Matthew Dicks's Blog, page 721

Challenging literary analysis

Tonight I was reading Eric Carle's THE VERY LONELY FIREFLY to my daughter. Though I like the book a lot, I apparently never fully understood the story. As the firefly makes its way around town, people pop their heads out of windows and doors, wondering about the origins of all the apparent noise going on outside.

I've always thought it was the firefly making the noise, though admittedly I found it odd that a firefly would be making any noise. I caught enough of them in jars as a kid to know...

Bad book covers

Joe Queenan recently wrote an essay in the Sunday Book Review about the influence that bad book covers can have on his reading choices. 

I feel his pain.  Bad book covers have kept me from reading some books for years.  

The best example of a bad book cover (and a bad title) preventing me from reading the book is Sharon Creech's YA novel WALK TWO MOONS.  My wife insists that it's a great book, and she's even volunteering to lead a book club in my classroom for any of my students who are...

A likely excuse

Best response ever

Honesty gets you nowhere

I must have been living in a cave four years ago when Ayelet Waldman published this piece in which she says that she loves her husband more than her children.  In talking about it now with friends, it seems as if everyone was aware of it at the time.  Except me.   

Of course, in reading about the history of the story and the reaction to it now, it seems as if most of the media attention came from sources like Oprah and The View. 

Not my usual media outlets. 

But I wish I had been...

Judging people based upon viewing choices

It might not be nice, but I often judge people by the television shows that they watch while exercising at the gym. Each machine is equipped with its own TV, and I find the programming choices that people make to be utterly fascinating. Not only are these people watching these programs, but they are also willing to let everyone in the gym know what they are watching. Under these circumstances, I would expect people to be more discerning about their choices, but from what I have seen, they...

New name. New design. Same writer.

In case you haven't noticed, the masthead to this blog changed today.  The original masthead, designed by my wife, reflected the blog's previous URL.  That address, matthewdicks.com, is now the location of my new author's website.

This new masthead, also designed by my wife, is reflective of the new name that I have chosen for the blog, Grin and Bare It.  It's a name that I have been toying with for a while.

I enjoy double entendres.  I especially get a kick out of the way the name...

Rock opera update

Last night my friend, Andy, and I had our first reading (and listening) of the rock opera that we have been working on for several months.  A group of friends gathered round my dining room table, gobbled pizza and drank beer, and read the parts that were assigned to them for the evening. 

It was a lot of fun. 

It was the first opportunity for me to hear Andy's music and my dialogue come together, and even though much of what I had written sounded like nails on a chalkboard, I thought...

Handerpants!

Katherine from Bunch of Grapes Bookstore recently made me aware of the fabulousness of Handerpants.

I know.  Handerpants are nothing new.  I have a friend who wears a version of handerpants regularly (much to the amusement of her husband), but I always admire a company that can take a simple, well-worn idea and repackage into something new.

And odd.

And silly.

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Perfection

Last week we experienced our first significant snow of the year, covering the ground in about four inches of the white stuff.  After spending the entire fall season ignoring the plentitude of leaves on the lawn and a garden in dire need of attention, the snow was a welcomed sight and reminded me of one of my favorite haikus:

First snow

the neglected yard

now perfect

- Elizabeth St. Jacques

After hours of back-breaking work in their yards, raking leaves, fertilizing grass...