Explorer: The Mystery Boxes edited by Kazu Kibuishi

It's odd. I like graphic novels but I don't pursue them the way I do conventional fiction. Instead I have a handful of people who's opinions I highly value. They tell me to read it and I probably will. In this way I find interesting graphic novels without having to sift through the substantial portion of juvenile stuff floating around.

Indirectly, that's how I came across the Explorer series. Kibuishi is better known for the Amulet series which I haven't read yet, but it's on my stack. The Explorer series is interesting in that it's more like a collection of short stories. There are seven distinct stories written and drawn by different people in each volume. All the stories share one element. In this one, the shared element is a 'mystery box'. So, in each story there's some sort of mysterious box at the center of the action.

Each of the seven stories is a good solid read. Some of them are a little strangely moralistic such as "The Soldier's Daughter." While it was a touching story it was also a somewhat heavy handed statement about the nature of revenge. "The Keeper's Treasure" was an interesting thought on what we confer value to.

I was very impressed with "The Butter Thief" which was an adaptation of Japanese fables and an inadvertent commentary about preserving traditional folk ways. I particularly liked the sparse art style of this one.

"Whatzit" had a classic Saturday morning cartoon feel. It's about the cosmic warehouse workers who ship out components for new universes. The story is cute but I particularly liked the artwork which reminded me of "Johnny the Homicidal Manic."

All in all, this is a good introduction to what graphic Novels can be.

Sucking Gloriously

I've been generally blessed in life to be good at most things I try my hand at. Particularly, I'm good with my hands. As a general rule if it's something that can be made or created through the use of my hands, I pick it up quickly. For example, I taught myself to crochet one afternoon when very, very bored and laid up with the flu.

One area where this has not been true is origami. Every time I try to teach myself how to fold origami, I just suck at it. I can't get the paper to do what it is supposed to and I can't wrap my head around how to translate the diagrams into actions. I tried again this afternoon to figure it out and was completely stymied in under ten steps, which is about how it usually goes.

I did come to realize that the actual issue is my visual processing. It's probably the diagrams I'm having difficulty with and not the actual folding. I suspect now, that if I had someone sit down and show me how to do it, I could probably pick it up with my customary ease. It's kind of humbling though to sit there staring at something that people typically find easy and just be lost. 

It's good for me. I'm sure. A real growth experience.

:-P

Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes

Sometimes I feel like a shelter for lost books. They appear in stacks on my desks or in boxes left outside my door. Sometimes people tell me excuses: "I bought this, but I can't find time to read it" or "Someone gave it to me, but it's not really my thing." As if the excuse matters or is needed. Sometimes there is no note at all and I'm left to wonder if this orphaned book is now mine or is someone missing it? I get a small but sizable percentage of my collection this way.

I got Bronx Masquerade through Lydia's shelter for lost and abandoned books. I'd never heard of it before though Nikki Grimes is a familiar children's book author. Apparently, despite my ignorance of it, Bronx Masquerade created a bit of sensation when it came out and is even taught as a class text in places. It appeared on my desk as part of a stack that Nathan put up for adoption.

The format is a mix of short, personal first person commentary and poetry. The story is that a group of kids in a Bronx high school all fall into the idea of open mike poetry after one kid writes a poem about Langston Hughes. There are eighteen kids in the class, they are not all friends with each other, and they all have something to say through their poetry. Each of the poems expresses some sort of inner truth or personal observation and the through the first person essays we get to hear some of the reactions of the other students to the poems/ideas.

Over the course of the semester, the students begin to revise their opinions of each other and become more sensitive to each other's experiences. The Open Mike phenomenon spreads in popularity until a local paper comes out cover them.

There is something about this book that feels raw and thrown together. The ideas don't always meld together or flow well from one to the next. In a way, it looks like what a teacher would cobble together as a class project from student poetry and reflections. That is possibly part of it's strength. The lack of polish lends verisimilitude. 

 I didn't find this a transcendent experience, but it did give me a lot to think about.

The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett

I was just saying that I hoped there would be more novels set in Uberwald and here it is. How pleasing.

Commander Vimes of the city watch is being sent to Uberwald in his capacity as a Duke and being asked to be an ambassador to the coronation of the low king. Vimes is not what one would call a natural diplomat and he is like a bull at high society functions, so his appointment as an ambassador seems eccentric.  Of course the enigmatic Patrician, Vetinari, has his reasons. He always does.

In the meantime, Angua has gone missing. She's a werewolf and this Uberwald business is in her home territory. She's called away by an old friend to deal with some family trouble leaving Carrot without a word. Carrot, being Carrot, isn't angry but when he finds out where she's headed, he heads out after her leaving the City Watch in the hands of Sergent Colon.

Colon does his best to rise to the occasion, which ends up about as well as can be expected. In total chaos.

The Fifth Elephant is a mix of political intrigue, detective who done it, and an adventure story. Faster paced than usual for a Pratchett novel, I blasted through it in about two and a half days on intermittent reading.

This Discworld novel makes me feel like an idiot. As a general rule, a large piece of the joy in Discworld novels is noticing the interplay between the text and things that Pratchett is referencing in that text. Up to this point he's played with Shakespeare, world politics, B horror flicks and everything in between. I heartily enjoyed The Fifth Elephant but I could not spot a single allusion or literary reference. I'm convinced they have to be there....I just can find them. It's frustrating.

Having a Moment

I'm having a "don't know what to blog" moment. It happens from time to time. It was a pretty placid day with Thomas home. We went to the pool, did a lot of coloring, and had a melt down over the proper methods for unchaining the tricycle. All in all, a good day. I got quite a bit of writing and reading done in my free time.

Yesterday I planted out two of the boxes. 4 slicing tomatoes, 4 cherry tomatoes, 3 purple basil, a thai pepper and I planted in some seeds: bush beans and spinach. The spinach is a bit of an experiment. It's really pretty late for it to do well, but I have a box that spends more time in the shade than the others. I know that some of the leafy greens will hold on if they get some shade, so I'm giving it a try. We'll see how it goes.

I have three more boxes to plant and three more to build up. I was late to start but I'm getting there with it all.

Tortilla Soup

About a year ago, I asked Ryan what he wanted for his birthday and he said "learn to make tortilla soup." Now there are two weird things about this. 1. I've almost never seen him eat or order tortilla soup, so the request came out of the blue. 2. He's got a weird sensitivity to chicken and chicken broth tends to bring on some of the worst reactions. As a result we tend to avoid things like chicken soup and at it's core, tortilla soup is a type of chicken soup.

In case you are unfamiliar, tortilla soup is a traditional Mexican preparation. The origins seem to be a little hazy but I suspect that it is rooted in good thrifty food practices by using leftover tortillas to stretch meat. In any case, it's traditional which basically means that there are tons of variations and every single one of them is the only "real" way to make it. It's a lot like BBQ that way.

At the time, I was at a little bit of a loss. I had a recipe. It made a decent soup but it wasn't anything special and it fell a little flat as a birthday present. I've been keeping my eye out ever since for a better recipe to try. I found one in Mark Bittman's Kitchen Matrix that looked a little more nuanced. He adapted his recipe from a restaurant's in Anthony, Texas.

As a general rule, a soup is only as good as its liquid. That doesn't mean that it needs to be complicated or hard. A good broth will often come from the ingredients of the soup itself simmered in plain water, but from experience tortilla soup tastes really thin without some attention to the broth. This recipe uses meaty chicken quarters fortified with beef bones. It makes a reasonable full stock with a nice color. This broth was the main difference between my two attempts and the extra effort showed.

All in all, I'm pleased with this one, but there is still room for improvement.

Tortilla Soup
Serves 4 to 6
2.5 pounds bone in chicken thighs and/or legs
1 pound beef bones
1 medium onion, quartered (skin on)
1 head garlic, halved through the middle to expose each clove
1/4 cup neutral oil
6 medium corn tortillas
Salt
2 Tbs. canned chipotle chiles in adobo
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 avocados, pitted peeled and cubed
4 to 8 oz plain melting cheese (mozzarella works fine)

1. put the chick, beef bones, 3 of the onion quarters, and the garlic in a large pot. Add water just to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is very tender. (about an hour) Skim the foam off the top every once and a while.

2. Put vegetable oil in large skillet over medium heat. When hot but not smoking, fry 2 of the tortillas. Drain on paper towels. Cut the 4 remaining tortillas into strips. Add them to the skillet, and fry. Stir to keep them separate. Fry until crisp and golden. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt while still warm.

3. When chicken is tender, remove from the pot and let it cool. When cool enough, strip the meat from the bones. Discard both skin and bones and shred the meat.

4. Strain the broth to remove the solids. Discard the solids and return the broth to the pot. Peel the remaining onion quarter and put it in a blender with the chipotle, 1.4 cup of the cilantro, and a sprinkle of salt. Crumble in the two whole tortillas and add enough stock to fill the blender a little more than halfway. Puree until the mixture is as smooth as possible.

5. Pour the puree and remaining stock back into the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat so mixture simmers and cook for about 10 minutes. Stir in the shredded chicken, taste, and add more salt, if necessary. Serve with avocado, cheese, remaining 1/4 cup cilantro, and tortilla strips as garnishes.

The whole thing is a little time consuming, but it was good.

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

I am swiftly becoming a Nicola Yoon fan. It started when Bella, a student of mine, read Everything Everything. She gave such a compelling book talk that I asked to borrow her copy. I read it in about a night and if I wasn't blown away, I was at least deeply impressed. I made acquiring a copy of Yoon's only other book, The Sun Is Also a Star, a priority.

Well I did it, I found a copy at Half Price Books in Decatur. I read it last night and today and it is clear that Yoon is developing as a writer. Much like her previous book, this is a love story. Daniel, who is first generation born American from Korean parents, is at a weird turning point in his life. His parents want him to be a doctor. Daniel may just want to be a poet. He takes a day to wander around New York City as a last day of freedom/childhood. Natasha is Jamaican. She was born there but her parents immigrated with her illegally when she was eight. The day the book begins is her last day in the US. At 10 P.M. she and her family are being deported. She spends her last day looking for a last chance way to stay. Daniel and Natasha meet, both hurtling toward their individual destinies, but their attraction to each other is immediate and overwhelming.

Daniel and Natasha are a case of opposites attracting that rings true to me, which says something. Usually, I just sort of scoff at those things. While there is a high potential for sap, Yoon manages to avoid nearly all of it. Natasha spends most of the book pushing against this relationship with Daniel. She's smart, into science, and prides herself on her realism. She's also very private with her business, which creates a lot of narrative tension. Daniel ends up being like this being like a large and over exuberant puppy. He's looking for a sign from the universe, Natasha is it, and he's more than happy to fall. Natasha's realism balances Daniel's optimism and vice versa. Even so, it much get to be a bit much except that the almost the entire action of the book happens over the course of one day.

In her previous book, Yoon stuck very close to one point of view. In this book, she preserves that intimate first person narrative, but she alternates between Natasha's point of view and Daniels. Periodically she dials out into a third person omniscient to comment on her two characters or describe the background of one of the several side characters and family members. The result is a complex rube goldberg machine of a plot that demonstrates the interconnectivity in the lives of strangers.

It's interesting and it's sentimental. I think my dad should read it. I enjoyed my read very much and found myself near tears by the end.