More Cool Goodwill Finds

Last night, I was able to pick up one volume of the The Illustrated Animal Library: Fascinating Animal Portraits from Around the World., containing Birds; Reptiles, Amphibians & Fish; and Insects & Invertebrates.  Very cool color portraits, well worth the $2.50.

I couldn't find a picture for this one, but Science Through the Microscope, by Aladdin Books, has some neat, up close shots of everything from a cell, to pollen, to a honeybee pupae, to a human embryo.  Also $2.50.

The Last 1000 Years has a nice timeline, pictures, maps and reference information for the last millennium.  $4.50.

And, finally, The Complete Soapmaker: Tips, Techniques & Recipes for Luxurious Handmade Soaps, is to have on hand in case I decide to start a new hobby.  I've checked it out of the library in the past, with excellent intentions, but somehow they never came into fruition.  Soon.  Maybe.  Soon.  $2.50.

Julie and Julia

I've been seeing commercials for this movie for a few months now, and I'm anxious to see it. As with most movies, I'll wait until it hits our local second run theater to see it (or, I'll wait until it's on DVD).

Julie Powell, the author of Julie and Julia, spent a year cooking every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and blogging about it. The book tells snippets of Julia Child's life, as well as detailing Powell's year of cooking.

A few weeks ago, I saw an interview with Powell and discovered that Julia Child hadn't liked her blog. It made me feel bad for Powell to have invested so much of herself into the book, and then find out that Julia Child was disappointed.

Yesterday, I picked up my copy of Julie and Julia from the library. I'm only a few chapters into it, but, I have to tell you, I'm agreeing with Julia on this one.

Maybe it was my expectations. I love reading The Pioneer Woman's blog or The Crockpot Lady's. I was expecting a funny, "hang out with me" story. But, the thing is, while I would love to hang out with the Pioneer Woman or the Crockpot Lady, I don't think I'd like to hang out with Powell.

Certain things set me off right from the start. She discusses harvesting her eggs for money. I don't care for her language. She discusses some, er, reading material that her father had hidden (a book, not magazines) and how her experience reading that is similar to her experience reading Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

But, perhaps these offenses could have been overlooked if I wasn't detecting an underlying tone in her writing. She's appalled by the fact that she may have to live her life as a mere secretary, even though she isn't really working very hard to get an acting career going.

During the course of the past year, I've become overly sensitive to and irritated by elitest attitudes and snobbery towards people living ordinary lives. I'm sensing a mindset of privilege in Powell. She annoys me.

But, I will continue to read the book and I'll amend this post if necessary.

I'm hoping the book doesn't ruin the movie for me.

Things In Books

I found out about this blog today. It shows notes, items, etc. found in used books. To be honest, I barely skimmed that site. But I wanted to bring it up, because Dave bought a (completely unused)copy from Goodwill of Musician's Notebook: Manuscript Paper for Inspiration & Composition for Madeline. Inside was a sticky note that read:

"This caught my eye and I though of you both. Share your love for music forever - it is a special bond. There are great quotes in here as well. Love, Breanna"

I'm always curious about the stories behind the inscriptions and little notes I find inside of books. I'm looking forward to browsing the Forgotten Bookmarks blog.

Book List - Goodwill, and UGGH!

I just typed this whole list up, along with the Amazon links, and lost it during the posting process. I'll have to get into the habit of saving it before posting. Here I go again.

Here's a list of books I recently purchased at Goodwill. Most of them were on clearance for less than $2.

The Milk Makers, by Gail Gibbons
Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling
The Legend of Jimmy Spoon, by Kristiana Gregory
Classics Illustrated Stories by Poe
Historic Communites: In the Barn, by Bobbie Kalman
Top Ten Shakespeare Stories, by Terry Deary
Reconstruction and Reform, by Joy Hakim (I had previously purchased the first 5 books in the History of US series, also from Goodwill)
Coloring Atlas of Human Anatomy by Edwin Chin, Jr.
The Gold of Troy, by Robert Payne
Endangered Species, by Nevada Barr (I bought this one for camping)
To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son and a Lifelong Obsession, by Dan Koeppel
Otherwise Normal People: Inside the Thorny World of Championship Rose Gardening, by Aurelia C. Scott
Luncheon of the Boating Party, by Susan Vreeland
and
daa dada daaaaa
Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child (It was originally printed in 1961. Mine is the 17th printing with a 1968 copyright. The inside cover says it sold for $10. I paid $5.99)

Two Things I Googled

At lunch today, we were discussing how olives are pitted. Madeline was telling Henry that they go through a machine, and she said that Mr. Rogers probably made a video about it once. That made me a little nostalgic for Mr. Rogers' factory tours. "How People Make _______" I checked to see if there are any DVD's out there with just the factory stuff. I'd love something like that. I only scanned a couple pages of hits, and I didn't see any factory DVD compilation. This PBS site does have a few of them, though.

Last night, Dave & I were having a discussion about how to get Madeline interested in reading better books. He suggested that she might like some of the books that are referenced in A Series of Unfortunate Events. So, Madeline, here's your summer reading list. :) Actually, I probably better okay your choices from that list. I only briefly scanned it, but it has a ton of information on the literary and historical allusions in the series.