Kaavya Viswanathan Cheater Pants

I had to change one of my staff picks yesterday and it made me very cranky. A few months ago I read about a book in Publisher's Weekly and got a free copy. It was called How Opal Mehta Got Wild, Got Kissed and Got a Life. It was a fun read, I thought lots of college bound kids could relate so I've been talking it up every since. Now, as Oprah might say, I feel duped. It turns out the author, a Harvard sophomore named Kaavya Viswanathan, stole entire passages from another author, Megan Mccaffery.

grrrrr

As a bookseller I'm pissed that I was recommending the damn thing and as someone working on a book of her own, I'm angry that some other, more worthy author who wrote all their own material didn't get the half million dollar, two book deal.

Kaavya, I hope you never get published again. No matter how young you were when you wrote it there is no excuse. If you can get into the Ivy League I think you know what plagarizing is. I also think Harvard should kick you out for conduct unbecoming one of their students even though it wasn't in your schoolwork that you cheated. (At least not that we know of.)

In short Kaavya, you're a cheater pants and I hope you get what's coming to you.

From One Loudmouth Girl To Another

I went to go see Kathleen Edwards last week at the Ark. For those of you not familiar with this Canadian singer songwriter you're really missing something. I don't generally approve of comparing women with weapons (with its implied DANGER) but she's a pistol. I swear the woman has no verbal filter-whatever it is just comes right out. At last week's show for example we found out that Windsor is the asshole of Canada. (Ann Arbor is close enough to the border that you can be sure there'll be some Canadians out there as the radio guy who does the Ark intros says every time.) There was also a long involved border crossing story that totally sucked the momentum out of the encores which she then realized and got upset over. She also edited the "I'm a little bleeder with white pants on" line from one of my favorite songs, "Westby" (also with the fabulous mean line "If you weren't so old I would probably keep you/if you weren't so old I'd tell my friends/but I don't think your wife would like my friends") while repeatedly dropping the "F" bomb. Most artists with 2 records and multiple tours behind them would be a lot more slick and professional but I'm not sure that's ever going to happen with Kathleen which I, for one, totally respect.


Kathleen's records are "Failer" and "Back to Me" available on Zoe Records.

But Wait There's More

The trouble with me and those kind of questions is that I can never meet the perameters extactly, I also add one more than specified.

My Other Favorites:

1) Jean Jacket. I bought it with paper route money for pete's sake. People, that has been 30 years. I took it to the Soviet Union when I was 19 and put a USSR flag patch on it when I got back. Now it's just plain and pretty damn faded. But I still wear it regularly. I have a new fancy fitted one for work though.

2) Leather Jacket. Also that old, with a red satin lining (which really sold me one that one particularly). It needs a new pocket linings, the fat block of concert tickets kept in them for years has worn them out.

3) The Grandfather shirt. Discovered by my friend, Carrie, it's blue striped and long with a band collar. One of my favorite pictures of myself was taken in it on the beach at Fripp Island, SC. Carrie the artist then made a pencil sketch of it which now hangs in my living room. Several years ago she gave it to me for my birthday which was very meaningful.

Five Favorite Pieces

There's a feature in "In Style" magazine where they ask a celebrity to cite their 5 favorite pieces of clothing. It's not my favorite magazine, I'm more of a "Budget Living" or "Ready Made" girl, but I was thinking about that yesterday when I pulled one of mine out of the closet. I'm no celeb but I do like lists and those kind of hypothetical ranking questions (especially if they start out with a desert island) so here goes.

1) Apple Green purse. This was a birthday gift from my friend Lisa (better known in the blog world as The Talking Toaster). It's a very cunning green purse with faux bamboo handles that rest on your forearms in a cool way. The lining is sassy too with green and white polka dots and a lingering smell of gum because Lisa kindly included some when she gave it to me. She also gave me an orange raw silk mirror and lipstick holder (which she filled with laundry quarters instead) which clash nicely. This purse is great in and of itself (just today I got a compliment from a lady at the J Crew) but it was also a great gift because I really wasn't expecting it and it's probably not something I would have picked out for myself but I love it. It feels like spring when it gets pulled out.

2) Black cowboy boots. I bought my boots at Boot City Too in Lubbock, Texas from a nice man named Earl who had lost two fingers in a roping accident. We were visiting my then boyfriend's sister and ended up at the boot store shortly after we got off the plane. With my arthritic wide feet I was a tough fit but Earl was more than up to the challenge. There are plain black boots, totally classic. I don't wear them often but like em a lot. They also have a cool cardboard box that looks like a suitcase.

3) Black Dress. They say every woman should have a black dress and I do. It's a cute drop waisted affair with a filmy overlay skirt. I bought it last year for my Derby outfit for $40 at Margaret's in Louisville. Margaret's is a really great consignment store on Frankfort Ave I try to hit when I'm in town. It seemed like an extravagance for a one occasion dress but since then I have worn it to my friend Scott's memorial service and my boyfriend's grandma's funeral so it was totally worth it and with two friend's weddings coming up it may be used again.

4) Neighborhoodie Hoodie. I love all my hoodies of course, they are the clothing equavilant of comfort food, but my Neighborhoodie is special. I'm a huge fan of the company and have made many a gift of a Neighborhoodie but it took me a while to figure out my own. It's a classic pullover style in burgandy with "Macomb Co." (for "To Kill a Mockingbird" of course) in white block letters. It was funny when I was telling my boyfriend and my friend Les about my idea that both said "you have to a abbreviate county to Co." Faced with such certainty, I did.

5) Sequin Sweater. I have a collection of cardigans ( I have a real thing for ribbon plackets) which I am always looking to add to. The 50's vintage ones from Hong Kong are so cool. I have embroidered ones, beaded ones-they're all fun but my favorite is my sequined Odille one that cost WAY too much. I wore it to great effect to the Pelecanos dinner (see "My Dinner With Pelecanos")to Derby last year and it was also featured in "Garden State" in the airport scene. It rocks and makes me fill like a movie star.

new Pelecanos

I just finished reading the new George Pelecanos book, The Night Gardener (I got an advance copy-it actually comes out in August). I had been saving it because I got bogus info that I had a hospital stay in my future (never trust a gastroenterologist about endocrinology matters) and I wanted a treat while I was confined. I was so excited about it. So excited when I found out I wasn't going to be hosptalized my first thought wasn't "no gown" or "no IV" it was "now I can read the book!". So I did.

You know that feeling when one of your favorite musicians has a new record and you're giving it a first listen-first song "ehh"- second song-"yuck" and by the third song you know.

This one's a clunker. Your favorite has let you down. That was The Night Gardener for me.

The book is a straight up police prodedural about 3 cops (the retired cop looking to put the case haunting him to rest, the good cop looking for justice and the bad cop looking for redemption) and the serial killer they are chasing. If it sounds familiar, it is. Almost everything Pelecanos fans appreciate-the music, food and local references and the heartfelt deep characterization are gone.

If this was an attempt to try something new (a Western, the long promised Young Adult book) I could have rolled with the changes a little more but I know for a fact that is is an effort by George and his editor, Michael Pietsch, to be more mainstream (i.e. cut out everything that people skip over). Well, I never skipped over anything.

I can appreciate it must be frustrating to be stuck in the "writer's writer" ghetto, to write good books that don't sell and I know he's got 3 kids and college is expensive but he can do better. I don't believe neutering your work to be more popular is ever a good idea. You will annoy your long term fans and probably not win any more over in the compromise.

George, you are a Ryan Adams fan, well The Night Gardener is your "Demolition".

Call Me Gamma Girl

Yesterday I had my throid ablated, today I must stay away from people as not to taint them with the radioactivity working its way through my body (yes, I am emitting gamma rays). It kind of feels like playing hooky-I don't have to go to work but feel fine, using my time wisely of course (surfing the net, watching the E! True Hollywood Story on Tori Spelling). I also have to keep my clothes segregated and sleep alone. If all goes well in a few weeks (it's not the fastest medicine) my overactive gland should begin to reduce and I will feel much better and not have to write anymore blogs on the subject. A relief to all I'm sure.

Thyroid Update 2

In an addendum to the previous post I must add that my fabulous endocrologist, Dr Arvan, (the division chief no less) told me my thyroid was one of the the largest he'd ever seen a comment which both pleased (I do want to be the best) and troubled me (what, there was one larger?)

Thyroid Update

Well, it's official. I have Graves' Disease which is not so deadly as it's name might indicate. It's an autoimmune disease (that's 2 for me) in which the immune system attacks the thyroid causing it overperform. I can't say I'm happy about the diagnosis but after 2 1/2 months of waiting to see an endocronolgist it's good to at least have an answer. The treatment for it varies, I am going to have it ablated. This means putting on a lead apron and drinking radioactive iodine out of a lead cup. Ideally the iodine would knock the thyroid back into working correctly but what is more likely to happen is that it will cause the thyroid to underperform, which, with medication, is much easier to manage.

Thanks to everybody who made a thyroid CD-they were all great. Fortunately, I think we can move on to the next theme now.

Always a Reader Never a Bridesmaid

So she finally asked. The wedding is in June and finally she asked. Not to be a bridesmaid, not me. No, when I asked if anyone was doing any sort of reading she looked at me with wide, beseeching eyes and I knew I had been tapped.

Again.

This will be number four for me as trusty reader. What? Just because I work in a bookstore must I always be the reader? I can pull off seafoam green or an ass bow as well as the next chick. What's the matter with me?