The Plate by Roddy Doyle

by Carol5 Comments
"The Plate" by Roddy Doyle This is the first piece I've read by Roddy Doyle and I across it quite by accident. I was searching for "summer short story" and one of the results was a Summer Short Story Special at The Guardian. This was one of the five contributions by established writers whose most well-known books were also listed, and though I haven't read Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha the title rang a bell. The first line grabbed my attention. I love you but I think I'm dying. Maeve watches her husband, Jim, walk back out of the house, staggering and clutching his stomach, like he's been shot. Concerned she asks him what happened and eventually loads him into the car to drive him to the hospital. We learn about the couple by their actions and conversation that night, but more through a flashback to the night before, the night when a plate was thrown during one of their usual drunken arguments. The relationship between...
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Boardgame Quote

by Carol6 Comments
I ran across this quote at Seize Your Turn and had to share it. The Candyland Decree Author Steven Johnson hates the board game Candyland and all board games like it.  I hate them even more than he does. “I realize that games of pure chance have a long history, but that doesn’t make them any less moronic,” he writes.  Here’s how Candyland is played: You pick a card and do what it says.  Repeat. This is early training in agenda following.  Indoctrination in obedience.  We teach our kids that the best way to win is to mindlessly pick cards, follow instructions, and wait for it all to turn out okay. Sheesh.  What a disaster. My decree: If you own a copy, burn it.  Replace it with Cosmic Encounter or chess or a big box filled with wooden blocks.  Please don’t look at school or even board games the same way again.  If they’re teaching your kids or future...
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Father Frost

by Carol5 Comments
"Father Frost" Today's story comes from Russia, but it features some familiar characters. We have a the typical beautiful kind young woman, the evil step-mother and a loving father with no backbone. The story starts in a far-off land somewhere in Russia. The stepmother is kind and loving to her own daughter but, as expected, mean and cruel to her lovely step-daughter. One day, step-mom demands that the father take his daughter away. "Now, old man, I want thee to take thy daughter away from my eyes, away from my ears. Thou shalt not take her to thy people into a warm izba. Thou shalt take her into the wide, wide fields to the crackling frost." The old man shows some remorse weeping, but nevertheless packs the girl off in the sleigh, drives her to the fields,...
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A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

by Carol11 Comments
Amber (10) and I have been listening to the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket in the car this summer. So far, we've heard #1 through #6 and we've just started the 7th. I have to say I've been enjoying them and of course she has or we wouldn't keep borrowing new ones from the library. I'm not going to go into the plot for each one. Suffice it to say that three young orphans go from guardian to guardian, always pursued by the evil Count Olaf in various disguises. He is after their fortune, of course, and though the kids tell person after person, the adults never believe the children and they never see through Olaf's assumed identities until the last chapter when it becomes obvious and Olaf gets away anyway. I can certainly see the appeal for kids. What kid hasn't felt like they are surrounded by adults who often don't see or don't understand the most obvious things?...
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