Sophie Kinsella, the author du jour

Who hasn't read the Shopaholic series written by Sophie Kinsella? Well, at least if you are female and over eighteen, it is more than likely that you have. This series propelled Sophie Kinsella into the worldwide spotlight; whether she succeeded in creating a sub-genre of literature or kindled a passion for reading in a younger generation is up for debate. I've read each of the books in this series, and, honestly, I can't stand them.



Sophie Kinsella is proficient at writing good novels. If you have ever read a book about how to get your own book published, there are certain things that editors look for in a manuscript. And it is not nearly as easy as Kinsella makes it look. A critical element in any novel is building suspense. If the reader doesn't care what happens next, they won't turn the next page, continue on to the next chapter, or read the next book in a series. It may go without saying, but I had never thought about this until I read it: suspense is not always characterized by a dark and stormy night. It is anything that introduces uncertainty. Kinsella's Shopaholic novels contain plenty of suspense.



The main character, Becky, is not only a "shopaholic" but a pathological liar. Between her crazy spending and her even crazier lies, the reader never knows how things will work out for Becky. Reflected in the light of Candace Bushnell's novels Sex in the City and Trading Up, shopping and fibbing seem harmless. (Note: If you recognize the title of the HBO series, you will know what these two Bushnell books are about.) This is where I dump out the Kinsella Kool-Aid.



Since when have such reckless dishonesty and outrageous materialism become endearing character traits? The last time I looked, dishonesty and covetousness were in the same set of "thou shalt nots" as adultery. For the skill Kinsella possesses as an author, is it not possible to create suspense without calling to mind the Ten Commandments? I guess not. Having said this, I feel that redemption and tolerance are lessons worth learning as well. Unfortunately, Kinsella's character, Becky, never changes. Isn't this series of bad choices the easy way to create suspense? Wouldn't it be more difficult for an author to create suspense without scandalous behavior to create the problems? How many people in this world live the life of Becky Bloomwood? Not very many, and yet we don't all live bland, boring lives.



And yet most authors who write books for the Christian market follow such a predictable pattern that, not unlike Dan Brown, we know what's going to happen before we are half-way through the book. Davis Bunn, as an example, is a tremendous faith-based author who creates well-developed characters and suspense without filling my mind with filth. Fortunately, Kinsella's most recent novel may have saved her.



I read Twenties Girl today, and it was a well-written book with an inspiring message. The main character does her share of lying (what is with this obsession of Kinsella's?), but overall, Kinsella did a good job of creating endearing characters and a great deal of uncertainty without stooping to anything blatantly immoral. Or relatively immoral? Anyway, if you can get over the authentic British language, it's a beautiful story.



Here is my favorite passage from the book and my thoughts on it:



"A scratch 1920s recording of a jaunty, jazzy tune...On the other side of the room, an old man sitting under a tartan blanket with a tank of oxygen next to him turns his head. I can see the light of recognition coming on in faces around the room...They're all Sadie inside, aren't they? They're all in their twenties inside. All that white hair and wrinkled skin is just cladding. The old man with the oxygen tank was probably once a dashing heartthrob. That woman with distant rheumy eyes was once a mischievous young girl who played pranks on her friends. They were all young, with love affairs and friends and parties and an endless life ahead of them...I can see their young, vibrant selves, starting to dance with each other to the music. They're all dancing the Charleston, kicking up their heels skittishly, their hair dark and strong, their limbs lithe again, and they're laughing, clutching each other's hands, throwing back their heads, reveling in it-"



Sophie Kinsella, Twenties Girl, pg 512-13. (Large print edition-that was all the library had.)



Now read James 1:27 "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction."

For writing something that inspires me to do better, to consider things I hadn't, to love more fully, thanks Sophie Kinsella. That is what makes good literature.

Recital

Ainsley and Audrey Ballet Recital

I don't have many pics of Audrey from the recital because I watched her dance from backstage. She did a good job of watching her teacher, smiling, and having fun.

Glee

In the last few years, ABC Family channel developed a new marketing slogan: "A New Kind of Family." What? Isn't the point of a family channel to present family-friendly programming? Are they not there to provide the opportunity for an entire family to watch appropriate TV, to sit there comfortably, without worrying about little ears or losing the interest of the teenager? And yet, ABC Family produced "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." Although I've never watched the show, apparently the show depicts the struggles of a pregnant teenage girl, the baby daddy, and their families. I get that this is reality, I get that the producers are either pushing an agenda for tolerance or for using this as a teaching tool for abstinence. But what I cannot figure out is how they advertise for this show during cartoons. My girls aren't old enough to wonder how girls end up pregnant at sixteen. Maybe I am picking on Molly Ringwald, but I think "Insidious" is an apt description of ABC's message that they can fashion the foundation for a family or remake an entire cultural institution.

There is a new show this fall whose story revolves around a high school glee club. When I first heard the title for the show, I thought a glee club was similar to a pep squad. Apparently, though, a glee club is a distant cousin to the choir. My guess is that choir sounds a little too boring and not quite metrosexual enough for prime time TV. I kept reading Facebook posts about the music in Glee or how hard people laughed.

I was hooked on the show within two minutes of watching it for the first time. What's not to like: an adorable teacher, awesome music, an even better looking guy with a mohawk...And did I mention the music? This show makes me laugh and cry and tap my toes.

Except that it's about a teenage girl who gets pregnant, her Glenn Beck-watching parents who kick her out, the teacher (did I mention that he's adorable) whose selfish and amazingly beautiful wife lies about being pregnant, a kid with an amazing voice who is in a wheel chair, the real baby daddy who sports the mohawk and kind of sings back-up, a cheerleading coach who is nuts and vindictive and yet has a heart buried deep beneath some kind of pain, the kid who does a lot of singing and doesn't know that he really isn't the father. The list goes on with a few Asian kids, the street savvy African-American girl, the dumb blond cheerleader, the slightly nutty but fabulously talented Latina, and, finally, the gay guy who is in love with the one who thinks he is the baby daddy. Could the producers fit anymore stereotypes into an hour?

I cannot decide if the producers are insidiously attempting to push an agenda under the cloak of good music or if they are attempting to teach tolerance. For now, I assume that we all need to learn a little tolerance; I'd hate to give up some great entertainment because they were trying to pull the wool over my eyes.

The parents of the pregnant teenager really got to me. They are an obvious stereotype of conservative Christians who love Glenn Beck. It is easy to see why I'm still undecided about this segment. Obviously I've never been in the situation of having a pregnant daughter and I am ambivalent toward the portrayal of the parents kicking their daughter out of the house.

I just watched six segments of a BBC show entitled "The Strictest Parents in the World." The show took two wild British 17-yr olds and moved them to UT for 10 days to live with an LDS family. The LDS mother, while even more conservative than I am, if that's possible, happens to be an amazingly effective communicator, successful parent of four plus many foster children, and runs a business teaching people about self-government.

One of the teenagers was a single mom living on "benefits" as she called it. From what I could see, this girl's mother enabled her bad choices (and I'm not talking about the baby here). My first thought was that if the mom left the girl to her own devices, the girl would wake up to reality. If she could not depend on her mom, she would have to become an adult herself. When the girl had no place to live, she would have to spend her TANF on rent instead of drugs and alcohol, right? But what if the daughter didn't make the change and the baby suffered? Do you enable your child to save your grandchild? How do you save them both, and whose responsibility is it, ultimately, to save them? Could you help the baby without impeding the challenges and subsequent growth of teenager?

I don't have an answer for that, and that is why I support adoption as the best possible solution. However, on the Strictest Parents, it was a combination of limits, of understanding cause and effect, of love and validation, of teaching, of effective, calm, and open communication, and of prayer that led to the changes in the young mother.

More work

THe Haley's have a beautiful Gazebo. These photos are the pile of leaves in the front of the yard, adjacent to the gazebo, and in the back of the yard, behind the gazebo. I think I can count more than 30 piles of leaves in these two areas alone...My hands are tired, so I'm off to cook dinner.

A Hard Day's Work

Imagine walking across a carpet of wet brown leaves, make that wall-to-wall carpet. That is how our yard looked like this morning. I decided to take advantage of the mild weather and sunshine to rake. About halfway through the yard, a nice neighbor let me borrow a plastic rake that was much more efficient than the metal one I had been using. These pictures are just three areas of the yard that I worked on for a few hours this afternoon.

Raise your hand if you think I earned my Christmas Coke in a glass bottle.

With the exception of this side of the yard where I can line the leaves up against the fence, I haven't figured out what to do with the rest of the leaves. There is no way that I can possibly pick up all those leaves. Our neighbor suggested raking them onto a tarp and dumping them in the forest. I am too tired to figure out how to make sure the leaves get on top of the tarp instead of under it, how to carry the tarp to my car, how to transport the leaves without making a mess of my car, and how to dump them without getting in trouble from someone.

I am thinking it might be worth the money to pay someone to figure it all out for me. That is what I want for Christmas: not to have to think about my backyard again. I need a garden elf.

Random Thoughts

Some days I have an idea of what I would like to write about on my blog. On those days, the ideas build up in my head until I cannot wait to sit down at the computer. There are other days that I do not have either the energy to stay up late writing or the energy to express what is on my mind. At other times I would like to post a few sentences in reference to something I saw on the news or around the house with the kids.

1) Tonight I wonder if Obama's new plan will extend Neil's time in Afghanistan. This happened to other doctors during the surge in Iraq. It will be interesting to see, especially in light of Obama's statements about a strategy on both sides of the Afghani/Pakistani border. My understanding is that Neil is required to be in Chicago for his oral board exam in April and to Boston on 1 July. We had a friend who flew home and back for his board exam...We will keep you posted if we hear anything to that effect. BTW, Obama defended his long deliberations by reminding the public that there were no plans presented to him that addressed deploying troops before 2010. Unfortunately, it would make sense that the logistics behind deploying 30K more people to Afghanistan might take time. Neil reminded me that there needs to be housing, food, sanitation, communication, clothing, uniform, weapons, armor, and transportation, time for people to train, time to fill out the amazing amount of paperwork/boxes to check before being deployed. The best military strategy is to get the boots on the ground in the dark of winter. Somehow December 1st seems to be cutting it a bit close. Finally, if we are waiting this long to even decide, why can't the Marines leave Dec 26? In the grand scheme of things, with increasing divorce and suicide rates in the military, a week makes a difference? Here is a case of action for the sake of action. No one can say that Obama didn't do enough, why, he had Marines on the ground within 25 days of his decision. That's a man of action. His ego couldn't handle saying that he had boots on the ground within the month? While he's enjoying his wife and daughters on Christmas, hosting parties that cost more than some of these Marines make in an entire year, he will console himself with thoughts of how decisive he was notwithstanding the all-important health care debate and the poor state of the economy.

2) Mike Huckabee: I'm not a huge fan, but I don't wish you the Thanksgiving weekend you had. Is it true that he granted clemency to this guy out of mercy and compassion? No one noticed that this murderer was a nutjob before they let him out of prison for the second time? What a truly horrible thing to have on one's conscience. Another reason why executive experience in a President is desirable. Had Obama made similarly tough decisions before he took the oath of office? Huckabee may have made a decision that turned out poorly for many involved, but my guess is that he will be a better leader because of it. Just hopefully not my leader.

3) John Gotti: a 4th mistrial because the jury just couldn't get past their gridlock in the deliberations. If we dug deeper would we find that some of these jurors are on the take or that their families have been threatened in some way? How does a former mobster and drug trafficker end up with 4 mistrials by coincidence?

4) Obama is hanging the Secret Service out to dry. Also the Navy Seals. And the police from Connecticut. Does he have an issue with authority? I'm not comparing him to the guy from Mike Huckabee's nightmare, but his new theme song might be Jon Mellencamp's "I fight authority and authority always wins." The only plausible explanation for that brilliant rich couple's "invitation" to the party is that someone inside the White House staff let them in but will not take responsibility for it. I refuse to believe that the Secret Service decided not to do their jobs at this important event. It is convenient for the couple that there is an ongoing investigation that prohibits them from revealing to Matt Lauer who their invitation actually came from. At least Matt asked them about it! I feel as if I should stand and applaud the man for doing his job. Finally, this couple is all over the media while Climategate is not. Yet another coincidence?

5) Climategate: whether or not you agree with man-made global warming, legitimacy is the concern here. If the science is so strong, or should I say, the consensus on the science is so strong, can it not withstand another look, some more data analysis? How can these people retain credibility with their alleged attempts at dishonesty? How can their cause maintain legitimacy if the people reviewing their data, publishing papers are not allowed to report their findings accurately. When we don't follow our own rules we lose legitimacy; we cease to exist as the entity as it was originally founded.

6) I am tired of a few government service employees today. The ones in my husband's department have been ever so helpful. The lady that runs the bonuses, well, is on leave until Dec 9. It doesn't matter that none of the bonuses have been paid for our hospital. It doesn't matter that she had Veteran's Day off. (Actually, up here Veteran's day is like a training holiday including the long weekend after it, so she had at least 2 days off.) Thanksgiving was also a two-day holiday. How about this, let's ask my sister, or anyone who works in the private sector, if their boss would appreciate you dropping the ball for something that you are only required to do two times a year and then taking 10 days of vacation. In this economy, who's the first one to go in that office? I understand that the federal gov't was slow to approve some funding recently, but apparently BAMC doctors received their bonuses last week. I've been told to hope it's before the New Year. Especially since if the bonus arrives after 1 Jan, there will be people that rack up three bonuses in one year, which will move them up a tax bracket. They will have to work just to pay the taxes on it. As we are relatively low on the totum pole, we won't have that problem, but shouldn't someone in authority be concerned with that? Do these same people that plan bonuses ever see the attrition rates for surgeons in the Army? From what I hear, "hemorrhage" is an appropriate description to the number of surgeons and physicians getting out of the Army, many walking away from 15 years on the table. If you can tell, this stresses me out. Just a little bit.