Gone

I just looked at an interesting piece on Retronaut (a dangerous site if you are prone to clicking on other interesting images on the side of the page). It was about the disappearing face of New York City -- the unique family-owned shops and holes in the wall.

From Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York by James and Karla Murray -- I have to check out this book! It took them eight years to complete. By the time they were finished, many of the businesses were gone.

Though there is less of this type of loss in Seattle that I can see, old and not-so-old storefronts are constantly disappearing and seem to be rarely replaced. The bookstore in Ballard, Epilogue Books, went out of business in summer 2009 less than a month after I moved to the city. It's still empty. Across the street, a former camera store has also been abandoned for a few years.

I wanted to share one of the comments on the article that touched me and reminded me of the argument from You've Got Mail:

"I worked for many years as a carpenter in NYC, and for so long I took for granted that I could find anything I needed, I had only to know what hardware or specialty store to go to. There was Lillien Hardware on Houston and La Guardia, with labyrinthine multi-storied aisles, and employees who knew what you were looking for or could recommend something better and knew where everything was. Same with Direct Fastening down the street, CK&L Hardware on Canal, Sturdy Nuts and Bolts in Tribeca, Dave Sanders on the Bowery and on and on and all gone. And with them not only the rich uniqueness of New York, but one’s ability to solve a problem quickly, be it with an odd part or obscure tool. Now it’s Home Depot on 23rd that doesn’t have anything you’re looking for and employees with no depth and knowledge. Now it’s the internet, so remaining tool supply houses can’t afford to stock every tool – they don’t move fast enough because they can be purchased on line. And gone are those wonderful people with decades of experience. And gone is the ability to be creative the way one could only be in New York with all those resources at your fingertips – a fast walk, a subway ride, a cab ride away, with the city in your ears in your eyes in your heart."

Considering that I've only read 25 books this year, it wasn't difficult to narrow it down to a top ten. Looking back on my list, I realize I've somehow lucked out with incredible books landing in my lap this year.

10. Maus by Art Spiegelman

In 10th grade English class we broke into groups and each read a different book. While I was reading a book by someone named Banana, some of the more ambitious boys tackled this Holocaust graphic novel. I remember thinking it looked interesting when they presented it, but only finally pursued it a couple months ago in anticipation of seeing Art Spiegelman speak here in Seattle. Of course I never made it to the event, but the book was amazing--even if I did cry. Oh, and whenever I read this in public I felt really embarrassed about the huge Swastika on the cover and would always try to hide it. The book is roughly based on the author's parents' experience of the Holocaust (in this book the Jews are drawn as mice, the Nazis as cats, etc.).

9. The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure

I won a free galley (uncorrected review copy) of this book, and was really excited/surprised to get it in the mail last spring. First of all, the cover is AMAZING. Huge points right there (superficial, yes). The author's writing style really bugged me at first. It's like she's trying to be too casual. Rather like how I'm writing right now. Conversational. But once I got into this book, it really made me want to reread the little house books. McClure writes about finally fulfilling a long-held dream to visit the various homesteads of the Wilder family. She does a great job of mixing history, literature, humor, and poignancy. I knew a bit about Laura before this book, but McClure's is vast and she shares it with us. Yeah, I cried at this one too. Realizing maybe that's how I judge how good a book is.

8. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

Erik Larson is freaking brilliant and I've loved everything I've read by him. He spends years researching so you can be assured that every single thing he writes, from the description of a character's bedroom to the weather on a certain day will be footnoted. Granted, In the Garden of Beasts is not as spine-tinglingly wonderful as Thunderstruck or Devil in the White City, but his portrayal of pre-WWII Berlin is eye-opening to say the least. What really stands out in my mind is the feeling I was left with: what happened there could happen again anywhere at any time. Definitely chilling.

7. Flapper by Joshua Zeitz

Flappers...those carefree girls who wore short dresses and carried cigarette holders and drank gin in basement speakeasies. We tend to think of them as the original feminists. "Yeah! They were breaking the rules and having fun instead of having babies! Girl power!" After reading this book I've come to the conclusion that this may not be entirely correct. It turns out most of them were spoiled sluts with major daddy issues. Ick. In fact, they were looked down on by the suffragette mothers for backpedaling their cause. BUT! This book was really incredible in its scope -- a great look back and what lead up to the roaring twenties from a historical, financial, economic, and social standpoint. I randomly plucked this off the shelf at the library. Hidden gold.

6. The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

This author also brought you Men Who Stare at Goats -- made into a George Clooney movie. I was intrigued in this book after hearing about it on the radio and it did not disappoint. Ronson explores how we define psychopath (or sociopath -- same thing) as he interviews serial murderers and CEOs. This book is really scary, mostly due to the fact that it forces you to think about all the undiagnosed psychopaths out there who are walking among us -- many of them at the top (one trait on the psychopath checklist is an inflated ego). They don't feel sadness, regret, or empathy, but watch and train themselves to mimic "normal" reactions in order to manipulate. There was a time when I thought that not showing your emotions, or even better yet, not feeling those emotions in the first place, was what we were supposed to aspire to. This book left me deeply grateful to be sensitive.

5. My Year with Eleanor by Noelle Hancock

The first few chapters of this book read like something the Sex and the City writers hacked out over lunch. I was unimpressed, but it not only grew on me seemingly overnight -- it also turned out to be incredibly inspiring. Author Noelle Hancock is turning 29 when she gets fired from her job as a pop culture tabloid writer. Having a bit of a one-third-life crisis, she reads a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt "Do one thing every day that scares you" and decided this will be her motto for the year. It doesn't have to be a big thing (on days she realizes she hasn't done her thing for the day, she begins stripping and running down her apartment hallway), but along the way she conquers her fear of heights, sharks, small planes, and even commitment. This experience, interesting history about Eleanor Roosevelt, and sessions with Noelle's therapist are nicely paced throughout the book. It inspired me to think about doing something like this. I said "think."

4. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer

Journalist Joshua Foer (Jonathan's younger brother) was writing a story about a memory championship when he got pulled into competing himself. Lots of good explanations of how the brain's memory works and techniques here. I used one just yesterday when I was trying to remember some things to do before leaving town:

I had to put the auto-response on my work e-mail.

I had to remember to grab lunch for work that day.

I had to return an e-mail about an author event at a garden.

I had also didn't want to forget to pack soap, my toothbrush, my glasses and my contacts.

Using an imagery technique from the book, I combined this into a visual of a car (auto for auto-response) whose "teeth" (toothbrush -- it was an anthropomorphic car, okay?) were being washed (soap) in a garden (the event) while a man an woman sat at a table eating (lunch) -- one wearing glasses and one contacts. It works!

3. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

People had been telling me to read this book for years, and I thought I would like it, but hadn't gotten around to it until now. Some complain that books like this are rambling, but I enjoy being able to spread out the reading over six months, picking up the book every once in a while. Makes it more epic. I began last December, and regretfully finished months later. Granted, Tolstoy does wax on about 19th century Russian agriculture (hey, it's okay to skim those parts...), and there is way too much adultery for my taste, but what I love is how well he gets under his characters' skins. When you come across a passing bit of text in a book that makes you say, "yeah, I do that too; I'd never thought about it before," it's a sign of a perceptive author. And when that book is written well over a hundred years ago, it's just astounding.

2. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Emily will give me hell for saying this ("omg, Haley, stop being such a hipster"), but I rarely gravitate toward the books near the top of the best-seller lists. If anything, it seems like a sign that they're overrated, dumbed-down, or catering toward ditzy soccer mom types. I read The Help for book club this year (would definitely never have touched that one with a 39.5 foot pole) and was pleasantly surprised. I also happened to begin The Night Circus on a whim, and was drawn into its world. I wasn't crazy about Morgenstern's prose style, but the story changed the way I thought about a few things in my own life. After the first few chapters, the book jumps around in time -- describing a young man and woman who as children are marked as competitors against their wills by her magician father and a mysterious magician who adopts the boy. We discover what their task is along with them (although to be honest I'm not sure if I ever really understood what it is they're supposed to do). It's as difficult for me to describe this book as it is for the attendees to describe the night circus -- with its black and white striped tents filled with exhibits that seem a little too incredible to be made without real magic.

1. At Home by Bill Bryson

This might be the only history book you'll ever have to own. Bryson launches into "a history of private life" by looking at his own home. For instance, the kitchen chapter becomes a history of how kitchens came to be, food across the ages, cooks through the years, etc. It's absolutely fascinating. I saw him speak at the Seattle stop for this book's tour last year, and he said this book began when he was staring at the salt and pepper shakers on his table and wondered why salt and pepper on the table? Why not salt and sugar? Or cinnamon? If you've ever wondered something similar, this is the book for you.

I remember watching this on TV! I was five, and for some reason this boy-falls-in-love-with-a-girl-on-the-Haunted-Mansion story stuck with me, but I never knew what it was from until now. It's strange to re-watch something as an adult. I couldn't believe how corny this was!

A Good Way to Get Yourself De-Friended on Facebook

"You may think it is a conspiracy, possibly a coincidence, or maybe a little scary. I know the 'natural' disasters to be an outcry from a JUST God who is calling for attention from those who have TRIED to deny his exsistence."

Sorry, lady, as much fun as my sister and I have laughing about your constant status updates about couponing, I can't remove you from my Facebook friends fast enough after this little tidbit this morning. It's beyond offensive to the people who are actually being displaced by the hurricane.

Besides, if this was true, I would have been struck by lightning years ago.

iLife

Last night I looked for what seemed like hours for this watch commercial from the 80s. I wanted to post the video, but since I have no way of finding it, I'll just describe it:

Business man and business woman start their days at different points, the camera trades time between the two of them as they make their way through a crowded city street, coming from opposite directions. They pass within inches of each other. Rewind to that morning, new scenario. Here we see the man put on one of the watches they're trying to sell. It's so accurate, so precise, that when we watch them walking down the street again, he's a second ahead and bumps into the woman. We are to assume that this is his soulmate and he never would have met her if his watch had been slower. (Side note, this concept terrified me when I first saw the commercial and kept coming back to haunt me in the years that followed. Doesn't it often feel like you've got your timing all wrong?)

I wish I had film-making skills, because yesterday I started thinking about how I want to remake this commercial for the digital age. Instead of the watch thing, he doesn't see her because he constantly has his face in his damn iPhone. He doesn't see anything. The tag line would be something like Life: you're missing it.

Yesterday I went for an evening walk around Greenlake and was thinking that I complain about Seattle a lot, but I really do think it's an incredible city. Inspired by Emily's post (but I was totally thinking of it first, so whatever), here are my top favorite things about Seattle -- in the order I think of them.

1. The pace of life.

Despite a culture chock-full of gourmet coffee shops, artisan roasts, fair trade beans, and espresso-tastings, Seattle is incredibly laid back. People saunter down the street with their dogs, stopping to chat with neighbors; sit around bonfires at Golden Gardens; hang out for hours watching the Seahawks game at local pubs.

2. Pets.

People love their pets here, and I get to benefit from it without having to own one myself. Co-workers bring their dogs to work, you can't walk a block without a neighborhood cat coming to beg for a pet (before I sat down just now, I met a fat tabby outside my apartment I called Gregory. He would not let me go, but kept rubbing back and forth against my legs. When I finally went inside the glass front door, he sat outside looking in confusedly). It's really relaxing and comforting to have friendly animals around. Plus, just go to the Ballard Farmers Market any Sunday to see the cutest dogs you have ever seen in your life -- waddling French Bulldog puppies, shy-looking Akitas, stout strutting Corgis...

3. Seasons.

Those cheeky souvenir postcards would have you believe that the four seasons in Seattle are gloomy, gloomy, gloomy, and gloomy. But it's still better than Southern California. I spent my first fall in a state of shock over all the colorful trees. Winter actually feels like Christmas time in the movies (sans tons of snow). My first spring was also spent oohing and ahhing over all the gorgeous trees that just explode into so many blossoms that I want to just pat them all like a fat baby's cheeks (I get weird around flowers -- keep hydrangeas and dahlias away from me because I have to touch them. They're so poofy!). Summer, when it finally comes, is astounding -- all the colors are brighter, everything practically sparkles, and those perfect sunset hours last until 9pm.

Emily: Harry Potter would be 31 today :)

Me: Whaaaa... so he's supposed to be younger than that in the epilogue? Or does that take place in THE FUTURE? So confusing.

Emily: No, the epilogue is like 2015 or something.

Me: So why did his son have Justin Bieber hair? Don't tell me that's still going to be a thing four years from now.