Musings: Biography, Dystopia

The thing they don't tell you about biographies is that usually the main characters die at the end. Thus is the case for Philip Nel's Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children's Literature. This unfortunate conclusion, however, doesn't take away from the fact that this is the best biography I've ever read. (Well, maybe it's the only one I've ever read, but I think it's real good nonetheless.)

I was inspired to read this book mostly because it's about a couple who were and are, like, so important to my field. The copy I've been hoarding in my apartment is weirdly the only one available in the Minuteman Library Network. So, that's a thing. This biography did a good job of paying equal attention to both Johnson and Krauss, instead of focusing on them as a unit. How novel: a couple comprised of two individuals who retain their personal identities despite years upon years of marriage. Happy, happy, as my dear friend Phil Robertson would say.

Anyhow, though I think we all knew this in the depths of our souls, this book confirms that there is an art to biography. Nel's got it, and he had me so in love with these people that I was weeping by the end. Particularly pleasing is the discussion of the relationship the couple had to illustrator Maurice Sendak. I don't think anything tickles me more than when famous, important people interact with one another and I feel privy to it.



And, to take a completely rando turn, let's talk about The Hunger Games. I know what you're saying. You're saying I go back on my word, that I am a liar, a cheat, and a woman not to be trusted. And you're right. But here's the thing: I know I said that I wasn't going to address the series, but whatever. The times, they are a changin'.

It all began when I realized how much freaking time I was wasting on my commute to and from school. So I decided I should start listening to books on CD. What a smart way to address all those books I didn't want to take time to read, I thought. First, I listened to some Judy Blume book, which was fine, and this summer I got my greedy Dudley-esque sausage fingers on The Hunger Games audio book. The jury's still out on how I feel about listening versus reading. Surely, I prefer to read, but I can see how listening is a useful tool. So, HOURS LATER, Jake and I finished listening to the first book and I think it's fair to say that we are a weeny teeny tiny bit obsessed. Does listening to a book on CD lose its charm when you've stopped listening to it in the car and started listening to it on your laptop? Maybe. My commute trick was certainly foiled, to say the least. I pretend that it's 1940 and we're listening to the radio or some other technology dinosaur.

Then we watched the movie, and I have no comment on that at the moment. Jennifer Lawrence is growing on me, though. Bless her heart. I'm still a little salty with her because she eight days younger than me and I'm a piece of shit and she's a millionaire. Smell me?

Yada yada blah blah, now I have a dystopia craving. Needless to say, we've checked out from the library both the Catching Fire audio book and the book book. We shall see what happens. Say tuned, or whatever.