhere but bed.  Most likely I'll regret this in the morning, but the blog had to get finished and I didn't want to leave it completely empty of words.

I have a blog!  Yay!  I've been toying with the idea all year.  So, what's this blog all about, you ask?  Hmm... I'm not entirely sure yet.  Probably a lot of book, film, and music posts, as well as many ramblings on the craft of writing.  Yes, I am a writer.  No, I am not famous or well-known (obviously!).  I'm not even little-known.  In fact, I only have one published short story to my name, and that isn't out yet.  (I'll post a link when it is!)  However, I do write a lot - novels, short stories, essays, articles... all kinds of things.  If I have to be called anything, maybe it should be Compulsive Word-Dabbler.  That suits me quite well at this point.

The Dreamer's Day Job is an apt title for my blog because, well... I'm a bit of a dreamer, and freelance writing is my idea of the perfect day job.  Right now the title brings with it a touch of irony, because in real life I'm a soon-to-be journalism student who works at a restaurant and stays up into the wee hours of the morning writing short stories.  But I like where I am, and I like the adventures life flings my way.  I'll have some good stories.  Probably some good potential blog posts.

For now, I'm going to sleep.  Stay tuned, I'll have a film review for tomorrow.

Caved In At Last...

Ahhhh! I finally succumbed to the world of blogs and posts and am now knee-deep in blogger mumbo jumbo as I try to figure out how this all works. Egads! Why is the Internet so complicated? I just want to write, for goodness' sake.  Confession: sometimes technology scares me.

A real post will hopefully appear quite soon. For now, I'm off to cure my ignorance regarding CSS, galleries, links, and polls.