Went to Westport today to pick up concert tickets from somebody my boyfriend got a hold of through Facebook. Felt shitty all day at work, after waking up at nine with a sore throat. When I took a glimpse at my tonsils in the mirror, I swear to God, they were so swollen they were touching in the middle of my throat (yikes/please shoot me). Some hot tea w/ honey, four ibuprofen and some salt water gargle (thanks Mom) got me ready to rejoin civilized society. Slumped through the workday like a zombie. Actually almost fell asleep on drive to work. When I was finally released from my cash register, I drove home, fully prepared to fall asleep and not wake up until Judgment Day. When I got home, however, J was waiting for me, with the news that he had picked up the tickets due to a stomach ache(eyes roll like cue balls) and now he had to go to work, and could I please drive downtown to meet his concert ticket contact. He called her and arranged a meeting near one of my favorite bookstores, so I agreed to go in exchange for $20 to spend on books. Good trade, in my book.
Speaking of books, bought six: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Julia Alvarez (have read her In the Time of the Butterflies, which was v. good, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (have read this and Cat's Eye, very intriguing author), Possession by A.S. Byatt (to be honest, I have never heard of this book, but the jacket description looked interesting and it was v. inexpensive), Snow by Orhan Pamuk (just finished My Name Is Read and I thought it was phenomenal), The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller (one of my mother's favorite books, and she did tell me about the salt gargle thing), and by Lauren Waisberger (she wrote The Devil Wears Prada. Nothing wrong with a little chick lit, as long as you don't make a habit of it.)
At the moment, though, I am halfway through The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, which I was only mildly impressed by when I first began it, but am now quite taken with. The book starts out in 1964 (and I love her portrayal of this time period) and centers around a doctor's choice to split up his twin children, keeping the son to raise and sending the girl to an institution because she has Down's syndrome. The setting is key to this choice, I feel, because if the story had taken place today, the doctor would be demonized for his insensitivity. But when we surround this act with the era, which is a different world, medically, and, as Edwards shows, socially. Edwards's story shows the effect this decision has on the doctor, his wife (who is told the baby girl died), their son, the nurse who takes the daughter in, the nurse's husband and friends, and the daughter herself. So far I am really liking this book. Tomorrow I want to blog about Edward's technique and what I can learn from it. Any thoughts?
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