Kate's Queen City Notes

Blundering through Cincinnati, laughing all the way

Monthly Archives: December 2012


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100 Books by 40: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

First of all, Merry Christmas!

I just finished The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This is part of my quest to read 100 books by 40. I love to read, but I lack discipline in setting aside the time to do it. This goal helps me keep reading a priority. I think I need another goal related to playing music, but that’s for another blog.

I started Jane Eyre along side Hitchhiker’s. The book that I finished just prior to Hitchhiker’s was Wuthering Heights. Hitchhiker’s doesn’t stand up well to either of these books.

Full disclosure, I do not typically like Sci-Fi. I feel like author’s seek refuge in Sci-Fi when they don’t want to abide by logic when crafting their plot lines. I know these devices exist outside Sci-Fi, like dream sequences as made famous with Bobby’s shooting on Dallas. 

Hitchhiker’s does handle some interesting ideas though. **Spoiler Alert: stop reading if you are planning on picking this book up in the near future.** There are a few things that are thought-provoking about the book. First, the notion that mice and dolphins are the most intelligent creatures on earth and are simply not recognized as so due to communication barriers is interesting . Second, mice commissioned the creation of planet earth as a part of an experiment is also fascinating. The idea is that mice have been molding our discoveries as lab mice with their behavior, sickness, and death. Finally, an idea is floated that there is no God, but simply chance and probability. As follows, the meaning of life is chance and probability and need not be pondered further.

I have considered that animals might actually have a more sophisticated culture than humans; we simply have no way of communicating with them and hence aren’t aware of their sense and experience in the world. As a result, this story line was of particular interest to me. The suggestion that there is no God and only chance and probability feels cold to me despite my irreligious views.

I don’t think Hitchhiker’s was a bad book, but I don’t think it was as good as others that I’ve read recently. I enjoyed some of the ideas conveyed, but didn’t enjoy the pace of the story telling nor the witty banter between the characters. I can tell the banter was intended as comic relief, but I wasn’t impressed. In fact, I found the banter obnoxious, particularly when it was taking place in an action sequence.

I am 30% complete with Jane Eyre and just starting Catch-22. Jane Eyre is good thus far. Catch-22 started with a glowing review from Studs Terkle, so I am excited to start reading. I found Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom and Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding at a thrift store in Chicago. I have no idea when I will get to those. I am excited about reading Franzen because he’s often lumped in with David Foster Wallace; I love David Foster Wallace.


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100 Books by 40: The Wind in the Willows and Wuthering Heights

I could have titled this My Dread of the Brontë Sisters. I read A Tale of Two Cities when I was a teenager. It scarred me against all British Literature. So, when I saw the over-representation of Brit Lit in the 100 best books list, I was dismayed. I just finished The Wind in the Willows and Wuthering Heights and am happy to report that my dislike of Brit Lit is unfounded. Really, I appreciate it much more as an adult.

Good writers have two distinct skills in varying degrees. Some writers are master artists with the English language, using it to paint a mental portrait so lush that a visual representation will simply fail to adequately convey it. Some writers are skilled storytellers. Stephen King is story teller. His sense for the sequence in which to reveal plot details is keen. I would not say that he is an artist with language though. Emily Brontë (Wuthering Heights) and Kenneth Grahame (The Wind in the Willows) are both, good storytellers and language artists. Grahame’s descriptions of the subtle changes that indicate summer giving way to fall are so precise as to take my five senses there. His descriptions resonate so deeply that I cannot do the experience justice in writing about it. Brontë has a gorgeous way of describing relationships and their propensity to destroy or create. The interactions she describes between her characters are micro stories that most of us have seen play out in small and large ways.

I loved both of these books. The Wind in the Willows is a wonderful, light-hearted read. Wuthering Heights is heavy, but gorgeous.

I started The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Jane Eyre. I’m afraid The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy seems like Kool Aid against the fresh-squeezed orange juice of Jane Eyre. I’m telling myself to be less critical because they were written in different times. I’m telling myself that Douglas Adams need not be an artist with language to be an excellent storyteller. I confess that I don’t enjoy Sci-Fi as a genre. There are exceptions. I liked The Hunger Games and Star Wars; I have a soft spot for dystopian futuristic settings. The conclusion to this is to come in my next blog post. In the meantime here’s a quote from the foreword of Jane Eyre that speaks to me and a refreshed version of my reading list.

“Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns.” – Charlotte Bronte

I’m not underlining these titles. I think it’s pretty obvious they are books. Lazy, I know.

Reading now: 4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

Finished reading:
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
53. The Stand, Stephen King
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens *I read this when I was too young to appreciate it; I would like to read it again as an adult. I will do so if I have time.
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding *I’ve read this twice. I will read it again if I have time.
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac *I’ve read this twice. I will read it again if I have time. I have the unabriged unedited version and will probably take on that if time allows.

Pending reading:
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier – this will need to come from the library or second hand books
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger – – this will need to come from the library or second hand books
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie


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A Sad Break From Books: The Tough Part About Owning a Pet

This post is about putting my cat to sleep, and the events leading up to it. There are also some fond memories here. Feel free to stop reading if you don’t want to hear some self-indulgent pet owner wax on about their animal like most people blab about their babies.

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Nov 2012
Fargo had been sick for the last 9 months. She suffered considerable weight loss and increased lethargy. After several vet visits, the vet suspected that she had diminished kidney function. He explained that this would lead to kidney failure, and this disease would kill her. I understood that her time was limited.

Spring 1997
Fargo was a gift for my 21st birthday from my college roommates. *Pets are never good gifts. But in this particular case, it worked out.* She was my last choice of the litter of kittens that I had to pick from. While I was chasing her siblings, 8 week old Fargo marched up to my roommate and mewed to be picked up. My roommate announced that she had our cat.

Dec. 12 2012
Fargo had been a little listless, but otherwise ok. I left for the day.

Late 1997
Kitten Fargo had some peculiar habits. She would regularly shred any available paper products during the few moments in which none of my 5 roommates were at home. I would return home to find that an internal snow storm of shredded paper had descended upon our home, winter storm Fargo. When deprived of any loose rolls of toilet paper or paper towels, she would turn to potatoes. Potatoes would be scattered about the house with teeny kitten teeth marks in them.

Dec 12 2012
I returned home at 7pm to find that Fargo couldn’t walk or stand without assistance. She clearly recognized me, and would purr when I talked to her and pet her. I gently arranged her on her favorite pillow, and spent the rest of the night with her. I told her about all stuff we did together, which I am sure was more of a comfort to me than to her.

1998
Fargo liked to climb trees. She resembled a huge black squirrel running up tree trunks. She also had no qualms about jumping on the gas stove when burners were on. She seems displeased when I snatched her up and dowsed her with water in the sink. I don’t think she noticed her singed fur. She liked walks the park; she didn’t like the yellow lab bounding up to her to make friends. She liked throwing-up on my roommate’s bed. She loved escaping, but she would happily come to me when I noticed her absence and called for her.

Dec 13 2012
Fargo started seizing late in the evening. I believe that at some point in the night the seizures caused her to lose her higher brain functions. I called the vet in the morning and set our appointment. I spent the day with her.

1999- through early 2012
Fargo saw me come out. She saw me through every break-up and disappointment; she saw me through every success and achievement. She has moved with me from Clifton to Prospect Hill to Northside to Clifton to Prospect Hill to OTR to Hyde Park to Norwood to Downtown. She has been a consistent fuzzy companion for almost all of my adult life.

Dec 13 2012
We made it to the vet’s office. The vet asked what I was thinking we should do. I said it was time to put her to sleep. He agreed. It wasn’t a difficult choice. She was just a shell of her former self. The vet was very kind. Jenn and I stayed with her until she was gone.

I am at once profoundly sad and thankful. She was a wonderful pet. I will miss her dearly.

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