Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Ramona Quimby, Age A Bajillion

Beverly Cleary is currently on CBS news. She is grandmotherly in the strictest sense, an Easter-white halo of hair and delicate cardigan over her shoulders. She used to be a children's' librarian, she says. She also says that kids are very much the same inside today as they were when she began writing books. She's written more than thirty books. She says she doesn't have any idea what a Kindle is.

My aunt Mary is a children's' librarian and the most voracious reader I've ever met. She zooms through books daily, weekly, and is full of wonderful observations about her words and worlds. Sometimes I think of how many people and stories (real and imagined) must occupy her brain and it's dizzying.

I feel very full and happy when I'm in the middle of a good book. I feel like I'm accomplishing a good thing and I feel like somehow I'm much more human. It's the kind of thing they talk about on NPR too much. You know, how distracted we are with websites and tweets and how there's really no such thing as multi-tasking and our brains are turning into oatmeal because of technology. I agree whole-heartedly with all of it (she writes on her blog, the link to which she'll post on Facebook).

Speaking of Facebook, Mary loves that too. It's not all just subtle language, story arcs and big ideas - she gets her fill of status updates and group invites too. So, a healthy mix, I guess. In related news, it turns out I'm the kind of person who wants to talk about what they heard on NPR. Have a thorough barf at that.

Anyway, Beverly Cleary just lifted my whole day up. It's awfully rainy where I am and today was a fat bucket of generalized disdain. Ms. Cleary though, she looks like an angel.

1 comment:

  1. Fat buckets of anything are generally hazardous. Unless we're talking about chicken and you're that kind of person, which, occasionally, I find myself to be.

    Also, I'm going to try to do one thing for twenty minutes straight tonight if it kills me. Maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm going to do that.

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