OK, I have thought about posts, I really have. And yet, I have not written them. Instead, for now, I will put my fractured ideas up here, and try to figure out what (if any) might actually be worth expanding on. Or, at the very least, clearing the mental passages of detritus so more interesting things will come along.

Here we go:

A Little Life: This was a terrible book, I believe. I was going to let it just be terrible and go on its merry way, but then it got nominated for the National Book Award, and I feel (somewhat) called to bear witness. It uses all the devices of the type of campy book I love—Scruples, Hollywood Wives—like "the most expensive house ever!" and "he was a famous movie star AND well respected!" and "brilliant AND rich AND feared AND…." And then it spends a huge amount of time detailing sexual abuse, and makes all the characters men instead of women. Voila! It goes from being prurient gossip to Literature. I feel like it's a weird sexism that makes people take it seriously, when really they want to be reading Sidney Sheldon, but can't bring themselves to, because women being abused and then becoming fabulously rich but never happy isn't as noble.

The Purge: Both kids have gone through their shelves and put behind them childish things, and what the childish things are (the annotated Gilbert & Sullivan? Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH?) is confusing and weirdly heartbreaking.

The Genius Idea: This is all Chestnut's. As a response to two extremely unpleasant (and past! They're in the PAST) bedbug infestations, we have a PackTite. As others have become afflicted, our PackTite has made the rounds of NYC, visiting Queens! Brooklyn! Manhattan! killing bedbugs for those in need. Chestnut wants to rewrite Paddle to the Sea from the PackTite's point of view, which I think is nothing short of genius.

George R. R. Martin, for Kids!

On One's Ultimate Lack of Control Over Anything One's Children Reads, and Other Horrors

Probably there are more? Perhaps there will be part two tomorrow? Or perhaps I will pull it together and actually write a post. Time will tell.