the number devil

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I've always loved math and numbers...so when my friend Sarah gave me this book to read, I was excited to see what it was all about. I loved it! So much fun to twist mathematics into a story with a creative edge when math seems so cut and dry and uncreative. I loved it!



If you've ever had a hard time with math concepts or don't understand certain things numbers can do, try this book, you won't be disappointed!


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middlesex by jeffrey euginedes

I recently finished reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and am so excited about the book, I'd like to share my review. If you're not a member of goodreads, you should check it out!

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am SO into this book...I know I'm reading it ultra-late and missed the book club discussion, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the first half. I remember someone saying that there are too many details at club...but that's the part that I like. I feel a part of Cal's life...his family...his creation...I really really like it.





LATER...as I got into the meat of this story, i was humbled by facts about a type of person I hardly knew existed. i was CONSTANTLY going through different historical sections finding out what actually happened...the history of the fire at Smyrna in 1922, the history of the battle between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus in 1974...the history of hermaphrodites in the US and all over the world...



many people who have reviewed this novel comment on not being able to get into it at the beginning or finding it too detailed or being disappointed with the ending...however...i can't help but think so much of the detail of the geneaology of Cal was so necessary for the story.



i retold the book as i read it on my own to my boyfriend. i was reliving what happened to calliope and then cal with very vivid details because i felt as if i had become part of his life. gregg told me tonight that he was disappointed with the ending because nothing pivotal happened and a small argument ensued. i very firmly believe that the end of the story was quite monumental. many readers had forgotten about desdemona, but i kept wondering what had happened to her. i was so excited when cal mentioned her concerning the funeral...and to hear des come around...blame herself, understand, and continue to care about cal...man, that was the clincher for me. i was sitting at red light, reading the last 3 pages...tears rolling down my cheeks. i think of all people, after cal had felt like such a "monster" and ran away...to have desdemona accept him...i think that was monumental.



this story was definitely one of my absolute favorites. i loved this book.


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25 minutes

When I began writing, there were only 25 minutes until lunch for my 2nd graders. I just spent 8 of those minutes trying to figure out how to save this graphic as an image on my computer rather than just clipart in Word. 8 minutes later, I've learned a new task!
Our 2nd graders were able to enjoy the sounds of Los Gatos, a Latin Band featuring Afro-Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Chilean rhythms at school today. The band was very interesting. They had many different instruments, including one of music teacher's favorites, a wooden frog percussion instrument that sounds like a frog when you run the mallet up the frog's back. That was my favorite part of the assembly: when they had 4 different-sized instruments and they played them in a little frog choir that made me feel like frogs were all around.

Anyway, the reason I even began this post in the first place was to comment on a song I heard in the car on the way to a run last evening. I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas is a very interesting song. I did a little research and found out more from the ever-handy, always (ha!) reliable, Wikipedia. Here's what they said:

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas is a Christmas novelty song written by John Coctoasten and performed by Gayla Peevey (11 years old at the time) in 1953. According to legend, she was a regional child star of the Oklahoma City area. This 1953 hit was recorded as a fund-raiser to bring the city zoo a hippo. When released nationally by Columbia Records the song shot to the top of the charts, and the city zoo got a baby hippo named Matilda.

It is a Dr. Demento Christmas staple, and is currently available on Dr. Demento's The Greatest Novelty Records of All Time Vol. 6: Christmas. (Wikipedia)

Interesting how songs get started and then written...

Anyway, if you haven't heard it lately, you should check it out on iTunes. It's worth the 99¢. You can't get much better than the whiny, snot-nosed Gayla Peevey begging Mommy and Daddy for a vegetarian hippopotamus for Christmas.

Just a thought.

THE number one

Recently, while talking to a friend about landmark times in our lives, anniversarial years such as Baby's First Christmas, the 21st Birthday, and the 50th Wedding Anniversary came to mind. My niece, Ella, was born last September, and from the very first minutes of her life, I saw how quickly love can form and grow.

Now, as I sit writing my First Anniversary Blog, I wonder:

"What's poignant enough for a First Blog?"

And then I realize, quickly, that the mere attempt at blogging is poignant enough. So--with a quick ending to my beginning of blogging minutes, I leave you with this, one of my most favoritest quotes:

"You are so much sunshine to the square inch." -Walt Whitman

Can I ever be considered that titillating such that someone will say the minutes in my life deserve Walt Whitman's quote?