One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times - Chapter 16

#16 - "When extra people unexpectedly show up for dinner, put more salt in the food so they'll fill up on tea."

Any of you old enough to have parents who lived during the Great Depression will probably agree that that catastrophic event left an indelible impression on them. In fact, the Depression seems to be a touchstone for a lot of the one hundred things my mother taught me a million times, as does this #16, which is all about making do with less.

The current downturn in the economy is probably relatively tragic for some folks, but it just seems a minor annoyance to my lifestyle, and pale in comparison to what Americans lived through in the 1920's. So I don't shop as often at Central Market, and my wine is the $8 bottle, not the $20 one. And when my husband ask what's for dinner, I reply, "What we own!"

I wonder if my generation will be shaped by any single defining moment in history? As I think about it, I'd say that the ineffaceable global benchmarks in my life (so far) are the Vietnam war, John Kennedy's assassination, the Berlin wall, the first walk on the moon, 9/11, and the election of Barack Obama. Have these events shaped who I am? Have they made me the mother that I am? Have I even yet experienced the single most important global event of my life? Click on Read More Below...

Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon

Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon is one of those books that is so abstruse that you feel like you are writing it as you are reading it. You know what I mean? OK, perhaps I should be a little less abstruse. Uhhhh. No I can't. So just stay with me here. Await Your Reply is about Hayden and Miles, who are twin brothers. I think. I was never really sure that they weren't one person. Anyway, just for the sake of getting somewhere with this review, let's just assume. So Hayden is the brilliant "schizoid" (apologies) brother, and Miles is the decidedly slow but morally superior doormat brother. Or they are the same person. One or the other. So, brilliant Hayden disappears, and leaves threads of clues as to his wereabouts, and Miles spends his life trying to find him. I think. Oh yes, and Hayden (or Hayden/Miles), hacks computers and steals money and kills people and seduces a high school girl. No wait a minute, that was the high school teacher that seduced the girl. No, I'm sure that was Hayden posing as a high school teacher. I think.