Mail from the Midnight Mail Train

C.B. James has a new blog, The Midnight Mail Train, in which he documents the mail art he sends and receives.  I sent him my address and the train did indeed drop off something cool for me.

It's one of those old boxes your vacation slides would come in!  Open it up and...

It reads, ''The Life You Ordered Has Arrived.''

And just in time for my birthday, too.  Thanks C.B.!

The Pendericks at Point Mouette

Again, delightful.  My wife the fourth grade teacher and I had, of course, already read the first two.  So when this came out my daughter snapped it up for her Mama's early June birthday.  We were getting ready for a family trip to Maine, so we got the first two for the Kindle and read them out loud on the trip, finishing the second one a few days after our return.

So then we cracked the new one and recently finished it.  And it's about a family vacation to Maine!

It's a cool book in many ways but not the least of which is how Birdsall has changed things up a bit.  The father, new wife and her toddler are off in England, the eldest sister is off with friends to New Jersey.  So the rest of the clan go up to a cabin on the coast of Maine with Aunt Claire.  This makes the next oldest, Skye, the OAP (Oldest Available Penderwick) and she is not as comfortable in the role as her older sister which leads to hilarity and character growth.

There's a cool guy named Alec staying with his ornery dog next door and my wife and I immediately began betting whether he was going to be a love interest for Aunt Claire (understanding love is a theme of the book) or the missing father of their dear friend Jeffery.  We knew one or both of these would be the case the moment he appeared because Birdsall loves a big coincidence but somehow pulls them off with her characterizations.

One fun thing I noticed as we went through all three of them.  Birdsall likes to give props to other books and writers by having the characters mention them but I was especially happy at the cat named Asimov and Skye's enjoyment of Neil de Grasse Tyson's Death by Black Hole.  My daughter got some of the references (''Ivy and Bean!'') and knew who Neil de Grasse Tyson was!  What can I say, I'm a nerd and she watches Nova ScienceNOW with me on occasion.  She was impressed when I showed her my copy of Death by Black Hole.  At some point in one of the books the sisters all play the game of Clue.  She didn't know what that was so we ran out and picked it up (I thought I had one, but no).  Now, of course, she loves the game and I'm sure is happy because she learned about it from those awesome Penderwick girls.

A worthy addition to the series and we can't wait to hear more from these fun sisters and the interesting boys in their lives.

The Penderwicks at Pointe Mouette

Death by Black Hole

Clue

Tuesday Morning Links

Is a Bookless Library Still a Library?

Wikipedia Aims Higher

Nine Fish With ''Hands'' Found to Be New Species

Diver Snaps First Photo of Fish Using Tools

Got my computer back

Half-fixed anyway.  The double quotation key stopped working a while ago, but like I would drive to an Apple store just for that.  But then the camera crapped out and my parents love to video chat with my daughter so I made the drive Saturday and just got my machine back today (earlier than they said, so that's something I guess).  The camera now works but the double quotation key doesn't.  So that's why I'll still be quoting like a British person for a bit longer. 'Hallo, guvnor!'

In the meanwhile I finished The Greatest Show On Earth by Richard Dawkins which was pretty great and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman which was light but delightful.  Oh, and The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi!  That was really dark but so well done.  Wow, reading a lot, huh?  Maybe I should get outside more.

I also sent Leila some books for her cool summer project.  You should too if you have anything suitable for a boy's camp library (ages 7-17).

Blogging Break

Laptop is in the shop and it's hard to blog with either my spouse's computer or the iPad so give me a week or so.  In the meanwhile, enjoy your 4th, keep cool, and read lots.  That's what I'm doing.

More on how to handle your email

I've written and ranted about email many times before, so I feel like I should share this Email Charter which is being promoted by TED as one of their 'ideas worth sharing.'  I like the main thrust about saving all of our time.

One thing that would help out a lot is keeping this flow chart in mind:

Now I'm not saying don't send your friends and family funny crap that you find online.  I do that too.  But not mass emails to everyone on your list, particularly if that's how you got it.  They've probably seen those things before and if not, don't especially want forwarded stuff anyway.  Send it to certain people sure, but not everyone.  Sheesh.  If you you feel that everyone would like it, post it on Facebook or Reddit or do what I dod and share it only with those unlucky few that stumble across my blog.