The Best Book I've Ever Read

"You like to read? So what's your favorite book?"

I went a long time constantly answering that question with "well, right now it's insert book I just read here." I didn't really have a favorite book of all time. Every time I read something wonderful, it became "my favorite book." I typically will only read a book when I'm pretty sure it's actually going to be good (or if it was assigned to me for class). It's rare I read a book all the way through that I really didn't like.

Insert recruitment. That changed everything for me. It only took one person to say "I love reading too! What's your favorite book?" to make me panic. I have to prepare myself for small talk. I have to be ready with answers, and for this question I simply didn't have one. Rambling ensued.

Until I remembered that I did.

I've always liked The Great Gatsby. It's one of the few books I brought with me to college. I used it for a creative writing assignment calling for "the most beautiful sentence." And when I first read it, junior year of high school, it was the first assigned book I couldn't wait to read every night. My friends and I would discuss each readings' events like it was a soap opera, rushing to each other every morning to replay the last few chapters.

But it wasn't until I read it a second time that I realized it was, quite honestly, the best book I'd ever read.

It was before the movie came out, and my family went on quite the Great Gatsby kick. We all reread the book, then watched the two older movie versions, and for the grand finale, my dad made a Great Gatsby feast from the newspaper, featuring dishes such as "Daisy's Lemon Bars" (the BEST lemon bars I've ever had, too).

As I reread the book, with fresh, college educated eyes, I realized just how beautiful the language is, just how spectacular the characters and plot and scene are. I was amazed at the talent in that short, 180 paged book. And just like that, I had an answer to the recruitment question (albeit, five months too late ;)).

Here are just a few of my favorite quotes I've highlighted in my copy:

"It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as it each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again." Chapter I

"There were twinkle-bells of sunshine in the room..." Chapter V

"So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning-fork that had been struck upon a star." Chapter VI

"[Her voice] was full of money- that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbal's song of it....High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl...." Chapter VII

Fitzgerald has this way of making words sing for him; they don't compose a sentence, but a song. I only hope that one day, my words too can sing like that, and make each rereading even more musical.

I'm sure most of you know what the story is about- doomed love, wealth, the inherent flaws of people- but that's not the most important part of The Great Gatsby to me. The most important part is how Fitzgerald makes all of those things happen. How his words inked on a page not only create a story, but a reality.

If you're still with me at this point (yay for long posts!): favorite books may, yes, come and go. Just like when I was a kid, you never know when the next best book will come to you. But it's nice to have that one book you can always count on, the one book you know you'll always enjoy reading (even if it's the fifth time...).

So we beat on...

Symphony in the Park

When my mom said that the symphony was coming to the park by our house, I didn't expect we'd go. It comes every summer, and we normally just stick our heads out of the back door and have a listen for a few minutes before coming back inside to our chores and screens. This time, however, my mom and I found ourselves inching from the front porch, to the driveway, to the backyard, and finally to the park itself. Lured by the very music itself.

There's nothing quite like orchestral performances. As an ex-oboist, I always find it crazy how all these different instruments playing different things could come together and create something beautiful. Funny how sound works like that.

Next year, I will without a doubt be parked in a folding chair in the park, waiting for the symphony to begin before the show has started. Because getting to hear music like that (live and in person) is what summer's really about.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvUI9c-7ccM&w=420&h=315]

(Enjoy the performance of a song from my favorite musical, The Music Man!)

Traveling to the Twin Cities

That's right folks! Greetings from Minnesota, one week later :) The first week of July my family and I traveled up to Minneapolis to visit family. While we were there, we got to see some amazing sites, such as the Minnesota History Center, Fort Snelling, the Minnehaha and Saint Anthony Falls, the Walker Art Center's outdoor areas and the great neighborhood around my relative's home. Fun was had by all! I toted along my road trip bag for the 10 hour car ride and got ready for  great vacation in the northern Midwest.

Now get ready for a lot of pictures!

On the first night we went to this great restaurant Town Hall Tap. OH MY GOODNESS THE FRIES. Just look at them with me- ahhhhh. Some of the best fries I've ever had. They had the perfect amount of crunch and a slight sprinkle of cheese and spices along the top that came together as a celebratory bite in your mouth. I could have eaten a whole extra plate of these beautiful things.

The chicken sandwich was also delicious, with a good ratio of condiments to chicken. This place was spectacular, and if you find yourself in Minneapolis I highly recommend stopping by.

Wednesday we headed to the history center, where the cool "Welcome to Minnesota" super-sized postcard comes from. We saw several exhibits on Minnesota, but there was one particularly cool one on toys of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. I was surprised at how many toys I had played with myself. Sometimes this meant I played with the updated version of the late 90s, but other times the same toy was right there, on display. After going through the exhibit, I couldn't imagine why kids would want to be glued to screen all day when they could be playing with Barbies and Hotwheels.

That afternoon we went to Fort Snelling, my favorite place of the whole trip. It's like an interactive fort, with people representing the types of folks who would have lived and worked in the fort. There were presentations throughout the whole day that people could participate in and/or listen to, as well as a closing "parade" of sorts at the end of the day. A really cool history spot!

The next day (Thursday) was outdoor day, and we went to the Walker Art Center's mini golf course temporarily set up this summer. It's full of artist-designed holes that are both maddening and tons of fun. Every hole is different and brings a different challenge. The one above was like those coin funnels you see at the mall, only it was your golf ball doing the spinning.

Before and after the golf, we walked around the neighboring sculpture garden and saw the famous Spoonbridge and Cherry, as well as many other cool outdoor art sculptures. I especially loved this tunnel-like structure with all the different flowers scattered around.

That same afternoon we saw two beautiful sets of falls, one at Saint Anthony and the other at Minnehaha. Above are the Minnehaha falls- that is an insane amount of water tumbling off a cliff! It was both remarkable and very, very frightening to see the water plummet to the bottom. We don't have anything like this where I live, so the falls were a really cool experience.

Of course, you can't go to Minneapolis without stopping by the Mall of America. I was interested in a couple of stores we don't have where I live and to, of course, see what it's like when you put a theme park in the middle of a mall. You can kind of see in the picture how the rides fill the middle of the mall. I had to get a snap of the American Girl store, since I loved it so much as a kid (Samantha fan for life!).

After Fourth of July shenanigans (and some of the BEST fireworks I have ever seen- sorry Disney World), it was time to go home. Our drive took us into Wisconsin, so naturally we had to stop at the World's Largest Culver's to finish off our vacation. It was a great finish to a great trip. The  Twin Cities are really cool to visit (don't even get me started on the wonders of Caribou Coffee) and I loved getting to see them with my aunt and uncle.

Have you been to the Twin Cities? What are your favorite things to see there? What cool places have you traveled to this summer? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

What I Read: The Bean Trees

5/5 Daisies

(I'm mixing things up ;))

Oh goodness, a fiver! Who would have thought such a thing would come from the likes of me :)

So first of all, hello, I'm back! After a quick vacation away from my blog I am ready to return to my regular posting and overall dedication to writing twice a week. Which I will actually do in July ;) So if you have anything you want to see me post about, or any book suggestions, I'd love to hear them in the comments below. And please do comment, I would love to hear what you like (or don't like) and your thoughts on the things I write about.

But I digress- to the review!

The Bean Trees surprised me. I know a little about Kingsolver's background from studying her in class, so I was nervous this would simply be a retelling of her personal journey to Arizona with a twist (the surprise toddler). But this novel contains so much more. Taylor and Turtle’s story pulls you along from chapter to chapter, and I found myself constantly wanting to know what would happen to the pair next.

Kingsolver is a rich writer. Her prose is nothing less than stunning, and sometimes the English Writing major in me would pause in the middle of a paragraph to just go back and appreciate the language she was producing. For example, here's a sentence from chapter eight:

"The sun was setting, and most of the west-facing windows on the block reflected a fierce orange light as if the houses were on fire inside."

And another, chapter 12:

“From time to time nervous white ribbons of lightning jumped between the moutaintops and the clouds.”

I mean, what is that? It reminds me of Fitzgerald in my all-time favorite book, The Great Gatsby. Sentences just pour from each page into your head, sentences that could have been mundane and boring but are in fact breath-taking.

The story Taylor tells through Kingsolver's words is worthy of the language. After leaving her hometown in Kentucky, Taylor finds herself with a three-year-old girl she dubs Turtle and a whole new family in Tucson, Arizona. As Taylor learns about the world outside rural Kentucky and about the little girl she now calls her own, I learned about people, and became fascinated with this world.

I could go on and on about The Bean Trees, but instead I will encourage you to see for yourself what I'm talking about. Every element to this book works: plot, language, characters, conflict, the whole shebang. Kingsolver has created a novel worthy of re-reading, with a story we should all hear once in a while about how life isn’t always fair, but it’s how we deal with it that matters. I would definitely call this a must-read, and you can expect to see me start reading The Poisonwood Bible soon.

What do you think of Barbara Kingsolver? If you've read The Bean Trees, do you love it as much as I do? Also, let me know what books you've been reading this summer!