Nov 21

Nov 21 Monday

Thank you Harper for this gifted copy.

Today @thesubstitutelibrarian and I are picking up Barbara Kingsolver’s latest Demon Copperhead. We are going to take our time reading it since so many people have said it’s one to read slowly and savor.

Synopsis: Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.

Yesterday

For dinner I made Sheet Pan Hot Honey Mustard Chicken and Crispy Brussels Sprouts, but I substituted broccoli for the brussel sprouts.

Instead of eating the chicken straight up, Web actually made a sandwich out of it using pretzel bun and butter pickles. After he devoured his sandwich at record speed, he announced it was a five-star meal, and I have to make it again. Thankfully we have quite a few pieces of chicken thighs left over for more sandwiches.