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I just finished Tinkers by Paul Harding. A story about a dying man and his memories of growing up, it won a Pulitzer Prize. The book got off to a slow start, and started to intermingle the present day and flashbacks, and I wasn't following it too closely. The man was a clock repairman by trade, and there were some interesting comments about his profession, but the skipping around, which I believe was supposed to be a reflection of his mind's erratic focus, was hard to follow. Occasionally, some of the characters hallucinate, which is always a difficult literary maneuver. In one hallucination, a character sees an Indian next to a pond, and a fish jumps into his mouth. It is hard to make the transition from the occasional straight-line storytelling to a hallucination/daydream/flashback to the eventual return to reality.
I wasn't sure how much farther I was going to go with it when the story shifted to a long reminiscence about his childhood, and for about one hundred pages I had a hard time putting it down, as they say. The father of the aforementioned dying man, a traveling salesman of brushes and soap, had difficulty being a great father, and had epilepsy before they knew what that was. The man and his wife managed to keep the seizures a secret from their children, until one day at dinner the father had a seizure in front of the family. The portion of the book that narrated the father's story was very well-done, and I really felt what was happening in the book - the reaction of the family members, the fear and panic of those who had not yet witnessed a seizure, and the believable calm of the wife.
After the story of the father winds down, the book returned to the present day, and almost immediately, the flow of the book (and my understanding of which time period was being covered) became choppy again.
I give it four out of five stars, with a solid five stars for the middle 100 pages.
I've read several non-fiction books lately, mostly having to do with computer languages like JavaScript and Python. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that information, but JavaScript has been on the minds of quite a few people at my work lately as a language that some of us may be getting more familiar with in the weeks and months to come.
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K is reading Middleworld, about a boy whose archeologist parents go to Central America. He is invited to join them there, but finds they've disappeared.
M is reading The Twenty-One Balloons, a Newberry Medal-winning book he read last year and wanted to read again. I think I might like to read this one.
J is finishing up the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, a series we've all read and enjoyed. The writing is a mix of comics and words, and is the diary (although he doesn't like to call it that) of a boy who is struggling with his identity in a world of wierd friends, bullying brothers, and icky (but somehow fascinating) girls. And, of course, his experiences with The Cheese Touch. I'm not sure what other books she's read lately, but she always has one in progress.
Everyone here except me has read The Hunger Games, and after hearing what it's about, I'm not sure I can stomach it. We'll see.
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We finally bought a new camera to replace our aging Canon A510. We bought a Panasonic Lumix, partly because it was recommended by my dad, and partly because we were having a hard time finding a different, smaller camera with similar features. We're happy with our choice, and we've already taken quite a few pictures.
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Thanksgiving is near! We're going to see almost all of our family, most of whom are conveniently located in the state of Michigan. We're looking forward to the fun and food, and the opportunity to see some relatives we usually only see this time of year.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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