Cake Wrecks, Here I Come!

I'm pretty sure I want to quit. I've been looking for the perfect cake recipe for over a year. A cake solid enough to withstand the tortures of carving and moving, without tasting like cardboard. Still no such luck.

Check it out on my Kake blog.

Nineteen Minutes

Jodi Picoult's "Nineteen Minutes" was a powerful book for me. It wasn't grand literature of the Austen/Steinbeck vein, but it was powerful for me nonetheless.

The story deals with a shooting rampage at a high school, seen through the eyes of several people in the town affected by it; a police office, a judge, a victim, the shooter's parents, the shooter himself.

The book flashes backwards and forwards in time. You see the kids in preschool, then you're back in the present. Back and forth. It's painful to see the shooter, Peter, as a young child. It's painful to see the experiences that shaped him to what he became. It's crazy, but you almost have empathy for him. Almost.

You see how hard several parents try to be the best parent, to give the best advice, be the best role models, and you see how miserably they fail. You don't know you've raised a bully, a geek, a slut, a brainiac, a killer.

It's frightening how close to the heart Picoult digs in this way. I found myself crying throughout the book, wondering "What If?" What if, no matter how hard I try, it turns out horribly wrong. You can only guide them so much, but will you catch the signs in time? Is it possible to?

It deals with their teens and their struggles to define who they are, how huge their problems seem to be to them at that moment in their lives.

Am I liked, who am I, why is he dating me, can I leave him, why is he like this to me?

Why do they pick on me, why can't they leave me alone?

I wanted to tell them that it would be over soon, promise. It's only one small portion of your life. Blink, and you're 40. Don't let it get to you. My highschool days were really painless. Are they for my son? Would he even tell me?

"Nineteen Minutes" (named for the time it took the shooter to go through his school on his spree) is like a mirror we parents really don't want to stare into too much.

Help Me Choose....

....a new Letterboxing Trail Name.

I'm known as DavidandKaaren in the LB community, but as David's not as involved anymore, I want an indentity of my own. Knowing me and my obsessions as some of you do, which one on the poll to the right do you like? Some of these were friend suggestions, thanks All!!

(tVS = theVampire Slayer)

If you have any questions, comment on this post. Have a suggestion of your own? Leave a comment too!

The poll closes soon. Thanks a bunch. :)

For Trekkie Gal...

Sorry your cat got all pukey on the bed. And also, Ew.

So, here's a video to take your mind off the kitty puke.

The Boelyn Inheritance

I read this book because I really enjoyed "The Other Boleyn Girl," and wanted to try another historical fiction by Philippa Gregory.

The book deals with Henry the VIII's next two wives, after he divorced his first wife Catherine of Aragorn, after his second wife, Anne Boleyn's beheading and his next wife, Jane Seymour's death at child birth. Dude was a whackadoo, by the way. After reading "The Other Boleyn Girl," I became extremely interested in the Tudors, renting movies and reading autobiographies. So again, I say, Dude was a whackadoo. The whole lot of them are fascinating.

The story is told through the eyes of three women. Wife # 4, Anne of Cleves, is a German-born woman longing to escape her tyrannical brother. She is betrothed to the king, based on his choice of her from an artist's rendering. She is taken to England to be his bride. In real life, it is said the King thought her a cow, an oaf, that the artist greatly improved her in pictures. In Ms. Gregory's book, we see how one huge mistake on Anne's part dooms her marriage. Her voice, Anne's, was the one I enjoyed the most. She was smart, level-headed, she knew what a miracle it was that she was not killed by the man she knew to be mad.

The second voice is that of Catherine Howard, a superficial teenager who becomes wife # 5 by seducing the aging, insane king with her youth and sensuality. The book portrays her as an airhead only interested in pretty things; jewels, dresses, furs. Not much is known about her in real life, other than she was apparently unfaithful to the king and was put to death less than two years after marrying him. Her voice in the book was my least favorite.

The third voice was that of Jane Boleyn, wife of Anne Boleyn's brother (the same brother who was killed for rumours of sexual liaisons with his sister Anne - quite possible made up so that the king could get out of his marriage to Anne; we'll never know). Jane was an interesting character. Self-Preservation was her number one goal. Throughout the book she is portrayed as a woman who loved her husband, madly & deeply, yet it was her testimony that sent him to the scaffold. She's in denial about who and what she is. Her voice is a little off. She wants to believe her own voice, but we all know she's a bit insane.

It's a pretty good book, not as good for me as "The Other Boleyn Girl," but a quick ready, as the chapters are divided by speaker, making it flow faster.