Snoggestions

I'm not usually critical of Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy books, but I've been thinking about Mr. Ray's "snoggestions" lately.
For those readers who aren't imtimately familiar with the series, Mr. Ray (Betsy's dad) sometimes has particularly good ideas, which he calls "snoggestions". I think that one might involve a visit to the Moorish Cafe - which, I agree, might need to be unpacked at some other time - and Betsy taking a trip somewhere. Point is, they're good ideas, but I can't remember one that doesn't include an expense.
I'm not taking away from Mr. Ray's good ideas, but I'd like to point out that Mrs. Ray never makes a snoggestion in the series. She also doesn't have control of the family's finances, though she usually has some small change to spend.*

* It's worth pointing out that the next generation does better: when Betsy gets married, she comes up with the budget and makes sure they keep it. Because they're younger and just starting out, neither Betsy nor her husband - no spoilers here! - makes snoggestions. Though when her husband earns extra money, he does seem to have more of a say in how that is spent, though I'd chalk that up to it being his windfall. Betsy's extra money that she earns pays for a cleaning woman so she can spend more time writing, by the way; she doesn't buy luxury items as her husband does. To be fair, he earns a lot more extra money than she does. Also, regardless, the budget seems more equitable than the Rays' is.

not loving the Love, Simon soundtrack

I loved Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda so much that I'd already been pretty sure I wouldn't see the movie. I'm even more convinced of that after seeing the track list for the soundtrack, which features no Elliot Smith at all. I'm guessing Simon's screen name changed, then, too. Ugh.
(And yes, I do take into account the possibility that the Smith estate didn't allow the music to be used. Better not to make the movie, then.)

overweight but still charming

I'm annoyed that the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, in their most recent issue, described a character as "overweight but still charming". I know this sounds as though it should have been in the Grouchy Dear Reader section of my blog, but I'm putting it here to make it clear that this isn't just something that annoys me. Reading that phrase should be problematic for any reader, and the Bulletin should be ashamed of themselves for letting this casual fatphobia go to print.

go, Aphra!

I was just talking to someone about Restoration drama, and she commented about the sexism she has encountered in everything she has read so far. So I pointed her to Aphra Behn, who of course carries a lot of the cultural assumptions of the day, but who also has some nifty feminist moments.

Finnish?

Overheard at a small public library in the United States:
Woman sounding accusatory, gesturing to the Moomintroll books: You should have these in Finnish!
Librarian, bemused: ...
Seriously, I don't think she said anything in response. What could one say? Candidly, it's impressive that a smallish public library has the Moomin books at all.

when is a Puppy a Sad Puppy?

I was reading a blog post about the National Book Award nominees in the children's/YA division, and I learned that a publisher submits titles for consideration, and that he/she must pay to do so. This limits the number of entries, especially from small and struggling publishers.
So then I thought, "hey! why not a crowd-funded effort to provide a fund these underfunded publishers can use?" That seemed like a great idea, but now I worry that that's how the Sad Puppies got started. Hmmm.

seeing something nasty in the woodshed

I am reading Da Vinci Code for a project, and I'm underwhelmed. On first glance, it read like a Sidney Sheldon - but I'd much prefer to be reading a Sidney Sheldon. The one delightful moment so far has been that Sophie goes into the woodshed at her grandfather's country house and sees something nasty.
I hadn't suspected that Dan Brown had a sense of humor, but surely that can't be coincidence?