Monday, November 10, 2008

Books and Babies

I am happy to report there has indeed been craftiness going on here, but since the natural light is quite horrible at 10pm, I am going to talk about books instead and if you stay with me long enough, I have a thing or two to say about babies. Cheryl posted her five most influential books on her blog last week and challenged her readers to do the same...so I have been thinking a lot about the books which have influenced me and how. I looked through my personal library and sadly realized I only own four of the books I consider most influential. I've also been thinking about the difference between a book I love and a book which has influenced me -a subtle distinction! So here, I think, is my final decision, for now anyway, at age 31! I also decided to separate my adult from my children's, so I will leave you with ten.

5 Most Influential -Adult
1. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
2. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
3. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren
5. Flannery O'Connor stories

*It is interesting to me that none of these are books I have read recently. Also, with the exception of Pride & Prejudice, their influence on me has a lot to do with language. These were books which motivated me to write.

5 Most Influential -Children's
**Apologies on this one because it gets a little rambly, but each of these has its own story! Plus, I thought of about 10 books not 5 so I may be posting a Part 2 later on sometime.

1. George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl -Oh how I loved Dahl! This was the first Dahl book I read. During the summers I read Dahl books in bed till 1am with very little light and cracked up under my covers.

2. Nancy Drew books -yes, I admit it, I loved Nancy. It was the Nancy Drew Files that were all the rage in my day, but I read the old school ones too. I remember getting the first 3 original Nancy Drew books for Christmas in the 5th grade and trying to read them in the car at night!! These also led me to Trixie Belden books. Did anyone else read these???

3. Little House on the Prairie (whole series) by Laura Ingalls Wilder -I took the pioneer thing to an extreme! I even had my mom make me a bonnet and wrote my own Laura stories in a teeny tiny notebook which I still have...somewhere! I'm kinda surprised I didn't start calling my parents Ma and Pa!!!

4. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

5. Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi

I could also create a list of Children's and Teen books which have influenced me as an adult, but I'll have to save that for another post...maybe to go along with my Part 2 of books which influenced me as a child since I've already thought of at least 5 more! I honestly forgot what a crazy reader I was back then. And I would love to see what your Top 5 or 10 or 15 are...so if you have a blog do this too, it's fun!

And now for the baby part of this post...yeah, well, we're having one! In about 6 months actually. I am finally going public with the news since I will officially be in the 2nd trimester on Wednesday! I have to be honest, it has been a strange and difficult thing to be grieving and expecting at the same time and I don't know quite how to put it into words except to say that it is bittersweet.

Expect to see some baby crafts coming soon. I sewed for the first time in a couple of months on Friday. Many ideas are swirling in this scatter-brained head of mine.

Oh, and the Belly Balm in the picture above is from here. I hope it does marvelous things to prevent stretch marks! I am prepared to fight them!

Thanks for staying with me on this one...Goodnight!

9 comments:

Cheryl said...

I'm so glad you did this! yay. It's so interesting reading other's influentials. I'm glad you are "out" with your news! I was wondering :) I'm so happy for you. And sister, make sure to put that "Belly Balm" on your boobies too later on - just trust me on this one :)

Beth said...

Congratulations!

Dianna S said...

Congratulations! What happy news - I'm so excited for you.

Re: Little House books - I too ran around in sun bonnet and dress for much of my childhood. happy times :)

karrie said...

Congrats!! I can't believe it!

diane said...

YEAH for my first little niece/nephew!!! We can't wait!!

Ilove your book choices-I 'll have to think about this one!!!

Erica said...

Wow Amanda, congratulations!! I can't wait to see the baby crafts :)

Anonymous said...

Your blog made me smile this morning for a couple reasons...first - I am so happy for you! Wow, congratulations!!
and
2nd - I am now thinking about my most influential books. I like how each of your childhood books had a little story. I too have a Roald Dahl book on my list -James and the Giant Peach is a stand out for me! Hmmm...blog post soon?

Cat Herself said...

Fantastic news! It is such a blessing to have a wonderful, life-affirming event to look forward to, especially with grief. I am so happy for you and your husband. Yay!

BluegrassGal said...

I love Flannery O'Connor. "Parker's Back" is one of my fav stories. Oh, and stretch marks: cocoa butter lotion and take fish oil capsule every day. I used the lotion every day during pregnancy and ended up with ZERO, but all the doctors say it's genetic--you either have the genes to get 'em or you don't. Here's hoping you have the anti-stretch mark genes!

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