#Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal

[killj0y616]

“Just look at us, all of us, quietly doing our thing and trying to matter. The earnestness is inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time.” ― Amy Krouse Rosenthal

[angeloncewas]

& I tell her, grief is not a feeling, but a neighborhood. this is where i come from. everyone I love still lives there.

[ textbook amy krouse rosenthal - amy krouse rosenthal // let it be - bertie gilbert // fun home - alison bechdel // what sarah said - death cab for cutie // blakeoftoday // marjorie - taylor swift // andrew garfield // the anthropocene reviewed - john green // a coworker asks me if I am sad, still - brenna twohy ]

[quasistarjudgement]

you should read Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal

[dk-thrive]

Wanting

MY GENERAL STATE OF MIND AS IT PERTAINS TO WANTING IS I have enough, I’m good. I have enough, but I’d like just a wee bit more. I do not have enough. Actually, I have more than enough and could probably do with less.

— Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal (Dutton, August 9, 2016)

[awbry]

Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal

[starcrabbear]

Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal

[scientificphilosopher]

“If one is generously contracted 80 years, that amounts to 29,220 days on Earth. Playing that out, how many more times then, really, do I get to look at a tree? 12,395? There has to be an exact number. Let’s just say it is 12,395. Absolutely, that is a lot, but it is not infinite, and anything less than infinite seems too measly a number and is not satisfactory. Also, I would like to stare at my kids a few million more times. I could stare at them a few million more times easy. Tell me: How many more times do I get to cut an apple? How many more times will I put on my shoes? Kiss my mother? Use an ATM? How many more times do I get to toss the salad and ask How much longer ’til the chicken’s ready? as Jason pokes at it on the grill? How many more times do I get to lift my head from the pillow to see what time it is? Run inside after getting drenched in the rain? Look for the Ping-Pong ball? Check my email? Text <3 to the kids? Catch a whiff of jasmine? Use a straw?”

–Amy Krouse Rosenthal

[exhaled-spirals]

Just look at us, all of us, quietly doing our thing and trying to matter. The earnestness is inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Textbook

[stepsandstaircases]

the rainbow connection

[field-of-thoughts]

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/style/modern-love-you-may-want-to-marry-my-husband.html?smid

I have been trying to write this for a while, but the morphine and lack of juicy cheeseburgers (what has it been now, five weeks without real food?) have drained my energy and interfered with whatever prose prowess remains. Additionally, the intermittent micronaps that keep whisking me away midsentence are clearly not propelling my work forward as quickly as I would like. But they are, admittedly, a bit of trippy fun.

Still, I have to stick with it, because I’m facing a deadline, in this case, a pressing one. I need to say this (and say it right) while I have a) your attention, and b) a pulse.

I have been married to the most extraordinary man for 26 years. I was planning on at least another 26 together.

Want to hear a sick joke? A husband and wife walk into the emergency room in the late evening on Sept. 5, 2015. A few hours and tests later, the doctor clarifies that the unusual pain the wife is feeling on her right side isn’t the no-biggie appendicitis they suspected but rather ovarian cancer.

As the couple head home in the early morning of Sept. 6, somehow through the foggy shock of it all, they make the connection that today, the day they learned what had been festering, is also the day they would have officially kicked off their empty-nestering. The youngest of their three children had just left for college.

So many plans instantly went poof.

No trip with my husband and parents to South Africa. No reason, now, to apply for the Harvard Loeb Fellowship. No dream tour of Asia with my mother. No writers’ residencies at those wonderful schools in India, Vancouver, Jakarta.

No wonder the word cancer and cancel look so similar.

This is when we entered what I came to think of as Plan “Be,” existing only in the present. As for the future, allow me to introduce you to the gentleman of this article, Jason Brian Rosenthal.

He is an easy man to fall in love with. I did it in one day.

Let me explain: My father’s best friend since summer camp, “Uncle” John, had known Jason and me separately our whole lives, but Jason and I had never met. I went to college out east and took my first job in California. When I moved back home to Chicago, John — who thought Jason and I were perfect for each other — set us up on a blind date.

It was 1989. We were only 24. I had precisely zero expectations about this going anywhere. But when he knocked on the door of my little frame house, I thought, “Uh-oh, there is something highly likable about this person.”

By the end of dinner, I knew I wanted to marry him.

Jason? He knew a year later.

I have never been on Tinder, Bumble or eHarmony, but I’m going to create a general profile for Jason right here, based on my experience of coexisting in the same house with him for, like, 9,490 days.

First, the basics: He is 5-foot-10, 160 pounds, with salt-and-pepper hair and hazel eyes.

The following list of attributes is in no particular order because everything feels important to me in some way.

He is a sharp dresser. Our young adult sons, Justin and Miles, often borrow his clothes. Those who know him — or just happen to glance down at the gap between his dress slacks and dress shoes — know that he has a flair for fabulous socks. He is fit and enjoys keeping in shape.

If our home could speak, it would add that Jason is uncannily handy. On the subject of food — man, can he cook. After a long day, there is no sweeter joy than seeing him walk in the door, plop a grocery bag down on the counter, and woo me with olives and some yummy cheese he has procured before he gets to work on the evening’s meal.

Jason loves listening to live music; it’s our favorite thing to do together. I should also add that our 19-year-old daughter, Paris, would rather go to a concert with him than anyone else.

When I was working on my first memoir, I kept circling sections my editor wanted me to expand upon. She would say, “I’d like to see more of this character.”.

Of course, I would agree — he was indeed a captivating character. But it was funny because she could have just said: “Jason. Let’s add more about Jason.”

He is an absolutely wonderful father. Ask anyone. See that guy on the corner? Go ahead and ask him; he’ll tell you. Jason is compassionate — and he can flip a pancake.

Jason paints. I love his artwork. I would call him an artist except for the law degree that keeps him at his downtown office most days from 9 to 5. Or at least it did before I got sick.

If you’re looking for a dreamy, let’s-go-for-it travel companion, Jason is your man. He also has an affinity for tiny things: taster spoons, little jars, a mini-sculpture of a couple sitting on a bench, which he presented to me as a reminder of how our family began.

Here is the kind of man Jason is: He showed up at our first pregnancy ultrasound with flowers. This is a man who, because he is always up early, surprises me every Sunday morning by making some kind of oddball smiley face out of items near the coffeepot: a spoon, a mug, a banana.

This is a man who emerges from the minimart or gas station and says, “Give me your palm.” And, voilà, a colorful gumball appears. (He knows I love all the flavors but white.)

My guess is you know enough about him now. So let’s swipe right.

Wait. Did I mention that he is incredibly handsome? I’m going to miss looking at that face of his.

If he sounds like a prince and our relationship seems like a fairy tale, it’s not too far off, except for all of the regular stuff that comes from two and a half decades of playing house together. And the part about me getting cancer. Blech.

In my most recent memoir (written entirely before my diagnosis), I invited readers to send in suggestions for matching tattoos, the idea being that author and reader would be bonded by ink.

I was totally serious about this and encouraged submitters to be serious as well. Hundreds poured in. A few weeks after publication in August, I heard from a 62-year-old librarian in Milwaukee named Paulette.

She suggested the word “more.” This was based on an essay in the book where I mention that “more” was my first spoken word (true). And now it may very well be my last (time shall tell).

In September, Paulette drove down to meet me at a Chicago tattoo parlor. She got hers (her very first) on her left wrist. I got mine on the underside of my left forearm, in my daughter’s handwriting. This was my second tattoo; the first is a small, lowercase “j” that has been on my ankle for 25 years. You can probably guess what it stands for. Jason has one too, but with more letters: “AKR.”

I want more time with Jason. I want more time with my children. I want more time sipping martinis at the Green Mill Jazz Club on Thursday nights. But that is not going to happen. I probably have only a few days left being a person on this planet. So why I am doing this?

I am wrapping this up on Valentine’s Day, and the most genuine, non-vase-oriented gift I can hope for is that the right person reads this, finds Jason, and another love story begins.

I’ll leave this intentional empty space below as a way of giving you two the fresh start you deserve.

With all my love, Amy

Amy Krouse Rosenthal is the author of 28 children’s picture books and the recent memoir “Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal.” She lives in Chicago

[theawkwardterrier]

greatestheights replied to your post: 2018 book roundup

holy shit. that is incredible tbh what were your faves out of the adult and picture books? i’m sure it’s pretty hard to narrow down, so no worries if that’s too tall an ask!

Not at all! For adult books:

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green 

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab

Educated by Tara Westover

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik 

Textbook by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

I’m also including Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak and Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad by M.T. Anderson in this category - for different reasons, they each have an adult bent even though they are marketed as YA.

The picture book list is quite a bit longer so it’s going under the cut, but it includes both books that appealed to me aesthetically and those which had narratives or phrasing that I loved:

Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts

After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again by Dan Santat

All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson and E.B. Lewis

The Antlered Ship by Dashka Slater, and Eric and Terry Fan

The Bear Ate Your Sandwich by Julia Sarcone-Roach

Big Cat, Little Cat by Elisha Cooper

Blue by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken

The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem's Greatest Bookstore by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and R. Gregory Christie

Crankenstein by Samantha Berger and Dan Santat

The Dark by Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen

Dear Substitute by Audrey Vernick, Liz Garton Scanlon, and Chris Raschka

A Different Pond by Bao Phi and Thi Bui

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle and Rafael López

Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos by Monica Brown and John Parra

Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams by Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome

Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas by Natasha Yim and Grace Zong

A Greyhound, A Groundhog by Emily Jenkins and Chris Appelhans

Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers

How to Be an Elephant by Katherine Roy

I Really Want to See You, Grandma by Taro Gomi

I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

Ida, Always by Caron Levis and Charles Santoso

Imani's Moon by Janay Brown-Wood and Hazel Mitchell

The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig and Patrice Barton

Life Without Nico by Andrea Maturana and Francisco Javier Olea

Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison

Love by Matt de la Pena and Loren Long

Lucia the Luchadora by Cynthia Leonor Garza and Alyssa Bermudez 

Malala's Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai and Kerascoët

Marilyn's Monster by Michelle Knudsen and Matt Phelan

The Mermaid and the Shoe by K.G. Campbell

Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino and Isabelle Malenfant

Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins

Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters by Michael James Mahin and Evan Turk

My Teacher Is a Monster! (No, I Am Not.) by Peter Brown

Nanette's Baguette by Mo Willems

Night Animals by Gianna Marino

Noodle Magic by Roseanne Thong and Meilo So

Not Quite Narwhal by Jessie Sima

Not So Different: What You Really Want to Ask About Having a Disability by Shane Burcaw and Matt Carr

Number One Sam by Greg Pizzoli

One Day in the Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus Tree by Daniel Bernstrom and Brendan Wenzel

A Perfect Day by Lane Smith

The Pigeon Needs a Bath! by Mo Willems

La Princesa and the Pea by Susan Middleton Elya and Juana Martinez-Neal

The Princess and the Pony by Kate Beaton

The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine by Mark Twain, and Philip C. and Erin E. Stead

Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall

School's First Day of School by Adam Rex and Christian Robinson

Snappsy the Alligator by Julie Falatko and Tim Miller

Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev and Taeeun Yoo

This Book Just Ate My Dog! by Richard Byrne

This Is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from Around the World by Matt LaMothe

This Is Sadie by Sara O'Leary and Julie Morstad

Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts and Noah Z. Jones

To the Sea by Cale Atkinson

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea

We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins

We Found A Hat by Jon Klassen

The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen

Wolfie the Bunny by Ame Dyckman and Zachariah OHora

[greatestheights]

faves of 2017

podcasts:

S-Town. Complex, honest, gorgeous storytelling. I learned a lot about clocks, sundials, and small-town Alabama. I also cried.

My Favorite Murder. Not an exaggeration to say this podcast changed my life -- helped me think about why true crime fascinates me, and the ways we can discuss the cases and perpetrators without minimizing (or outright forgetting) the victims. It also made me laugh when I otherwise wasn't laughing much at all.

Reply All. A podcast that consistently delights me while teaching me new shit. In particular, Long Distance (Parts I and II) was a standout.

Heavyweight. Really, it's a podcast about empathy and forgiveness and being human. It's also genuinely funny.

Where Should We Begin? Real life couples counseling sessions, with couples of various races, sexualities, and backgrounds. The therapist, Esther Perel, is endlessly insightful and compassionate.

Someone Knows Something. I wish more people were doing the kind of intense, obsessive reporting that David Ridgen is doing. The current season follows an unsolved murder in 1960s Mississippi, when two young black men were murdered by members of the KKK (who of course, walked free for the rest of their days). The previous seasons are excellent, too.

TV shows:

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. What this show is doing is so fucking important. It's not only meaningful but fucking hilarious, and everyone should be watching it.

Alias Grace. I loved this gorgeous, terrifying show so much that I watched it twice in one week.

Master of None. This season had everything I love in a show and more.

Annihilation. Patton Oswalt's new special isn't a show, of course, but it was still one of my favorite things in 2017. "It's chaos. Be kind."

Big Little Lies. Probably the show on this list that surprised me the most -- I loved every minute of this series and wish I could watch it for the first time all over again.

Bojack Horseman. This stupid, beautiful show. I cried my way through the season and was so, so grateful I made it to that last episode.

books:

Universal Harvester. This is the kind of book that is decidedly not for everybody but was 150% for me. Unsettling, jarring, beautiful. Small town country roads and mystery and something extra that only John Darniell could conjure. I loved it.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Picked this up and finished it within 24 hours, and wish I'd gone slower. "Unlikable" protagonists always interest me, but it's even better they grow.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Thinking about death is hard for most people -- but exploring it in such detail was even harder. A no-holds-barred account of what it's like to work in a crematory, and eventually, as a mortician, this book was surprisingly funny and uplifting even at its most grim (and outright terrifying). I am grateful for what I learned in this book, and especially grateful for the people like Caitlin Doughty who devote their lives to caring for the dead.

Textbook. When Amy Krouse Rosenthal died, I'd just discovered her work. She writes about ordinary life with the kind of perception and creativity that makes it fascinating. She is kind, insightful, intelligent. The world is worse for losing her, but I'm glad we have her words.

The Handmaid's Tale. Seems impossible that I got this far in life without reading this classic, but as per usual, I was late to the party. This was probably my favorite read of the year. Timely, terrifying, good. I'd expect nothing less from Margaret.

Maus I and II. I'd read these in college and was glad I chose to revisit them this year. In my opinion, Maus should be required reading. Its significance cannot be understated, and if you haven't read it yet, might I suggest it as the first read of your 2018?

[awbry]

I dreamt I was at an exhibit where all the art was hung close to the ground. We were instructed to move through the gallery on our knees. Not only was this the most natural way to view the art (continuously bending down would be uncomfortable), but - and this was really the whole point - being on our knees dictated the pace. The show was called Low and Slow.

- Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal

[turnt-pages-blog]

Books I’m Looking Forward To

Hi guys! Here’s a little list of books I’m looking forward to reading and will hopefully be adding to my (giant) TBR pile soon!

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero - a Scooby Doo - esque group of teenage crime solvers must reunite years later, coming from everywhere from rundown bars to insane asylums, to confront their nightmares one more time. (I love Scooby Doo!!)

Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal by Amy Krouse Rosenthal - Described as being not exactly a memoir but more like a collection of observations in textbook form. If you haven’t read her article, “You May Want to Marry My Husband,” please do yourself a favor and do so because it’s amazing!

Because You Love to Hate Me edited by Ameriie - an anthology that puts a new spin on fairy tales by retelling them from the villains perspectives ; an act of teamwork between 13 up & coming YA authors and 13 Booktubers.

Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moira Fowley Doyle - After a summer bonfire, things in a small Irish town begin disappearing. Things quickly escalate until a spellbook appears claiming to have the power to make things go missing and conjure them back up again. 

The Rattled Bones by S. M. Parker - Lobster fisher Rilla thinks she’s either hallucinated or saw a siren on a deserted island trying to lure her to her death. When college student Sam goes to solve the island’s mystery, Rilla is more than ready to tag along ; inspired by Stephen King’s Bag of Bones - comes out August 22, 2017

My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent - One day 14 year old Turtle decides she’s done living with her abusive, survivalist father so she decides to escape, using his own teachings against him. - comes out August 29, 2017

Rebel Seoul by Axie Oh - Basically it’s like if Pacific Rim and a kdrama had a baby. What else could you need? - comes out September 15, 2017

Meet Cute by Various Authors - another anthology (man I love anthologies) of how the stories of beautiful romances begin, written by popular YA authors like Nina LaCour - comes out on January 2, 2018

[starcrabbear]

Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal