2005 book 106

lily tuck's the news from paraguay
i forget, is the national book award the one i think goes to books that suck/don't deserve it? oh well, i'll research it later. i'm not sure this book deserved to win some big award, but it wasn't a bad read or anything. it's about the irish mistress of the dictator of paraguay in the mid-1800s--the first half is really engaging, but once the wars start the story drags a lot. yes, war is full of drudgery, but that's why i don't read (much) military history. it picks back up toward the end, but by then i was busy wondering how tuck had to tailor her story to fit the historical facts and wasn't paying that much attention.

speaking of history, the big family joke this vacation seems to revolve around the oneida cult: we came upon an oneida dishware store and i started talking about the history of the oneida cult a la one of my college history classes. i always really liked that story so i guess it stuck with me (or some mostly-factual version, anyway). my family seemed to find it both bizarre and entertaining that i would not shut up about this, and a few nights later when my dad cracked some comment about "oneida" they all started laughing hysterically. i once again tried to expound on the history but my dad was laughing so hard he was crying and couldn't get words out, so i eventually succumbed to hysterics as well. good times. see, history can be fun!