Thursday Tea: Mostly, I’m showing off my new tea cup here.With some actual book content.

Thursday Tea is the brain child of Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

A new tea cup that I got for Mother’s Day begs for a Thursday Tea post.

From one of my favorite Etsy shops  Geek Details.  Awesome, no?  I have to watch the Whovians in my house. They look at it longingly ,as if they think they should be allowed to drink from it ,too. Sillies.

The Bookish Bits

I’ve been reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami for the longest time. I’m exactly half finished with it. The library copy has a broken spine and it’s a hefty hardcover  - not travel/outdoor reading friendly and also not great reading material for when I’m nursing, so that’s most of why it’s taking me so long. Otherwise, I’d probably have devoured it by now. When I was not far into it, my thoughts were along the lines of, “So, I’m reading a book about a guy looking for his lost cat. Ok, then.” Thankfully, it’s proved to be compelling beyond the cat searching.

I’m also reading a couple of graphic novels.

Set in the aftermath of Iran’s fraudulent elections of 2009, Zahra’s Paradise is the fictional story of the search for Mehdi, a young protestor who has disappeared in the Islamic Republic’s gulags. Mehdi has vanished in an extrajudicial twilight zone where habeas corpus is suspended. What stops his memory from being obliterated is not the law. It is the grit and guts of a mother who refuses to surrender her son to fate and the tenacity of a brother—a blogger—who fuses culture and technology to explore and explode absence: the void in which Mehdi has vanished.

Zahra’s Paradise weaves together a composite of real people and events. As the world witnessed what could no longer be kept from view, through YouTube videos, on Twitter and in blogs, so this story came to be and had to be told.
The author Amir is an Iranian-American human rights activist, journalist and documentary filmmaker. He has lived and worked in the United States, Canada, Europe and Afghanistan. His essays and articles have appeared far and wide in the press.
Khalil’s work as a fine artist has been much praised. He sculpts and creates ceramics and has been cartooning since he was very young. Zahra’s Paradise is his first graphic novel.

Amir and Khalil have long dreamed up projects together, but Zahra’s Paradise draws on their talents as though they’ve been preparing for it all their lives—and through it, they answer the calling of their times.

The authors have chosen anonymity for obvious political reasons.

And..

What are the most important days of your life?

Meet Brás de Oliva Domingos. The miracle child of a world-famous Brazilian writer, Brás spends his days penning other people’s obituaries and his nights dreaming of becoming a successful author himself—writing the end of other people’s stories, while his own has barely begun.

But on the day that life begins, would he even notice? Does it start at 21 when he meets the girl of his dreams? Or at 11, when he has his first kiss? Is it later in his life when his first son is born? Or earlier when he might have found his voice as a writer?

Each day in Brás’s life is like a page from a book. Each one reveals the people and things who have made him who he is: his mother and father, his child and his best friend, his first love and the love of his life. And like all great stories, each day has a twist he’ll never see coming…

In Daytripper, the Eisner Award-winning twin brothers Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá tell a magical, mysterious and moving story about life itself—a hauntingly lyrical journey that uses the quiet moments to ask the big questions

I think both will deserve reviews when I’m done.  I also just got the newest Sweet Tooth . Remember? The series that has me wanting an animal-baby? Can’t wait to read it. I think it’s the last part.

The Tea Drinking Bit

Wow, I’m kinda boring lately. Not much other than Earl Grey and some green. You’d think I could sort through my Tim Teabowl (yes, it’s what I call the bowl that holds my stash of tea)  and pull out something vaguely Japanese to go with The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I’ll try to do that for the second half of the book. Some good mate would go well with Daytripper.

Thursday Tea: Oscar Wao & Dim Sum Bo Nay

    El Libro The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao has sat on my book shelf for forever, waiting to be read. Since we’re moving (at some point soon), I’ve been cleaning off bookshelves and listing many books on half.com.This is one I listed.And then decided on a whim, “I should read that now”. Hopefully,I’ll finish it before it sells.

Fantastic writing and characters. Of course, I can’t help but love Oscar, a sci-fi/fantasy geek and can’t help but identify with his sister Lola, a rebellious punky girl who can’t wait to get away from her mother.

It’s turning out to be one of those books I find saying to myself, “Why have I not read this before now?!” , incredulous that I could have just let it sit there.

El té

Foojoy Dim Sum Bo Nay is what I’m drinking. It’s finally starting to feel summery in these parts – Dim Sum Bo Nay is a great summery tea.

El veredicto Does it go together? Uh,no…not really.There’s nothing Dominican about this tea.

Thursday Tea was the brainchild of Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog.

Thursday Tea & book soundtracks

Thursday Tea is a weekly(-ish) meme hosted by Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog.

To play along, all you need is a cup of tea, the book you’re currently reading, and the answers to the following questions: what tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not you think the two go together.

I just finished reading Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. Much of it is set in England and while reading, I found myself wanting a good cup of Earl Grey. Every mention of Sir Edward Grey, the Foreign Secretary, made me want a cup even more. Even though Edward Grey was not THE Grey the tea is named for.

Unfortunately, no Earl Grey was to be found in my cupboard but my daughter brought home Stash’s English Breakfast Tea . It’s good…but not Earl Grey good.

However ,it DOES go with this book.

Also, the current book on Craft Lit is The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. Since it’s also set in England, I’m drinking the English Breakfast tea while listening to the past episode this morning. Very good companion tea.

There was something else bookish I wanted to talk about. Last week, my Facebook status said this:

When I’m reading a book, sometimes I pick out a theme song for each character. Well,actually sometimes I put together a whole soundtrack in my head that matches the story.Please tell me I’m not the only person who does this.

There were a few people quite puzzled by this but quite a few got it. The ones who get it are writer-types or just really bibliophiles. One of my dearest friends-that-I’ve-never-met-IRL is a teacher and mentioned that she offered this same idea as a project to her students for Of Mice and Men .

So, how many of you bookish people do this ,too?

Wordless Wednesday: Cough Medicine

[Thursday Tea] Homeboy by Seth Morgan

The Book

Keeping with my goal to read only the unread books that I already own, I pulled Homeboy by Seth Morgan off one of the shelves this week. So far, I’m having trouble with it & the only thing that’s keeping me going is the glowing reviews , enthusiasm by the likes of Nick Cave & Lydia Lunch and maybe a little bit of guilt. Seth Morgan was killed in a motorcycle accident the year after Homeboy was published and it was his one & only novel, which had an overwhelming critical acclaim.  So, wanting to give up on the book makes me feel a little guilty for not falling into it’s grip. Seems like a bit of an insult to the author.

Homeboy is about…well, hell…I’m not sure what it’s about. It’s a crime/prison drama centering around the life of a junkie & other characters referred to as the ” dregs of society” – prostitutes, pimps, drug addicts,dealers and general low-lifes. Words often used to describe the content of the plot & characters in reviews are grimy,gritty,raw, whacked out,surreal, terrifying…and that’s probably where I’m having my issues. I must be jaded but I’m not feeling the overwhelming grittiness yet. The writing itself (critically acclaimed,mind you..so feel free to disregard my opines), feels like someone trying too hard to emulate Bukowski or Burroughs.

The Tea

Eastern Shore Green Tea with Redbush

I’ve been drinking a lot of this tea lately, not just today. The tannins  & caffeine in other teas were making my uterus grumpy & causing a lot of irregular contractions. Red Bush & green teas are both low tannin & low caffeine plus the Red Bush (rooibos) tea is supposed to help with heartburn, which I need a lot of help with during pregnancy. It’s good stuff…robust flavor & good blend.

No, it doesn’t fit w/ this book at all. I’m thinking the perfect tea for Homeboy might be boiled ditch water w/ some heroin for added  flavor.

"It is a happy talent to know how to play" – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Time for Thursday Tea .

Page Beginning of "Tamara Drewe" by Posy Simmonds. The Littlest One in the background, in his element.

I’m reading “Tamara Drewe” by Posy Simmonds, a graphic novel ,which, as the synopsis explains, is “loosely inspired by Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd, Tamara Drewe follows a year at Stonefield, a bucolic writer’s retreat run by Beth and Nicholas Hardiman, where Dr. Glen Larson, an American professor and struggling novelist, is staying. The ambitious young Tamara Drewe, mourning the loss of her mother, has returned to her family home nearby. A bookish girl not so long ago, Tamara is now a gossipy columnist at a London paper and undeniably sexy. She quickly has every man in the vicinity—Glen, Nicholas, and the handyman, Andy—falling at her feet, while teenage best friends Casey and Jody become infatuated with Tamara and her ex-rock-star fiancé, Ben. Meanwhile, long-suffering Beth sees to the needs of the writers while managing the farm, the household, and the many affairs of her husband, a best-selling detective novelist.”

So far,Im enjoying this. Beth is just learning about her husband’s affair. Their marriage is defined as a more or less , “an open marriage”, yet she was blindsided and in the dark about his current affair. As anyone who has had an open-marriage can ytell you, when there is no reason to lie….but someone still is lying, there’s a reason and it usually leads to no good!

You can  read the entire graphic novel here,too.

My current tea is an Earl Grey , totally NOT intentional but as it so happens, the cliched English tea does seem to be the perfect companion to a book set in the English countryside. I’m drinking mine iced and  this particular brand of tea is Wegman’s store brand.

Now about that kid of mine, playing in the dirt. This kid is a testament to the practical parenting practice of buying second-hand clothing only. There is no way those pajama pants will ever be anythng other than dirt color now …and that’s ok. We could buy every cool & excitng outdoor toy on the market and this kid would still choose to play in this patch of dirt in the backyard. This 5 small patch of dirt is a biome supporting construction vehicles,dinosaurs, spaceships, robots,cars & trucks, jungle & farm animals and superheroes. It’s a good time for a 4 year old.

That paintbrush seems to be very important

His spells portrayed the spirit as a frail thing, constantly under attack and in need of strength, always threatening to die inside you

Thursday Tea via Beth Fish Reads.

Here’s how it works: Tell us what tea you are drinking (and if you like it). And then tell us what book are you reading (and if you like it). Finally, tell us if they go together.

The Tea

Gunpowder Green Tea My oldest son, the tea afficianado, introduced me to gunpowder green tea and since then,I consider it one of my favorite teas. The tea leaves are rolled into pellets ,resembling gunpowder that unfurl when steeped. The tea itself is a darker,richer green tea than typical greens and has a more robust flavor.

The Book

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. Set against a backdrop of the thick of the Civil War, Joe Inman struggles to get back to Ada (who isn’t exactly having a fun  time on the farm herself) in North Carolina. I’m not far but I’m enjoying it so far.

A Match?

Tea named after gunpowder. Brutality of war. Yep.They go together.

[blog title from the book, page 14.]