Bookfoolery and Babble

Fiona Friday - Cat, dog, cat

2012-01-27T17:52:00.004-06:00

Still having to dig in the files. Hope I haven't already posted any of these.

Fi looking up at the human's wiggling fingers (sometimes you have to distract the cat from the fact that there's a camera in your hand):

Peyton in front of a roaring fake fire:

Izzy worn out after playing hard:

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Good Evening, Mrs. Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes

2012-01-26T19:00:00.000-06:00

Feeling pleasantly drowsy, Miss Ewing murmured, 'Miss Challoner thinks there's bound to be a revolution in Germany soon. She's always so well-informed. Pull the curtains right back when you've put the light out, Sparks. I like to hear the sea.'

It was a shock when, only a day or two later, things began to happen. One morning, before the old ladies had got their teeth in or their curled fronts adjusted or their stays laced for the day, the terrible noise started. The China tea slopped over in the trembling saucer as Miss Ewing listened, the windows in the Palm Court shivered as though gripped by an ague. At lunchtime nobody could eat, everyone was listening for the next heart-stopping rumble of gunfire. That night there were several muffled explosions that the headwaiter, not so attentive over the wine list as usual, thought might be depth charges out in the Channel.

--from "This Flower Safety" of Good Evening, Mrs. Craven, p. 38

I've let several books languish in my sidebar and Good Evening, Mrs. Craven is one of them. Hopefully, I'll be able to do it justice. Good Evening, Mrs. Craven is subtitled, "The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes". A collection of short stories, all take place in England during the WWII time period.

Panter-Downes wrote a column for The New Yorker called "Letters from London" for 50 years, but she only wrote a smattering of short stories. Pity. Panter-Downes' stories are witty and engaging. The stories in Good Evening, Mrs. Craven delve into the little mini-wars being fought on the home front, the tensions between people of different classes as they were forced to change their ways or mix social classes, the irrational fears of some and the over-confidence others had that things would blow over soon.

In one story, a servant bristles at her employer's sudden change from stiff upper class mistress of the home to happily chatting with the Canadian soldiers camped out on her property, dining casually in the kitchen and setting aside her fancier clothing. In another, a woman comes to the conclusion that she's had quite enough of those lower-class people invading her house and turns down a woman in desperate need of a place for herself and her child to live, just after another family has opted to leave her home. In "Mrs. Ramsey's War", a woman moves from one place to another, seeking safety but discovering that it's rather difficult to find a truly safe place to live when one's small island nation is threatened by an airborne and nautical enemy.

Panter-Downes' prose is delightful, but at the same time there's an economy of words that makes her stories really pack a punch. I absolutely loved this collection and never felt let-down. Each story feels complete to me; although, at the same time I do believe any of them would have been enjoyable if expanded to novel length.

Highly Recommended to lovers of short stories and those who are interested in WWII. Sharp writing, keenly observed and cleverly written. I do think Good Evening, Mrs. Craven was a bit of a learning experience, in some ways. It's always much more revealing to read work written at the time of an event, by its participants, as opposed to viewing history in hindsight.

Cover thoughts:

There's not much to those dove-gray Persephone covers, but there's something comforting about them and I do love the pretty interior papers.

I'm not sure where I got Good Evening, Mrs. Craven. It might be one of the books I purchased at Persephone Books in London or I might have ordered it. I should probably keep better track of such things. I have about 6 more Persephone titles to indulge in.

Current desktop background:

Ah, winter. I miss it. It's cool, now, but still not acting very wintery.

A DNF I feel really bad about - The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar

2012-01-25T20:23:00.004-06:00

Image Source

I absolutely love Thrity Umrigar's writing and there is nothing negative that I can say about The World We Found. I just want to make that clear, up front. Her writing is really quite stunning. I read The Space Between Us in 2005, pre-blogging, and some of the images from that book are still seared into my brain. I don't think I'll ever forget the ending and I've desired to read more of her writing, ever since.

So, why did I set The World We Found aside? Because nearly 4 years after watching my mother take her last breath, I still cannot bear to read about a character dying of cancer. If anyone could get me past that mental block, I think it would be Thrity Umrigar. But, apparently not even her skill and the knowledge that the book is about old friends gathering together one last time (I do love a book about a gathering of close female friends) was enough to keep me going. It was this bit that stopped me:

Armaiti nodded absently, remembering the small, dark bedroom in which her mother had died. After staying up half the night holding her mother's hand she had finally dosed [sic] off for a few minutes. When she awoke her mother's hand was cold and she was dead. Armaiti had sat holding that hand, taking in the bald head, the sunken eyes, the bony forearms whose papery skin was covered with bluish-black marks. She had not cried. Not then. Instead . . .

[--p. 17, Advanced Reader's Edition of The World We Found; changes may have been made to the final edition]

I stopped right there, unable to breathe, to read another word. It's not my experience, not exactly. But, the description of Armaiti's mother's body . . . oh, man. Too, too close. I couldn't go on. I don't want to live with Armaiti as she says goodbye to her friends, her family, and life. I don't want to be reminded of my loss. Coincidentally, I also lost an aunt to brain cancer, Armaiti's killer disease.

You can tell how mature and lovely Umrigar's writing is, just from the excerpt, though, can't you? I flipped back to the cover flap to see if I'd overlooked the word "cancer" when I requested The World We Found from HarperCollins. Nope, they used the words "gravely ill". That assuages my guilt a bit. I've offered my copy of The World We Found to a blogging buddy who happens to have it listed as a book she intends to read and am waiting for a response to see if she already owns a copy. Regardless, I'll find the book a home it deserves, where it can be read fully and appreciated.

Update: I have found a new (blogging buddy!) home for my copy of The World We Found! Very happy about that. Many thanks to all for the support. Your comments mean the world to me.

The Pocket Therapist by Therese J. Borchard

2012-01-24T12:02:00.005-06:00

I won my copy of The Pocket Therapist by Therese Borchard and immediately sat down with it because I was in a blue mood. That was about 2 years ago. Somehow, the book ended up getting shuffled around and stuffed into a cabinet, as books typically do, around here. I bury books. It resurfaced when I cleaned the cabinet into which it had been stuffed.

The Pocket Therapist is packed with 144 short essays -- or, at least, "Things to think about when you're down." I'm not exactly sure what to call them, but we'll stick with the word "essays". Each essay tells you a little bit about the author's personal experience with chronic depression, addiction and other psychological battles and also offers an idea to help keep you out of your own dark hole. #104 on p. 142, for example, is entitled "Rip the tags off." I'll just share part of it:

Here's a telltale sign of a noncommitter: a closet full of dresses and pants with the tags still on. Because by snipping off a sales tag, you are essentially taking a stand on life, making a decision to wear the dress in public; you lose the option of returning the dress. And, noncommitters adore possibilities and choices.

I try to rip off as many tags as I can today because I know, by experience, that having a cool wardrobe of never-worn skirts--of blowing off invitations to socialize with and meet fellow moms, neighbors, bloggers-- further propels me down the depression hole.

This is also an example of one essay that's completely useless to me. I don't have a problem with leaving tags on outfits. I have a problem with not having any idea where to find people to socialize with (in person, that is -- I have plenty of friends online and I've discovered those relationships do fine face-to-face when I do manage to meet up with the people I've gotten to know distantly).

#105 - "Love the Questions" begins with a comment about why the author prefers math to literature and goes on to say:

But life is like literature. Where the answer--if there is one--depends on what your teacher ate for dinner the night before or how late her husband returned from work.

She goes on to say that for instructions on dealing with the questions in life, she goes to this quote by the poet Rainer Maria Rilke:

Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

Oh. I like that. In general, though, the book is give and take. If you're having a mildly off day, one or two of the essays in The Pocket Therapist may help you to reevaluate your attitude and give you the boost you need to change your day into a good one. Sometimes, I did find the book helpful. It's a mistake to just blast your way through the essays on a really bad day. If it's not helping, I'd say it's best to do something you know usually helps or even just step outside and stand in the sun, rather than reading someone else's thoughts on how to get your mood to lift.

Recommended for the odd blue day, but not to be relied upon as a panacea. Read an essay or two when you're down; choose the ones that really work for you and mark them to return to. I don't think the entire book can possibly be right for everyone, but I personally found a smattering of essays that help me rethink my mood and make changes on a bad day. I'm a very moody chick, you know.

I keep forgetting to return to writing my cover thoughts! So . . .

Cover thoughts: I really like the bright, simple look of this cover. It's a grabber because of the colors but it's also clear from both the image and the title exactly what the book is about.

The Photo Album by K. B. Dixon

2012-01-23T14:15:00.008-06:00

It's taken me a long time to get around to reviewing The Photo Album, but fortunately K. B. Dixon's books are unforgettable. The Photo Album is the third of his books that I've read and I absolutely loved it. Each page is about a different photo and describes what the photo is about or what his purpose was in shooting each photo.

Here's the great thing about The Photo Album, though: There are no photos. Each "photo" is merely an empty rectangle. While the fictional narrator describes these imaginary photos, you're learning about his life, the personalities of the people in his neighborhood, and the various events happening over the span of time during which he took the photos (including the disappearance of a teenager and the search for him). Some descriptions leave more to the imagination than others. For example, Plate 24 (p. 25 of The Photo Album):

As a rule I try to keep my postproduction manipulations of the image to a minimum. I will crop, I will adjust both white balance and color, I will sharpen, I will occasionally do a little burning and dodging--that is about it. I have never been able to fully equate technical manipulations with imaginative ones. I would say about half my photos are virtually untouched--like this table of tangerines.

By the end of the description (and that quote is page 25 in its entirety), you know the imaginary photo is a "table of tangerines," but that is all you know. Are the tangerines spread across a table, still in a bag, placed in a bowl or bowls? Is the table bare wood or covered with a tablecloth? Is the photo a close-up or a wide view? That's all left entirely to your imagination.

In some "plates", the narrator doesn't tell you what you're looking at, at all. Instead, he may say he was trying to show you a scene in abstract and you're left to imagine what he's chosen to portray abstractly. In other photos, you are told about the personalities of the subjects in great detail or given another little glimpse into their characters, as they've been described beneath various other "plates" throughout the book. One character is a friend of the narrator but at the same time the narrator finds him maddening. He may have been my favorite.

There were times I found myself chuckling out loud. Here's one example, Plate 50 (page 53):

This is a portrait of Jeff Tinter and his chicly distressed and be-stickered suitcase. He is one of those fidgety itinerants who is always going places, meeting people, having experiences. He is the sort of person Amy envies and who I feel I am expected to envy, but who, in fact, I habitually suspect of having some sort of psychological disorder. A serial obsessor perpetually on the run from boredom, he thinks of himself as a romantic figure, a modern-day maverick. I was once stuck in an elevator with him for almost two hours. He told me a whole lot more than I needed to know about Alaska.

Highly recommended for literature fans, particularly when you desire to read something different and surprising. Unexpected, imaginative, quirky, smart and funny. At a mere 125 pages (some of which have only a single line of text), The Photo Album is a very quick nibble of a read but one you'll want to revisit. I didn't mark any quotes (the two above were pulled out at random) because I zipped through the book, simply enjoying where it took me, but Dixon has an excellent vocabulary and next time I read the book I'll keep track of the vocabulary words I have to look up. I always learn something when I read K. B. Dixon.

Just walked in:

Time Scene Investigators: The Influenza Bomb by McCusker & Larimore (from Paperback Swap).

Masses of people are dying from a mysterious flu. While the TSI team searches for a cure, a notorious eco-terrorist group, Return to Earth, uses an influenza bomb to poison the water. It's a race against time--with the outcome impacting the entire world.

I read McCusker & Larimore's first book, TSI: The Gabon Virus and enjoyed it. This one seems rather timely, given the recent halt of research on a particular strain of influenza virus because of concerns that it could be used by terrorists.

In other news:

I had to drop by the gym to exercise early yesterday, instead of going at my usual time, because I had an errand to run. So, I ended up having to share my personal trainer with another woman. As we were talking, she mentioned that she's employed at my husband's workplace and I asked her which division she works in. She told me and it happens to be my husband's division, so she asked me who my husband is. I told her and she said, "He's a good guy. But, don't tell him I said that. Tell him I said he's a bag of dirt." Then, she reminded me how adorable Kiddo was as a baby, with his red hair and chubby legs and "that hat you used to put on him."

I went home and told husband, who was home for lunch, who I'd run into and that she told me to tell him he's a bag of dirt. He grinned and said, "Yes. That's our relationship." Boy, I wish I could be a fly on the wall in my husband's office, sometimes.

About to finish:

Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne - An exceptional read about the downfall of the Comanche Indians and their last chief, Quanah Parker, the son of a chief and a captive white woman. It's taken me a long time to read this book because of the violence but it's worth the time. I may have to look for something sweet and light to recover from the reading.

I changed my template!

2012-01-22T15:47:00.004-06:00

Because I'm pleased with myself, you get another cat picture (of Izzy watching leaves fly -- another "older" photo because I am still having difficulty loading new photographs).

I've been messing around with various blogger templates for days. All of them seemed to either squish things I didn't want squished or knock my sidebar items completely out of view. Finally, I realized there are some ways around the problems I was having, with this particular template (one of my favorites). And, voila!

There are still a lot of changes I want to make to the blog, but I was so sick of looking at my old template that I considered completely giving up blogging, just so I wouldn't have to look at it, anymore! Perhaps the new look will help. What do you think?

Fiona Friday - How to hit a high note

2012-01-19T20:02:00.007-06:00

Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

And, while I've got you . . . the latter part of this week has been headachy, hence the quiet. But, whilst fighting Picasa and a migraine, I've been very entertained.

Some things Isabel did, today:

Popped bubbles in a sink full of water
Played soccer with an earplug
Attacked the fringe on a woolen throw rug
Pounced Fiona
Tried to flush the toilet, repeatedly

Things Fiona did:

Stress ate
Got pounced
Hid from Isabel

Things husband did:

Got stuck behind a flaming, car-carrying, 18-wheeler (He is still waiting for firefighters to clear the road at 12:20 AM)

I didn't make it to my Face-to-Face book group on Wednesday night because a migraine sent me to bed, but I am only 1/3 of the way into Empire of the Summer Moon, anyway. It's a great book; it's just heavy on people slaughtering each other. I get weary of the violence and set it aside, now and then. I'm not sure reading stories about WWII in Kurt Vonnegut's Armageddon in Retrospect was necessarily the right choice for a break from Comanches and Texans killing each other but, as always, I'm thoroughly impressed with Vonnegut.

Just walked in:

Paris My Sweet by Amy Thomas - from Sourcebooks, for review
Learned Optimism by Martin E. P. Seligman - purchased
A box of coffee that husband ordered online. Mmmm.

Just watched:

Logan's Run starring Michael York and Jenny Agutter - I was pleased to note that I recognized the source when Peter Ustinov quoted from T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

That's all for now!

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

2012-01-17T10:54:00.012-06:00

When Bellezza wrote about Me Before You, I knew I absolutely had to read the book. I already was a fan of Jojo Moyes and the story touches on an issue that's very important to me: the right to die with dignity. But, I had no idea just how deeply moving the story would be. Like Bellezza, I have to write about it right now, while the feeling is still fresh, with 3 crumpled, damp tissues nearby and Isabel kitty still recovering from watching with wide-eyed concern as I sobbed.

Me Before You tells the story of two people whose lives have abruptly changed. As the book opens, we meet Will Traynor, a man who is a successful businessman and world traveler, a man who loves life and lives it to the fullest. He is dashing off to work in the pouring rain when tragedy strikes, leaving him unable to function on his own, a quadraplegic who can feel pain but has very limited movement in only one arm.

Fast-forward two years. Louisa Clark has just lost her job as a waitress at the Buttered Bun, a cozy cafe near the town's castle. 26 years old, living at home, dating the same man she's been with for 6 years, Lou has no interest in change and no idea what to do next; however, she has no choice but to work. Her father is likely to lose his job, her mother is tasked with caring for her grandfather, who had a stroke, and her sister's job pays very badly.

Lou applies for a job as carer for a paraplegic as a last ditch effort. It's a temporary job and she has no experience caring for a disabled man. But, Will's mother isn't looking for experience. Will has only promised his mother 6 more months before he plans to take his own life at Dignitas. Mrs. Traynor hopes that Lou's bright personality will help Will to realize that his life is still worth living.

It takes time for Will and Lou to warm up to each other, but her playful sense of humor and sparkling wit can't be overlooked by a man as sharp as Will Traynor. Slowly, she draws him out of his bitter shell and their relationship deepens. And, it's a two-way street. At the same time Lou is making Will's days pleasant, he is teaching her how to step outside her self-imposed boundaries, to live life to the fullest.

I won't tell you how the book ends, apart from saying that I was a bit astonished to find the story both heartbreaking and beautiful without being depressing. Me Before You is a love story, but it's so much more. It's about really living life every day, the question of whether or not anyone has a right to die with dignity at a time of his or her own choosing, the emotional and physical pain of quadriplegia and how a relationship that lacks the usual physical comforts can be much deeper and more intimate than the norm. Me Before You is a powerful story that brings up a lot of questions and would make an excellent discussion book (although, perhaps, one that could potentially lead to a bit of a shouting match between those with differing opinions).

Highly recommended to those who love a meaningful story of love, life and loss. Miserably, compulsively readable, with exceptional dialogue and character development and not a single wasted word in its 481 pages (in my humble opinion). Me Before You was just released this week by Penguin Books, although it appears that it's a UK release and not yet available in the US [Update: The author has confirmed that Me Before You has just been released in the UK but said she hopes a US release will be coming up "very soon"]. Bellezza very kindly sent me her copy when I mentioned how much I love Jojo Moyes' writing. Thank you, Bellezza!!

Be sure to check out Bellezza's review of Me Before You and Jojo Moyes' website. I've read two other books by Jojo Moyes: Foreign Fruit and The Ship of Brides. And, I have two others waiting on my shelves. Wahoo for that.

I suppose this means my "blogging break" has just gone out the window. Well, that's fine. If saying I'm going to step away leads to suddenly finding that I'm ready to write reviews, I'm okay with that.

Little Princes by Conor Grennan

2012-01-16T06:03:00.003-06:00

Every now and then, a gal reads a book that sends her into a complete reviewing tizzy, certain there's no way to express just how much she loved it, much less describe its worth in a way that it deserves. Little Princes is one of those books and the main reason I opted to step away from the computer for a few days. It's that good.

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal is the full title. Okay. Deep breath.

At 29, Conor Grennan decided he needed a change of pace and decided to take a year off from work to travel the world. He began his journey with a 3-month volunteer job at an orphanage called Little Princes Children's Home in Nepal. Since the author had no friends who had children or little nieces and nephews, he was not the slightest bit experienced with children. He was clueless about what he was getting into.

As anyone who has been around children knows, they're both challenging and rewarding to care for. What's remarkable about Grennan is that he went into a job that involved a great deal of personal discomfort and, rather than portray himself as heroic for doing so, he's completely honest about how he felt. He was overwhelmed, hungry, cold and not certain he'd made the right choice. But, even more admirable is his transformation. From a man who knew nothing about children and was perplexed as to why they climbed on him like a tree, he emerged an advocate who cared deeply about the children with whom he'd spent three months of his life.

It didn't take long for Grennan to find out that the children he came to love had been trafficked -- taken from their parents for large sums of money with the promise that they would be safe, educated and cared for after being taken from the war-torn region of Humla to Kathmandu. Instead of being treated as promised, they were abused, enslaved or simply dumped to fend for themselves. But, it wasn't till he returned from the remainder of his year-long round-the-world trip that the author became aware of the full story -- that in spite of war, the children were not necessarily orphans.

I don't want to go into too much detail because the book is worth buying, reading and passing around. But, there was a particular man responsible for much of the child trafficking and once Grennan and another man from Little Princes discovered seven children in need of a rescue, things began to change. When he returned to the U.S. and found out the rescued children had disappeared, Grennan altered his plans completely. He went from being a temporary volunteer who loved a bunch of children enough to return for a visit (but who planned to resume his career) to a man with a mission.

Determined to find the missing children, for whom he felt responsible, Grennan founded a non-profit organization, raised funds and returned to Nepal to find the missing, make a home for them, and locate the parents he now knew still lived without any knowledge of what had become of their offspring.

I cannot say enough good things about Little Princes. The author's writing offers readers a rare combination of humility, charm, self-effacing humor and sincerity. His story is deeply moving and yet his writing style is absolutely lovely and light. You can't help but wish you knew him. In addition to being an adventure with the occasional dangerous hike or encounter with the wrong people and a story of the stunning difference one man can make, Little Princes is has a touch of romance as Grennan met a fellow volunteer and fell in love.

Geez, talk about a sap. I have tears in my eyes just thinking about this book! Little Princes is the best kind of memoir. I laughed; I cried. Highly recommended. Buying the book can even make you feel a little valiant because a portion of the proceeds will go to Conor Grennan's non-profit organization, Next Generation Nepal.

You can read more about the book and the organization at Conor Grennan's website.

I love Heather's review of Little Princes at Capricious Reader.

Not much of a break, eh? Well, I'm not done taking time to just read, yet, but I had been hacking away at this particular review for days and finally decided how I wanted to go about wrapping it up. I figured I should do the writing while I had the inspiration.

I've finished two books, so far: A Good American by Alex George and The Pocket Therapist by Therese J. Borchard (which I happened across in a cabinet, partly read, and decided to finish off). I also cleaned a closet. Very happy about that.

I imagine I'm going to go to my book club without having completed Empire of the Summer Moon, but I'll do my best to get as much of that read as possible by Wednesday. I got a little bored with The Phantom of the Opera, last night, and added Me Before You by Jojo Moyes to the books I'm juggling. It's so good that I might set The Phantom aside for a few days.

Apropos of nothing: I just recently came across a file of husband's photos from a business trip to Germany in 2009 and there are quite a few photos that made me laugh. As much as I'd like to know what exactly is happening in this photo, I love it just because it looks like, "Dude, quit trying to spit on me."

Germany just flew to the top of my wish list of places to go.

Fiona Friday - That is so not a cat

2012-01-13T17:03:00.004-06:00

I'm unable to upload photos from my memory card, at the moment, so my grand-dog gets the spotlight for today. Don't you love the look of adoration on Peyton's face as my daughter-in-law put a Christmas ribbon around her neck and antlers on her head?

I am also going to take a few days off to read and step away from the computer. I'm currently halfway through A Good American by Alex George (an ARC; release date is coming up soon, in February) and about a third of the way into The Phantom of the Opera. I'm enjoying both. The other two books in my sidebar have suffered while I obsessively watched Season 1 of Downton Abbey. I need to read Empire of the Summer Moon by Wednesday of next week, though, so I'll pick it up again, soon.

Happy Reading!

Hal Spacejock by Simon Haynes

2012-01-10T18:15:00.010-06:00

I've known about Hal Spacejock for a long time (Simon Haynes is one of my Nano friends) and tried to acquire a copy of the book; but, even mighty Amazon couldn't get me a paper copy of Hal Spacejock from Down Under when I first sought it out. I could have acquired a PDF download but I don't like sitting at the computer to read for any great length of time.

A few weeks ago, Hal Spacejock showed up as a free Kindle download -- this time in the pretty e-book form. And, now I have an iPad with a Kindle app, so I had that sucker loaded in nothing flat.

Hal Spacejock is a slap-stick outer space tale about a Firefly-like cargo spaceship called the Black Gull (not in the greatest shape; used for interplanetary transport). Hal Spacejock is the name of the pilot. Hal is out of work and out of money. Then, someone offers him a job he can't refuse. Described as a quick transport job, it is in fact a job that nobody else will take because the planet where he is supposed to pick up robot parts is currently a no-fly zone. The military is doing target practice and anyone who shows up will become a target.

Hal's new employer sends a robot by the name of Clunk to help with the piloting. Clunk is to be reconditioned upon their arrival because he's not in the greatest shape, either. As it turns out, Hal is a pretty bad pilot and Clunk has better manners than Hal, as well as piloting skills. And, there are many complications.

I'm not going to go into any great detail, but it takes a surprising amount of time for Hal to even get off the planet. Once that occurs, Hal and Clunk go through a string of adventures that make you think Hal is one of those Too Stupid to Live characters. Light-hearted and plot-heavy, Hal Spacejock is a book to read when you're in a mood for a fun read and willing to shut off your skepticism.

Normally, I don't read reviews before writing my own, but I did glance through the Amazon reviews and found that a lot of people found Hal unlikable. But, I think he warmed up as the book progressed. I knew Hal Spacejock is just the first in a series; it didn't bother me that he was more than a little rough around the edges. And, I liked Clunk so much that I paid slightly less attention to Hal and more to his friendly, mostly-competent, nearly-human robot and his spaceship's computer, which had vague hints of Douglas Adams.

Recommended for sci-fi lovers in the mood for a little crazy, action-packed fun. Be patient with Hal. It takes him some time to soften up but he improves toward the end. I'll be downloading the next book in the series, soon.

The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy by Marsha Altman

2012-01-09T22:09:00.011-06:00

The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy is the 4th book in Marsha Altman's Pride & Prejudice spin-off series and they absolutely must be read in order, but let me just put this out there: They're my favorites. If you like Austen spin-offs, you should definitely read them, in my humble opinion.

Onward. Gregoire Darcy is one of two unexpected brothers that Fitzwilliam Darcy manages to discover in Altman's wild and crazy series. I think he showed up in the second book, but there's been enough space between the reading of the titles that I'm not certain. At any rate, he's a monk and the book is not merely about Gregoire. It's a continuation of an epic family saga written by the one author I believe stays closest in characterization to Austen's originals (at least, in dialogue). And, yet, she is so wildly creative that -- at the same time -- Altman manages to make them all her own.

In The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy, Gregoire nearly dies and he is excommunicated. I think that's the right word. He's kicked out of the monk business, at any rate, but the reasons are quite fascinating. I can't go into details; that would be telling. In England, Gregoire must find his place. Will Gregoire ever be able to reconcile his austere days with his new life as a gentleman? What should he do next? And, might Gregoire possibly find love in this new life?

Meanwhile, there's all sorts of other adventure and madness happening. The only problem I have with The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy is the fact that the Darcys and Bingleys are so freaking prolific that it's hard to keep track of and distinguish between all the youngsters running around.

The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy is a marvelous, escapist read. There are a few characters who are almost clownish in their oddity and they are the reason the third book was my least favorite. Fortunately, those particular characters have a lesser role in the fourth installment and I absolutely loved it.

Recommended for readers of Jane Austen spin-offs and/or fans of epic family sagas who don't mind the fact that the author used someone else's characters as a starting point. Just be certain to read them in order.

The other books in the series (with links to my reviews):

The Darcys and The Bingleys

The Plight of the Darcy Brothers

Mr. Darcy's Great Escape

Things I'm working on but for which you should not hold your breath waiting:

2011 Reading Year in Review Post, which may include my reading goals if adding them doesn't make the post so long it won't fit on your screen.
Learning to speak Italian (I just did Lesson 1).
Highlighting the "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" list to see how many I've read (and, in another color, those I've attempted and given up on -- quite a few of those, near as I can tell).
The laundry. It never ends.

Other totally useless information:

I gave this eyeglass holder (which we refer to as "The Nose") to Kiddo as a stocking-stuffer for Christmas. He announced that he found it distasteful (actually, he may have used a lesser word) and I have therefore adopted The Nose. Quite frankly, I really love The Nose. I think he's quite handsome and it's very nice knowing where to find my glasses.

The Black Madonna by Louisa Ermelino

2012-01-09T13:23:00.009-06:00

"And a bathroom with colored tiles on the wall," one of the women said to another in a low voice, "pink and green, laid in a pattern, like a checkerboard."

How do you know?" someone asked.

"What do you mean by that? You think I'm lying? Tony the plumber told my husband."

The women argued about who knew what and who told whom, but they all agreed that whatever the color of the bathroom tiles, Magdalena had fallen in good. "If things had gone different," one of them said, "it could have been Teresa living in that house."

But Mary Ziganetti shook her head. "Teresa never had the luck. Some people, they got a horseshoe up their ass, but not Teresa."

( ~ p. 36 of The Black Madonna)

The Black Madonna by Louisa Ermelino is yet another book I just recently happened across as I cleaned house. In fact, I considered just donating it. I took a look at the cover and thought, "It's probably one of those old chick lit books I used to love." But, just in case, I read the cover and then sat down to read a few pages. Nope, not chick lit. And, I couldn't put it down.

The Black Madonna sucked me in like a tornado. I don't know how else to put it but to tell you that the story is authentic in a way that makes you feel as if you've been dropped into another world, one so completely believable that looking away from the book for a moment is jarring.

Almost the entire book takes place on Spring Street in New York's Little Italy and in a fictional Italian village; and, the focus is the women. First, you meet Teresa in 1948 and experience her heartbreak as her son Nicky takes a 3-story fall while playing Tarzan with his friend, Jumbo. The doctors say he will never walk again; but, Teresa refuses to believe her son won't recover. She'll do anything within her power to encourage a miracle.

The second section is about Magdalena, stepmother of young Salvatore, and it takes place in 1936. Salvatore is Nicky's closest friend; the two of them are like brothers. Since you've already been introduced to Magdalena and Teresa, the jump backwards in time not only gives you a full perspective of one woman's life and how she came to live on Spring Street but also fills in some gaps in the stories of her neighbors. Teresa's personality and her story become even more well-rounded while Magdalena is magically acquiring a husband in Italy.

The final story is about Antoinette. It's 1968. Jumbo, Nicky and Salvatore are now grown men with very different lives. Jumbo still fits his name and everyone assumes he'll never find a woman but Antoinette is fine with that. Jumbo has always been the most precious part of her life -- even if he does keep getting in trouble for gambling and once had to run for his life. The kind of woman whose world is almost entirely lived in the kitchen, where she cooks to show her love to her family, Antoinette is big and loving but just a bit possessive. Will Jumbo stand up to his mother and the potential in-laws who wrinkle their nose at him? Or, will Antoinette and the mother of Jumbo's true love win the day?

Just reading those little blurbs doesn't tell you much about the book. The real joy of reading The Black Madonna is in the immersion into the world of the characters. You get to know the women, how they feel about each other, what they say behind closed doors and out in the street, how they treat their children and which sun (love, money, food) their worlds revolve around. But, you also get to know pretty much everyone else in the neighborhood. You're in the apartment with the boys when they decide to smoke and drink while Mom's away. You're down on the sidewalk listening to the men and watching them unfold their chairs and sip their drinks while they watch the women gossip and the children play.

At the heart of all this is the "Black Madonna." According to the author, the Black Madonna is "a powerful image representing the rich dark earth and its crops, the instincts of the flesh, sexuality, fertility, female power, the dark uncertain side of life, and a reminder that life is not always what's obvious." [p. 259 of The Black Madonna]

Each of the women featured in the book have their own little shrines to the Black Madonna. They pray for their own little miracles or create their own magic, but the Black Madonna is at the center of everything. I found that central theme a little strange, but in spite of the fact that I really felt like the book is focused on the women, there's no escaping the fact that the women rely on their belief in this strange alter-ego of Christ's mother and give her credit when good things happen.

My copy of The Black Madonna was copyrighted in 2001 and published by Kensington Books (in arrangement with Simon & Schuster, Inc.). I looked up the author and found that she's only published 3 books. Ah, disappointment. I was hoping she'd written a dozen, by now. But, I'll eagerly gobble down the other two, when I can find copies of them.

Highly, highly recommended. The Black Madonna is not just any old read; it's an experience. It was really quite sad leaving the world when I finished the book. That old-fashioned sense of everyone in a neighborhood being a part of each other's world is something I really loved as a child and still miss.

Just walked in:

Mariana by Susanna Kearsley - from Paperback Swap

The Photo Album by K. B. Dixon - from author for review (I don't accept many books directly from authors, these days, but this will be my third by Dixon, so . . . he's grandfathered in, I suppose)

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan - library sale purchase

Love Lies Bleeding by Jess McConkey - library sale purchase

Swim to Me by Betsy Carter - library sale purchase

That's pretty much all the news. My weekend was shot, thanks to a killer migraine and the woozy after-effects of medicating it into submission. But, today was great. Bounce, bounce. Happy Monday!

Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer

2012-01-08T13:07:00.005-06:00

Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co. by Jeremy Mercer is a memoir I've been hearing about for years. I came across my copy (acquired via Paperback Swap but promptly set aside) whilst deep cleaning and eagerly dived into the reading.

For those who aren't familiar with the store: Shakespeare & Co. is a Paris bookstore, famously known not only for its books but also for housing a rotating community of scruffy, soup-eating hopeful authors. Mercer stayed at the store while attempting to figure out what to do with his life.

After giving up his crime-reporting job due to a death threat, the author traveled to Paris but he ate through his savings rapidly. His memoir tells about fleeing his Canadian hometown in fear, his early days in Paris, time at Shakespeare & Co., and the literary magazine he and another resident eventually began to publish, Kilometer Zero.

Although Time Was Soft There is a memoir, it's not merely about the author's experience. Mercer also describes Shakespeare & Company's history and owner George Whitman's life. Whitman has since passed away (but he apparently lived to 98 -- maybe there's something to just living with the dirt, rather than trying to keep everything squeaky clean). The store lives on.

Although I was too busy to read much, Time Was Soft There went with me to Nashville during our Christmas holiday, along with several other books, and was the only book I bothered to continue reading when I had a spare moment. During those spare moments, I read a bit on the "rabidly" side.

I'm not quite sure what exactly I expected -- certainly not the mention of insect life, but perhaps the grubbiness of the store's residents -- however, in many ways the book was far better than anticipated. I loved the fact that Time Was Soft There is part memoir, part bio of the store's owner, part history. Memoirs run the gamut from humble to self-aggrandizing and Time Was Soft There strikes a nice balance.

Addendum: I'd completely forgotten that I read an excerpt from Time Was Soft There in Paris Was Ours (<---link to my review), which I read early in 2011. Thanks to editor Penelope Rowlands for the reminder. That particular excerpt was one of my favorites; no wonder I went into the reading with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Recommended to memoir-loving book fiends.

On a related note, we watched Midnight in Paris, two nights ago. The entire time we were watching, I kept hoping Shakespeare & Co. would show up. Sure enough, there was a brief image. Too brief, really, but I made a little noise of excitement when the bookstore finally made an appearance. Husband was baffled. What, pray tell, was so exciting about that extremely minimal view of the bookstore? he asked (my wording). "I just read about it," I said. "Oh." Shrug. There's really no accounting for crazy book people, I suppose.

In case you're interested, Kiddo and I loved the movie (about a writer who is transported to the Twenties, where he hangs out with the expat artistic crowd gathered in Paris), even though there's no escaping the usual feel of a Woody Allen movie. I thought Owen Wilson did a spectacular job of portraying a Woody Allen role without the usual stiffness and odd gestures that make Allen's movies come across looking so staged. I do like a few Woody Allen films, just not many. Midnight in Paris is loads of fun for the literary-adoration crowd. We laughed a lot, Kiddo and I. Husband left the room. He said it was way too "typical Woody Allen" for his taste.

The Moment, ed. by Larry Smith

2012-01-08T13:03:00.002-06:00

File The Moment under "Worst Covers Ever, Ever". Personal opinion. Now that we've gotten that out of the way . . .

I had trouble putting this book down and read it in a single afternoon -- which is, in fact, a bit unusual for me. The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous and Obscure is a book of short (not 6-word, but never more than a handful of pages), biographical stories about life-changing, ephiphany-type moments. Some of them are a little obscured by flowery language or even a little baffling. Meaning: "In what way did this change your life?" -- I didn't always "get it". However, most of these little autobiographical vignettes are clearly, even beautifully, written and meaningful, many to the point of tear-jerker depth.

A handful of the stories are written in graphic/illustration form. I loved most of the illustrated moments for the change of pace, although I do wish the final illustrated tale had been left out completely. It's entitled, "I Couldn't Get it Up". That pretty much tells you all you need to know. So much for leaving The Moment out where youngsters can pick it up to find inspiration. On the basis of the final story, then, the book gets a family warning. Disappointing, because I do think inspiring stories can be encouraging to youngsters.

Recommended with family warning due to a single illustrated story -- which, I suppose, one can simply remove. Apart from that one itty-bitty problem, I think kids as young as 10 could get something out of The Moment. Well-written, diverse stories -- some humorous, others inspiring, a few moved me to tears.

Fiona Friday - Isabel's turn

2012-01-06T15:48:00.003-06:00

Time for a Hug by Gershator, Green & Walker review and update

2012-01-06T12:37:00.009-06:00

Time for a Hug by Phillis Gershator & Mim Green

Illustrated by David Walker

Sterling Children's Books

(Ages 3-5)

24 pages

Wake up! Wake up!

The day is new.

The clock says eight.

What shall we do?

Wash our faces,

comb our hair,

choose the clothes we like to wear.

Eat from a bowl,

drink from a mug--

What time is it?

Time for a hug!

The little bunny in Time for a Hug is one well-loved little guy. After the intro, above, he gets another hug at 9:00 and then 10:00. He and his mother bake a pie, make sock puppets, build with blocks, read and snuggle, then hug some more.

Time for a Hug is a lovely, upbeat book for preschoolers with cheerful illustrations. As a small child, many of my favorite books had catchy rhymes and happy themes; and, they were always the first I'd reach for to read to my own small children, particularly when I was tired. A happy book with a nice rhythm is always a pleasure to read. Time for a Hug is one of those books I can imagine a small child adoring and it's certainly a great book to snuggle up and read (plus, a good excuse for lots of hugging).

Highly recommended for parents and grandparents of small children. Many thanks to Sterling Books for the review copy. I usually try to pass on children's books to a new home after reviewing them but am sorely tempted to keep this one.

In other news:

I haven't said much, this week, because it's my last week with Kiddo around the house and he made it a busier week when he was involved in a fender-bender (hit from behind -- all involved were uninjured). Other than the accident, the start of the year has been a good one. I've finished two books:

The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy by Marsha Altman - The fourth installment in my all-time favorite Pride & Prejudice spin-off series, and
Hal Spacejock by Simon Haynes - A crazy, slap-stick sci-fi by a Nano buddy of mine, which is currently free for Kindle download (I'll be buying the next in the series).

Time for a Hug will be counted as my third, short as it is, and I'm on the verge of finishing Little Princes by Conor Grennan - the memoir of a man who made it his mission to rescue trafficked children in Nepal and reunite them with their parents. So far, I've loved everything I've read in 2012.

I'm slowly but surely working on my reading, writing and blogging goals for 2012 but I'm not sure they're worth posting about. However, among them is a goal to clean up the look of my blog and I'm working on moving my blogroll to a separate page for starters. Recreating links is turning out to be a bigger chore than I'd anticipated, so it may take me a while.

I've also decided to rewrite my review policy. My first attempt was more like a novella than a review policy, so I took down the link and will attempt to create something very brief.

No new books have entered my house, this week. I did receive a few over the Christmas holiday. I've already read one and am about to finish another, which leaves three:

Vurt by Jeff Noon from Paperback Swap - I have no idea where I read about this book but it sounded unique and was readily available, so I ordered a copy.
A Light on the Veranda by Ciji Ware - from Sourcebooks, for review
The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel - from Unbridled Books, for review

Fiona Friday post is coming up, next. I decided to remove the cat photo from this entry and make it a separate post. Sorry, Christmas apparently ate my brain. I forgot Friday and cats go together!

Quick aside - 2011 Self-Challenge Recap

2012-01-04T13:27:00.005-06:00

I opted not to officially sign up for any challenges in 2011, instead setting aside a shelf and starting what I called my "One Shelf at a Time Self-Challenge." Anybody want to place bets on how well that went?

Let's just say there won't be a big party with streamers and champagne. Of the books pictured above (my self-challenge shelf), I only finished the following:

Far Afield by Susanna Kaysen

True Grit by Charles Portis

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

All three were wonderful books. I also dipped into and rejected a few:

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald - probably just not the right moment,

Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda -whose book of short stories, I Wish Someone Were Waiting For Me Somewhere is one of my all-time favorite short-story collections, and

Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Curtis Higgs - did not like the way she fictionalized the Biblical account of Eve and couldn't talk myself into going on to the next character, not knowing whether or not I'd know the real story well enough to get anything out of the fictionalized retelling.

One book was taken off the challenge shelf by its owner (my eldest son), who said he couldn't wait any longer for me to read it because he had a friend who wanted to borrow it:

A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick

The rest just sat there, eventually forgotten as I became overwhelmed by review books. It wasn't till November that I realized I'd forgotten about the shelf entirely, probably somewhere around July because I do recall thinking, "I should do a 6-month recap" and not getting to it. By the time I remembered I had a challenge shelf it, was obviously too late to read all those books; however, I did read Garlic & Sapphires and attempted Hunting & Gathering because they were borrowed books and I didn't think I should keep them beyond the end of the year.

This is a good example of why I don't join in on challenges. I'm a challenge failure. But, apart from the books I've rejected, I still do want to read all the remaining books on that shelf. During 2011 I managed to read The Goose Girl, which was published prior to Enna Burning (both by Shannon Hale) and therefore needed to be read first, anyway. So, there Enna will sit until her time comes.

I have some Christmas cookies to work off. Must dash, for now. I may inundate you with more reviews, later.

A Darcy Christmas by Grange, Lathan & Eberhart

2012-01-04T12:36:00.004-06:00

A Darcy Christmas is a set of three Christmas novellas, all spin-offs of Pride and Prejudice but written by three different authors. I passed up the opportunity to review A Darcy Christmas in 2010 but promptly added the book to my wish list at Paperback Swap. A copy arrived in November, just in time for the Christmas season.

The first of the stories is a Pride & Prejudice version of "A Christmas Carol", in which Fitzwilliam Darcy is visited by the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future. He has given up on Elizabeth Darcy, thanks to pride and hurt feelings. The ghosts naturally convince him that his life will suck without her. I liked the first story, once I managed to shut off my internal editor. Most spin-off authors make mistakes, inserting the occasional modern or even American wording (depending upon the author), so you really have to be able to ignore those things if you want to read a spin-off.

Midway through "Mr. Darcy's Christmas Carol," by Carolyn Eberhart, I was in the groove. The second story is "Christmas Present" by Amanda Grange. It's Christmas season and Elizabeth is heavily pregnant but determined to visit her sister Jane and the newborn Bingley. There's not much to the story, but it's a sweet, lovely tale of a family gathering and new life.

The third novella, "A Darcy Christmas" by Sharon Lathan, is actually a set of short stories about Christmases throughout the years of Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy's courtship and marriage. It's a good overview of one author's imaginative progression through the lives of the characters.

Each story requires a bit of adjustment as every author endows the various families with a different set of children and her own name choices and some family members may die in one story and reappear in another, but I enjoyed this little tribute to Austen's Pride & Prejudice world. A Darcy Christmas is not, however, a book I will return to. Recommended for fans of Austen who enjoy reading alternate tales of the Pride & Prejudice characters. No previous reading of the authors is necessary.

Awkward Family Pet Photos by Bender and Chernack

2012-01-04T12:24:00.004-06:00

I decided I'm just going to dive into the book reviews I need to finish up from 2011 and come back to my 2012 goals later, since I'm still thinking about them.

Awkward Family Pet Photos is the only book I got for Christmas from family (I did get one from a blogger friend and hope to read it, soon). You may have seen the Awkward Family Photos website and its companion site with photos of families and their pets. The book is a collection of some of the photos from the website, some with added description, and a few awkward pet stories tossed in for good measure.

There's really not much to say about the book. Some of the photos are really funny, some actually quite clever (I love the photo of a family standing in the shape of a Christmas tree, wearing identical outfits and each holding out a large ornament) and some a little embarrassing. There are a few very old photos to show that people have been posing with their animals for a long, long time. Awkward Family Pet Photos is a good pick-me-up for a bad day -- lots of smiles involved.

We used to take an annual family Christmas photo and have lapsed, since the eldest moved out, but I think it's notable that we've usually tried to include our cats in the family photos. Cat wrangling is such fun. There was always plenty of laughter when we took those photos and I think we need to resume that tradition, next year. Awkward Family Pet Photos was a good reminder.

More brief reviews to come!

Books Read in 2011

2012-01-03T10:13:00.006-06:00

Books Read in 2011 (with links to reviews)

January

1. Kasey to the Rescue - Ellen Rogers

2. Wither - Lauren DeStefano

3. How to be Perfect - Daniel M. Harrell

4. Taking Out Your Emotional Trash - Georgia Shaffer

5. This is for You - Rob Ryan

6. The Ingram Interview - K. B. Dixon

7. The Dragon & the Turtle Go On Safari - Paul, Denmark & Nguyen

8. The Book of Tomorrow - Cecelia Ahern

9. God Gave Us the World - Bergren & Bryant

10. Far Afield - Susanna Kaysen

11. Wounded Spirits - April W. Gardner

12. Twenty and Ten - Claire Huchet Bishop

13. Brownie Groundhog and the February Fox - Blackaby and Segovia

14. Paris Was Ours, ed. by Penelope Rowlands

15. True Grit - Charles Portis

16. Haunting Jasmine - Anjali Banerjee

17. The Strange Man - Greg Mitchell

February

18. Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love - Andrew Shaffer

19. Tiger's Curse - Colleen Houck

20. How to Ditch Your Fairy - Justine Larbalestier

21. Night of the Twisters - Ivy Ruckman

22. The Procrastination Equation - Piers Steel, PhD

23. Curse of the Crocodile God - Stewart Ross

24. Gone - Lisa McMann

25. The Dark Divine - Bree Despain

26. 10 Lessons from a Former Fat Girl - Amy Parham

27. High Points and Lows - Austin Carty

28. A Billion Reasons Why - Kristin Billerbeck

29. My Love, My Enemy - Jan Cox Speas

30. Moonface by Angela Balcita

March

31. The Mental Floss History of the United States - Eric Sass

32. The Butt Book - Bennett & Lester

33. Christian the Lion - Bourke & Rendall

34. It Happened One Bite - Lydia Dare

35. The Mountains Bow Down by Sibella Giorello

36. If I Stay - Gayle Forman

37. Where She Went - Gayle Forman

38. Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese

39. Between Shades of Gray - Ruta Sepetys

40. Staying at Daisy's - Jill Mansell

41. Strangers - Taichi Yamada

42. Home to Woefield - Susan Juby

April

43. Pictures of You - Caroline Leavitt

44. The Goose Girl - Shannon Hale

45. A Wonder Book - Nathaniel Hawthorne

46. On Maggie's Watch - Ann Wertz Garvin

47. Quiet Bunny's Many Colors - Lisa McCue

48. The Peach Keeper - Sarah Addison Allen

49. Kat, Incorrigible - Stephanie Burgess

50. In Grandma's Attic - Arleta Richardson

51. The Best American Poetry, 2009 - ed. by David Wagoner

52. The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen

54. Radio Shangri-La - Lisa Napoli

55. The Winter Ghosts - Kate Mosse

56. True Courage - Steve Farrar

May

57. mental_floss Genius Instruction Manual

58. The Lightkeeper's Ball - Colleen Coble

59. Skinny - Diana Spechler

60. When a Dragon Moves In - J. Moore and H. McWilliam

61. Charleston is Burning! - Daniel J. Crooks, Jr.

62. Chime - Franny Billingsley

63. French Milk - Lucy Knisley

64. Charleston Mysteries - Cathy Pickens

65. The Making of a Rogue - Shana Galen

66. Fire Season - Philip Connors

June

67. Proust's Overcoat - Lorenzo Foschini

68. The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein

69. You Know When the Men are Gone - Siobhan Fallon

70. Regeneration - Pat Barker

71. The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus - Sonya Sones

72. The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady - Elizabeth Stuckey-French

73. Lost in Shangri-La by Michael Zuckoff

74. Dog Tales - Susy Flory

75. The Soldier's Wife - Margaret Leroy

76. My Dear I Wanted to Tell You - Louisa Young

77. After the Quake - Haruki Murikami

78. Casper the Commuting Cat - Susan Finden

July

79. The Summer of the Bear - Bella Pollen

80. Avebury Avenues - Esther Smith

81. The Ghost of Greenwich Village - Lorna Graham

82. Everything Beautiful Began After - Simon Van Booy

83. Gone - Michael Grant

84. Face to Face with God - Jim Maxim

85. One Second After - William R. Forstchen

86. Agonizing Love - Michael Barson

87. Amazing and Extraordinary Facts: Great Britain - Stephen Halliday

88. God Gave Us You - Bergren and Bryant

89. The Help - Kathryn Stockett

90. Divergent - Veronica Roth

91. When She Woke - Hilary Jordan

August

92. Inside Out - Maria V. Snyder

93. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami

94. Pillow Talk - Freya North

95. 13 Little Blue Envelopes - Maureen Johnson

96. The Last Little Blue Envelope - Maureen Johnson

97. The Girl Who Fell from the Sky - Heidi W. Durrow

98. Still More Stories from Grandma's Attic - Arleta Richardson

99. Treasures from Grandma's Attic - Arleta Richardson

100. Maman's Homesick Pie - Donia Bijan

101. Horoscopes for the Dead - Billy Collins

September

102. Lord & Lady Spy - Shana Galen

103. Juniper Berry - M. P. Kozlowsky

104. The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister

105. The Lost Wife - Alyson Richman

106. The Call - Yannick Murphy

107. The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine - Alina Bronsky

108. The Oracle of Stamboul - Michael David Lukas

109. Riding with No Hands - Gregory K. Moffatt, PhD

110. To the Moon and Back - Jill Mansell

111. The Taste of Salt - Martha Southgate

112. Learning to Bow - Bruce Feiler

113. Haiku Mind - Patricia Donegan

114. Everything Beautiful Began After - Simon Van Booy (reread)

October:

115. How to Survive the Titanic - Frances Wilson

116. Lives - Lucas Hunt

117. Demian - Hermann Hesse

118. The Borrower - Rebecca Makkai

119. The Education of a British-Protected Child - Chinua Achebe

120. How to Be an American Housewife - Margaret Dilloway

121. Don't Look Now - Daphne Du Maurier

November:

122. Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister - Liz Kessler

123. Remembering You - Tricia Goyer

124. Flight to Heaven - Capt. Dale Black

125. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter - Tom Franklin

126. Emory's Gift - W. Bruce Cameron

127. The Housekeeper and the Professor - Yoko Ogawa

128. The Wind is My Mother - Bear Heart

December:

129. Edward S. Curtis: Coming to Light - Anne Makepeace

130. Light on a Distant Hill - B. J. Scott

131. Matched - Ally Condie

132. Menagerie - Sharon Montrose

133. Silly Frilly Grandma Tillie - Jacobs & Jewett

134. Garlic & Sapphires - Ruth Reichl

135. The Tapestry of Love - Rosy Thornton

136. The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1 - Hit Record & J. G. Leavitt

137. Mrs. Claus Explains It All - Claus & Wenzel

138. Lights Out Liverpool - Maureen Lee

139. Time Was Soft There - Jeremy Mercer

140. Awkward Family Pet Photos - Bender & Chernack

141. The Moment - Ed. by Larry Smith

142. The Black Madonna - Louisa Ermelino

143. A Darcy Christmas - Grange, Lathan & Eberhart

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T12:00:00.003-06:00

Image Source

Happy New Year to my fellow blogging, reading, Internet friends and relatives! We have been without phone and Internet service for a week! Who'd have thought that could happen in the modern world? I chose to take advantage of the time and finished reading 5 books (although I'm not sure Awkward Family Pet Photos really counts). I will update you, soon. It's going to take me a few days to get used to wasting time on the Internet, again. :)

I finished up the year 2011 with 143 reads. That includes a few with hardly any text and some children's books. I think it was a pretty decent year, not my best in quantity but an improvement in quality/enjoyment. It usually takes me a few weeks (sometimes several months) to write my Year in Review post, but I'll post the full list, before then.

Welcome to a nice, fresh and shiny year where anything can happen. I hope the majority of 2012 is wondrous and exciting for you!

Love,

Bookfool

May all your wishes come true, this holiday season

2011-12-21T16:59:00.003-06:00

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Menagerie by Sharon Montrose , some bargains and a little about Lights Out Liverpool

2011-12-20T16:07:00.011-06:00

I've probably seen Sharon Montrose's photographs, before, but if so I certainly didn't realize I had when Menagerie was offered to me for review. Where have I been? Sharon Montrose is a prize-winning animal photographer who already has 11 books under her belt and her photography is divine.

Menagerie is a book of Sharon Montrose's animal photography and it is an total eyeball feast, simply but beautifully designed. The photographs are framed in ways that make you think of how you could jazz up your own walls with a few zingy frames and tasteful photographs. It's a zen kind of book, relaxing to flip through, too small to call a "coffee table" book but definitely the type of book I'd leave out if I had a coffee table. Someday, I will get a coffee table like a normal American.

Bright and airy and almost (but not quite) devoid of text Menagerie's few words are painted in a way that compliments the photography. You can see some inside and out views in this post at Montrose's blog.

There are only two small problems with Menagerie. One is that it's small enough (Amazon says the dimensions are about 8.6" x 6.6") that some of the photos will require a little squinting or a magnifying glass for older eyes.

The other problem is that some rocking fine photos are badly-placed as 2-page spreads. One photo of a flamingo with intriguing wing movement is frustratingly placed on the center fold. And, since the flamingo is the only animal on that particular spread, you have to wonder if it was placed that way merely so purchasers would be unable to slice out a page and avoid paying for a print. However, neither of those problems would have stopped me from buying the book if I'd happened across it in a store . . . if we had a store that displayed design books like Menagerie (insert mournful cry for the loss of Borders).

Highly recommended for design buffs, animal lovers, and lovers of art or photography books. If you're a fan of Sharon Montrose, you might be a little disappointed by the size of the photos but Menagerie turned me into a fan. I am not disappointed. I love it.

In other news:

Sourcebooks has a squillion "first title" and stand-alone e-books on sale for $1.99. Included are some personal favorites by Elizabeth Chadwick, Jill Mansell and R. F. Delderfield. This is a whopping fine batch of books.

Scholastic is offering a free virtual field trip to the American Museum of Natural History by Brian Selznick.

Harper Collins has 10 YA e-books on sale for 99 cents each.

I'm not going to bother writing a separate post about Lights Out Liverpool by Maureen Lee. Lights Out Liverpool is a WWII novel set on a single street in the Bootle district of Liverpool, England. Totally engrossing, Lights Out Liverpool is one of those nice, chunky books that's really as much about relationships as it is about life during a major war.

Lights Out Liverpool is tremendously realistic and believable to the war experience and the ups and downs of lives. I didn't like the ending, but I loved the book enough to rewrite the ending in my head. Lights Out Liverpool is the first book I've read by Maureen Lee. Published in 1995, I got my copy from my very generous friend Paula and I know exactly who I'm going to pass it on to. Highly recommended to readers who enjoy novels set during WWII or realistic, character-driven stories with exceptional character development.

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1, ed. by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

2011-12-18T20:10:00.012-06:00

Stocking Stuffer Alert!

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1 is just the perfect size for a stocking at 4" x 6". Now that you know that, I can tell you more . . .

First of all, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories is the cutest book I've seen all year, not just the stories, but the combination of tiny stories with creative illustrations. I love it so much I have read it and reread it and flipped back to my favorite stories too many times to count, already (and I just got it under a week ago). Each story is only a line or two -- more micro than micro-fiction -- and they're written and illustrated by a variety of authors and artists.

Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer, Inception, Angels in the Outfield) founded and directs the group that created the book, hitRECord, a collaborative production company that's open to anyone. You can read about the project, enjoy their creations or join in at the hitRECord site if you are creatively inclined.

Here are two of my favorite stories from The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories (you should be able to click to enlarge):

To be honest, I have a lot of favorites. The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories is only about 84 pages long, so you can read it in nothing flat, but it's the kind of book that is so fascinating you'll want to revisit it hundreds of times. And, it's only the first in a series. At least two more are forthcoming! I'm going to collect all three and I won't have to feel guilty, since they hardly take up any space at all. Not that you need to tell my husband.

Here's another story I love (no image available, unfortunately):

His hands were weak and shaking

from carrying far too many

books from the bookshop.

It was the best feeling.

~p. 68

Wait! One more!!!!

The element of surprise wasn't

allowed near the Periodic Table.

~p. 38

I wish you could see the illustration for that one.

Clever stories, great illustrations and wide variety in a small package make The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1 a winner. Highly recommended, especially for the lover of ingenious wording and/or inventive design.

The next book I review is also a bit of an eyeball feast. December has been such a fun reading month, I think perhaps I might explode.

Our Christmas Tree!

2011-12-17T16:19:00.008-06:00

I've got a few book reviews to post before I take my annual Christmas break, but first . . . I'm so excited to show off our Christmas tree because we chose to build a book tree, this year!

The tree photos in my Advent post were from 2010. I was hoping we'd have a little less trouble with the felines if we built a tree out of books, but let's face it . . . cats, trees, lights, gifts. They just don't mix. This one's blurry because I had to shoo Fiona to get her to stop trying to eat the bulb.

I didn't mind her untying ribbon, though, till she came away with a chunk of it in her mouth.

Here's a close-up of our tree-top. I haven't read the tree-top, yet. But, I've seen the musical and it's definitely on the agenda.

Top Ten Ways for Cat Owners to Get into the Christmas Spirit

2011-12-15T06:00:00.005-06:00

Welcome to Bookfoolery and Babble! If you're new to my blog, the most important thing you must know is that I have two cats, Fiona (a tabby) and Isabel (white with tabby markings). I take a lot of photos of my cats and having young, active kitties has definitely had an impact on how we decorate for Christmas. So, my cats will take the starring role for my first Advent Tour post.

Top Ten Ways for Cat Owners to Get into the Christmas Spirit

#10 - Be sure to place shiny, tempting objects on a surface which will allow for a satisfying combination of "clatter-crash" noises when knocked over.

#9 - Dress your cat for the holidays. Ignore the, "I will kill you" look. Your cat is really just being coy. She adores a little time spent pretending she's a reindeer.

#8 - Remember that cats love to climb.

#7 - So you will want to put a few things out of their reach. This gives them the chance to contemplate complicated climbing plans.

#6 - There should always be plenty of dangly things left hanging specifically for the kitties.

#5 - Also remember that cats are extremely decorative. You will want to place at least one within the branches of your tree.

#4 - But, don't forget that everything is edible.

#3 - Seriously, everything.

#2 - Absolutely everything.

. . . and then some.

Oy.

#1 - Have a happy holiday!

Mrs. Claus Explains It All by Claus and Wenzel - Review and link to e-book promotion

2011-12-14T15:49:00.009-06:00

Sourcebooks sent out some promotional material about this gorgeous picture e-book, this morning, and I asked to review it before passing on any links. Mrs. Claus Explains It All by Elspeth Claus is an enhanced e-book that gives children the option of choosing to have Mrs. Claus read to them. A little note on each page shows a child's question ("How old are you and Santa?", "What are Santa's workshops like?"), each of which is read by a child's voice, and Mrs. Claus' cheerfully replies. The answers are shown in text that's placed so that the illustrations are large and clear.

It's really the illustrations that make Mrs. Claus Explains it All enjoyable, in my humble opinion, although there is nothing better than a book that reads itself when you hit the road with small children. We used to carry loads of books on tape for the kids, when we traveled. I found the text a little flat and dull when just reading it without Mrs. Claus narrating, but the narration gives it a special spark and the illustrations are beautiful. I can easily imagine a small child paging through the e-book over and over, again. Of course, on an iPad you can zoom in to admire the details of the illustrations. I love beautiful artwork, so I found myself zooming in, quite a bit.

Definitely recommended, especially if you're looking for a holiday book with narration to help keep your child occupied while traveling or when the adults are busy fussing around in the kitchen during the holidays. There's a link to sample pages, below, so you can peek inside and listen to the voices to see if you like the book, before purchasing.

View sample pages from Mrs. Claus Explains It All, here.

Mrs. Claus Explains It All is available for only $4.99 now at:

Apple's iBookstore

NOOK Bookstore

Platforms: iPad, iPhone, iPodTouch, NOOK Tablet, NOOK Color, NOOK app for iPad

Matched by Ally Condie

2011-12-14T08:28:00.003-06:00

Matched by Ally Condie

I've had Matched on my wish list at Paperback Swap since its release but when I saw a copy at Sam's Wholesale Club for a reasonable price, I snatched it up. It seemed a likely candidate to help me break my reading slump and, as it turned out, Matched definitely helped me get back into my reading groove.

Cassia has always been very trusting and obedient. When the book opens, she's excited about her Matching banquet, where she'll see the name and face of the boy she'll eventually marry. She's particularly excited to find out she's matched to a good friend, Xander, but when she begins to read the data about him, another face briefly flashes onto her screen and then disappears. She knows that face, as well. Did the Society make a mistake when matching her? Why is the other boy, Ky, labelled in a way that makes it impossible for him to be matched?

When Cassia and Ky end up on a work team together and find that sparks are flying, Cassia becomes determined to find answers while fighting her urge to let go of her Xander, whom she knows to be an excellent match.

I was expecting a run-of-the-mill dystopian novel, to be honest, but I found smart, thought-provoking writing, likable characters and a dilemma easy to find yourself quickly invested in, along with a nicely fast-moving plot with moments of slow build.

In a Twitter chat, this week, author Jay Kristoff said, "I think the most important thing to remember when worldbuilding is that worlds are populated by PEOPLE. Character first. Always." That's where Ally Condie really shines. Her characters are believable and the world seems to be built around them not designed first and populated later. While there are times that you feel like, "Sigh, another dystopian. Same old struggle against the powers plotline," Matched is suitably unique and I'm quite anxious to read the next book in the series. There was a bit of a cliff-hanger ending but the book pretty much felt complete to me.

Recommended to lovers of Young Adult dystopian fiction. Light reading, quick-paced but with well-rounded characters and very good writing.

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

2011-12-14T08:26:00.006-06:00

Garlic & Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl is one of several memoirs by the former New York Times food critic and details her time working for the New York Times, including how she came to move to New York, her personal choices about reviewing, many of her experiences eating out in disguise, some recipes and a number of her columns for the New York Times (as well as the praise and/or backlash she received for her ratings).

Garlic & Sapphires is really quite fascinating. I don't think you have to be a foodie to appreciate reading about a woman whose job carried such surprisingly celebrity status that she had to continue to find new ways to disguise herself to make sure she received food and service in the way any other New Yorker might, for better or worse. It's particularly enjoyable to read about how she felt in disguise, how each new costume made her feel as if she was a completely different person.

Highly recommended to memoir lovers, foodies, and anyone who likes reading a book with recipes scattered throughout. My beloved daughter-in-law, who is a fabulous cook, loaned me her copy of Garlic and Sapphires. Thanks, Sarah!

The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton

2011-12-14T07:31:00.010-06:00

Since it's Christmas season and that last post was the kind nobody wants to read when they're busy (but I don't feel apologetic -- I wanted to combine the 3 books and I'm glad I did so), my next set of reviews will be as brief as the last bunch was wordy. I was originally going to combine them but I think I'll just pop them out separately.

The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton - Divorced, middle-aged and ready for a change, Catherine moves to a house in France, sets up a tapestry business, makes new friends and finds herself drawn to one of her neighbors, Patrick Castagnol. But, when her sister Bryony arrives for an extended visit and prances off with Patrick, the French government makes becoming an official business owner difficult, and death marches into her life, Catherine wonders if going home to England might be her best option.

A slow, quiet, beautifully-written book with a touch of romance, some very poignant moments (I cried when she went to talk to her bees, if that means anything to others who've read The Tapestry of Love), plenty of humorous and touchingly realistic moments with Catherine's extended family and a perfectly wrapped-up, satisfying ending.

I stalled at page 200 because I tend to like a more plot-heavy book, but after setting The Tapestry of Love aside for a week, I returned to it and loved the second half.

Recommended for those in a mood to savor carefully-crafted writing, heavy on the senses and slow-paced.

My copy of The Tapestry of Love was a win from Maria at Fly High. My thanks to Maria and the author, Rosy Thornton, who sent me two of her books instead of only my prize win. I'm looking forward to the other title, More Than Love Letters.

Themed Reading - Native Americans in The Wind is My Mother, Light on a Distant Hill & Edward Curtis: Coming to Light

2011-12-11T13:02:00.010-06:00

I've recently read three books about Native Americans, their lifestyle, beliefs and a man known for his determination to photograph them before it was too late. It seems logical to put them together, but this is accordingly a very, very long post.

The Wind Is My Mother: The Life and Teachings of a Native American Shaman by Bear Heart is part memoir, part advice, part history -- an excellent book about one Native American's beliefs and how he believes they can be adapted to fit our lives in today's world. It was published in 1996 but the advice is certainly as relevant now as it was then. I bought The Wind Is My Mother during Borders' going-out-of-business sale and I wish I'd just bought everything they had on Native Americans. If I'd known I was going to become slightly obsessed with reading about North America's first people, I certainly would have.

I learned quite a bit from The Wind Is My Mother. For example, the author says, contrary to popular belief, Native Americans are all monotheistic, so the ceremonies white people thought of as pagan were all, in fact, designed to make requests or thank a single Creator, although they symbolically used creatures and objects which appeared to outsiders to be "gods" to whom they were praying. You can understand how the confusion occurred when you read about Native American ceremonies. Bear Heart also disputes the story that Columbus called the natives "Indians" because he thought he was in India. Here's what the author has to say about the naming of natives by Columbus:

I don't always feel comfortable in talking about Indians; even the word Indian itself is very misunderstood. When Columbus found the natives here, they were gentle people who accepted him, so Columbus wrote in his journal, "These are people of God." In his language, he wrote "In Dios." Later, the s was dropped and Indio eventually became Indian, which originated as "people of God." ~~from p. 160 of The Wind Is My Mother

Here's an interesting story that leads to some always-timely advice:

A witch doctor from South Africa told me how they catch monkeys there. They bore a hole in a pumpkin large enough to slip in a banana, then they reach through the hole with a spoon, clean out the inside and drop in the banana. When a monkey comes around, he smells the banana inside the pumpkin, sticks his little forearm in there, feels around, grabs hold of that banana, and then he's stuck. His brain will not tell him that to free his hand he's got to release that banana. He just holds on. ~~pp. 111-2

The advice:

There are many, many ways to let go of our bananas, so to speak. The way my people take care of something that we're not happy with is to honor it and say, "Thank you, you've taught me a lesson." If its anger, if it's hate, if it's a drinking problem: "Boy, you've been with me for a long time. Now I'm going to try something else. But I want to thank you for teaching me something about myself." Never try to just get rid of it. You can't, it's too strong, it's too embedded. Instead, honor it and say, "Thank you." ~~p. 113

I love that. My absolute favorite part of the book, though, is a tale about a time when the author went to Hawaii to fulfill his deceased son's wish that he could see it. His son had written about the beauty of Hawaii when he landed in there on the way to being stationed in the Philippines. You have to read the book to fully understand the story, but as a baby Bear Heart was dedicated to God by his mother, when he was near death. She kept her promise to raise him the way she prayed she would if God would save his life and these many years later, he went up to Pele Point, a place where, "According to Hawaiian legends, the winds of the universe have their beginning." Because his mother was of the Wind Clan, he wanted to go up there at midnight (he doesn't explain what the Wind Clan and midnight have to do with each other) but he was told he couldn't by park rangers.

He told them he needed to go and they said they'd drive him to the chain across the road and he could walk from there. He agreed, stepped over the chain and as he walked he sang his songs "to each of the Four Directions--East, South, West and North." I'll let him tell you the rest.

When I got through, I said, "My mother, when I was very small, dedicated me. At this time I rededicate myself anew to You--from my heart. I will be Your feet, Your hands, Your eyes, Your voice, just as she said. If there's any love that You have, a special love that You want for people, let it flow through me. Let me touch someone and make them a little happier, so that they can be well and walk with good purpose upon this land. Please use me." I dedicated my life again in that way.

When I came back down, the guards asked who was up there with me. I said, "No one." They said they heard lots of voices singing. They heard it, I didn't. ~~p. 146

Well, that sure gave me chills. I absolutely loved The Wind Is My Mother and found myself quoting it aloud quite a bit. I highly recommend it and plan to reread my copy, hopefully many times.

In the midst of reading The Wind Is My Mother, my face-to-face group voted on Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne for our January reading selection, so I'll be reading that very soon. And, then a book I've had on my wish list at Paperback Swap for at least 4 years became available.

Edward C. Curtis: Coming to Light by Anne Makepeace is a National Geographic book, so it's slightly large with pages about the size of letterhead, around 8" x 11" -- large enough that the details of the many photographs included don't require a lot of eyestrain (although I did occasionally use a magnifying glass to look closer at certain images).

Edward Curtis was, of course, the famously obsessed photographer who spent most of his adult years trying to photograph all of the North American Indian Tribes in costume before their customs, traditions and native costumes ceased to exist. It took him 30 years to create 20 extraordinarily expensive volumes of photographs and the process was as costly as it was time-consuming.

Coming to Light is also extremely informative. The author talks about specific tribal ceremonies and people that Edward Curtis photographed, as well as his personal life, his artistic vision and how his divorce led to the loss of a large number of glass negatives. The author went in pursuit of living Native Americans who were present when the photographs were taken or who had some knowledge of what was happening or who was photographed and her discoveries are also both amazing and entertaining. She also mentioned some of the controversy surrounding his photography and gave examples of what he did that made the accuracy of some of his images questionable.

I highly recommend Edward C. Curtis: Coming to Light especially to those who are interested in actually learning about Edward Curtis. Coming to Light is not really a typical coffee-table book as it only contains a selection of his photos (but a nice selection, in my humble opinion). I'm hoping to someday find a larger book that focuses on display of his photographs, but it was really a more accurate look at Curtis' life that I was hoping to find, after reading a fictional account that I found disappointing, and I thought the text was stellar. I learned much more about Native Americans from the book than expected.

Light On a Distant Hill by B. J. Scott is a novel my friend Paula read while I was in the midst of reading about Edward Curtis. It's fiction, but Paula highly recommended it and I looked it up as soon as I finished reading Coming to Light. There's some crossover between all three of these books, as it's only natural that certain characters are frequently mentioned. In Light on a Distant Hill, a young mail-order bride named Ellen leaves her home in Salina, Kansas and heads west to meet the man she intends to marry, a cavalry officer stationed at Fort Walla Walla in Washington Territory.

On the way, Ellen is kidnapped by Shoshone Indians at a massacre in which she is one of only two survivors. She tries repeatedly to escape from the Shoshone but fails and finally accepts her plight. And, then she finds herself slowly becoming one of them as she learns their ways and falls in love.

Meanwhile, her fiance has refused to believe the accounts claiming Ellen died in the attack. But, he is unable to take enough time to track her down and resumes his job, hunting the people his beloved has come to think of as her own. After white soldiers attack the Shoshone, killing women and children and threatening Ellen's husband, she must run for her life. She ends up following Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, the man known for the famous quote "I will fight no more forever," made at the time of surrender, after his people had been chased 1500 miles by the militia.

The wonderful thing about this particular novel is that it is so incredibly sympathetic to Native Americans and the horror they experienced. The author acknowledges that the natives were human and not wholly innocent of their own crimes against whites, but places their experience in a context that makes you feel as if you were there, you understand and . . . honestly? . . . you're really pissed off, by the time you get to the surrender of Chief Joseph.

There are author's notes describing changes the author made. He did take a few liberties, but Light on a Distant Hill's setting is apparently very well-researched. Much of what Scott wrote was also described in Coming to Light and the three books together make a fascinating trio. Since I'd already read a little about Chief Joseph and the plight of the natives in general, the effect was very much like going from reading about the horror of the eradication of natives to experiencing it from their viewpoint. Light on a Distant Hill is told as a memory, when a young reporter goes to interview the elderly Ellen in the 1930s.

A side note: I would probably not normally have purchased Light on a Distant Hill because it is apparently a self-published book: the publisher is AuthorHouse. I only read self-published books by people I know or when they're recommended by readers I know and trust, these days. Obviously, Paula is a trusted friend because I did rush over to Amazon to buy the e-book, almost the moment I finished Coming to Light.

There's a bit of a romance aspect to Light on a Distant Hill and a couple brief, graphic love scenes (which I'm never fond of) but in spite of a bit of mush and sex, I have no complaints. I thought the writing, while not brilliant, was very good. However, it's both the sense of time and place and the author's ability to empathize with Native Americans without glorifying them that make the book shine. Definitely recommended, especially when paired with non-fiction about Native Americans.

I have to add that there are quotes throughout both Coming to Light and Light on a Distant Hill that will doubly horrify readers -- quotes by army officers and famous white Americans of the time, in which they speak of Indians as subhuman. Sound familiar? It struck me as particularly odd that the invading Europeans spoke of the natives as lesser life forms and set about eradicating them whilst stealing the people of another culture they considered lesser life forms, at the time (Africans). Throughout history, people have described opposing cultures in similar ways and enslaved or killed their chosen enemies but it struck me as odd that there were two cultures being destroyed at around the same time by the same people. And, isn't it horrifying how the same thing keeps happening, the world over? The author compared the eradication of Native Americans to the slaughter of Jews by Hitler. The more I read, the more I agree.

At any rate, the plight of the natives in the United States is a sad one but a tale that I think we all need to learn -- the truth, that is. From The Wind Is My Mother I learned why the natives responded with what most of us probably consider weakness when they made agreements with white men but the white men not only didn't keep up their end of the bargain but also eventually killed them off and shuffled the natives around on death marches to camps hundreds of miles across the country. It all has to do with the peace pipe. Bear Heart explained that when his people smoked the peace pipe, they were making a promise before their Creator. And, promises made in the presence of God could not be broken. So, they were not meek little lambs being led around but extremely devoted, spiritual people.

If you made it through all three reviews and the rant at the end, I must offer you a virtual hand-shake. Sorry this post is so long. The reading of the three books was quite an experience and I'm looking forward to learning more, sad as I know it will be. I'll post a photo of the other books I've purchased, some time soon. I think this post is quite long enough!

for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - I've got my eye on you

2011-12-09T13:45:00.001-06:00

Emory's Gift by W. Bruce Cameron

2011-12-07T12:42:00.008-06:00

I'm going to jump right to the bottom line on this one, since we're getting close to Christmas. If you like a sweet, spiritually uplifting and clean story or have someone on your gift list for whom you're looking for a nice, clean, uplifting book, grab a copy of Emory's Gift.

Emory's Gift is narrated by 13-year-old Charlie Hall. Since Charlie's mother passed away, his grief-stricken father has become withdrawn and sullen, seldom speaking to his son, who desperately needs reassurance and support after their painful loss. On top of his uncomfortable home life and private grief, one of Charlie's former friends has taken to bullying him. But, when Charlie encounters a grizzly bear in the woods, an unusual friendship begins.

There's a lot more to Emory's Gift than just a boy befriending a bear (and a new human friendship that helps Charlie recover) but it's so magical that I'm afraid to say much more. Suffice it to say, Emory is no ordinary bear and some very interesting things happen. Bruce Cameron is a skilled and often surprising writer who has a knack for writing deeply touching stories.

I wish I could tell you more, but I'm afraid anything else I say will ruin the read so I'm just going to keep this review extremely short. I do think the denouement was a tiny bit of a let-down because I was hoping for something a little different, but upon reflection it obviously didn't dampen my feelings about Emory's Gift. As soon as I finished it, I recommended it on Facebook (very unusual -- I usually just link up to my blog reviews and don't say much about my reading, otherwise, on Facebook) and in my online book group. A very moving, emotional and somewhat spiritual read, highly recommended.

I'll save other news for later, since I've got a busy day ahead of me. Happy Reading!

A few minis - Jamie Durie's Outdoor Room, Fairy Godsister, Flight to Heaven, Housekeeper & Professor

2011-12-06T11:20:00.013-06:00

Some of these books have been sitting in my sidebar for so long that I feel like I ought to go to confession to ask forgiveness. Except, I'm not Catholic . . . but you know what I mean. The guilt is there, although only one is a review book.

Jamie Durie's The Outdoor Room is one that I didn't actually finish 100%. I loved what I read, but the farther I got into The Outdoor Room, the more I realized I will never have an outdoor room in Mississippi. We have enough trouble with maintenance in the backyard. I can't even begin to imagine fighting poison ivy growing over the walls of a corner set aside for enjoying the outdoors. I would need a lot of help creating that kind of space and making it easy to maintain.

However, I read most of it and I like Durie's ideas for design. They can be carried into your house, as well. The starting point to creating a relaxing space, as described in The Outdoor Room, involves examining your own taste by collecting pictures from magazines, taking photos, etc. of textures, designs and colors that you like and then using the things you love to create the perfect space. I've done similar (collected photos and put them on a bulletin board) but hadn't thought to take pictures of things like, say, ocean or grass or rocks if those are things that appeal to you visually and then trying to figure out how to work the colors and textures you like into a room with other design features.

Durie also talks about things like light (because work spaces tend to be dark, making your outdoor space offset your long, dark days), different types of design, shapes, plants to use in your outdoor room, specific projects he's worked on and their inspiration, where certain designs work. There's a lot of text in this book and it's all worth reading. I need to go back and reread the entire book, now that I'm done having a private temper tantrum about how awful the outdoors is in Mississippi.

I highly recommend Jamie Durie's The Outdoor Room to those who want new ideas for decorating, whether or not you plan to build an outdoor room, because I think it's great for inspiration inside and out, although it definitely fulfills its purpose in helping the reader to visualize his or her own outdoor room. One of my favorites is the exotic oasis in Seattle, which was inspired by Egyptian spaces but which looks very zen to me. Since we returned from Japan, my husband and I have been mulling ways to make our home reflect that sense of calm we got from the zen gardens and I think this book can help. Many thanks to Harper Design for the review copy of The Outdoor Room.

Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godmother by Liz Kessler is an e-book I got as a freebie. I read it when I couldn't get myself to focus on anything else and it did help pull me out of my slump, but I found it disappointing. Philippa has always believed in fairies. When her best friend moves away, she's heartbroken and cries on a flower. The flower responds and Philippa is convinced it's a fairy disguised as a flower. She plucks it, carries it to her treehouse and plans to return at midnight to see the fairy transform. But, then she changes her mind and disposes of the flower.

The next day, a sullen new girl shows up at school and Philippa tries to befriend her. After a rocky beginning, they eventually become fast friends and the new girl reveals that she's Philippa's fairy godmother (but that sounds strange, so they decide to call her a fairy godsister). I don't actually remember much beyond that. I just recall feeling disappointed. It's a cute book and it gets high ratings from its youthful intended audience -- middle readers, I think -- and their mothers. I recommend Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister to youngsters, in particular (Moms - it's a nice, clean read) and was happy that it broke my reading block temporarily, but it just didn't do much for me. Might have been the timing.

Flight to Heaven: A Plane Crash, A Lone Survivor, A Journey to Heaven and Back (that's not really the subtitle, but it's hard to read the tiny print in that image and gives you the gist of the book) by Capt. Dale Black is the story of a man who was the only survivor of a plane crash in 1969, at the age of 19. It tells of his determination to recover and fly again, how he slowly regained his memory and went on to become a pilot for a major airline, and a heart-pounding edge-of-your-seat story about a second close call when he flew to Africa on a mission trip.

I absolutely could not put Flight to Heaven down, once I began to read it. Dale Black's story is stunning and he does a great job of making you feel like you were there. Although he does talk about eventually remembering that he'd gone to heaven, his description of heaven is a minor portion of the book (in fact, that was the part I enjoyed least and found myself skimming). Flight to Heaven focuses on his experiences, the emotions he felt and his determination to recover, as well as how he slowly regained missing memories. When you read about his injuries and how, after the plane crashed into a solid monument he fell 70 feet, you can't help but realize that it really is quite astounding that he survived at all.

The crash changed the author's life and made him determined to share his beliefs, so there's plenty about Christianity but he comes off as humble and a man of strong character rather than preachy. He admits to times he was too pushy about his beliefs and talks about how he learned from his mistakes. I'd recommend Flight to Heaven to anyone and everyone, if only because it's an excellent lesson in what positive thinking can do for an individual. Flight to Heaven was another e-book freebie. I didn't actually mean to read it but I hit the wrong image, read a sentence or two and couldn't stop, by the time I realized I was reading the wrong book. Highly recommended.

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa is about the relationship between a single mother, the professor she cares for and her son. The professor is a brilliant mathematician who suffered a head injury 30 years before she met him. His memory only lasts for 8 hours, so he wears a suit covered in notes to remind him of important things.

During the time that the housekeeper works for the professor, she and her son get to know him and he teaches them some math principles, a good portion of which I didn't follow. Some of the math was fascinating, but I mostly liked the rest of the story -- the building of the relationship between the odd trio of unnamed people and the denouement, which is not entirely unexpected but is still satisfying. I might have used a tissue or two while reading this book. While I found the math portions of The Housekeeper and the Professor down were a little dull, I think the story is a good one and I recommend it. I got my copy of The Housekeeper and the Professor from Paperback Swap.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

2011-12-05T13:04:00.002-06:00

Thanks to Melissa at Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf for mentioning that she'd love to read a review of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. I was having trouble deciding where to start on that nasty overloaded sidebar backlog of review books.

I bought a copy of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter because it was my face-to-face book group's November selection.

I'm not sure if anything in this review could be considered a spoiler (I have attempted not to give anything crucial away), but there are a couple things that would probably best be saved for the reading. So, if you're worried, skip my review.

The basic plot (without spoilers): Many years ago, Larry Ott and Silas "32" Jones were best friends for a brief time. But, because Larry was white and Silas black, the friendship had to be kept quiet. An incident ended their friendship not long after it began. During high school, Larry remained awkward, bookish and an outcast. Silas became a popular athlete.

At her request, Larry took a girl named Cindy out on a date and she was never heard from again. Accused of murder, already an outcast at school, Larry eventually joined the army but returned to care for his mother. He became known as "Scary Larry" while Silas moved on, went to school at Ole Miss and got a job in law enforcement. What really happened the night Larry took Cindy out on a date?

Now, the disappearance of another young woman has brought Larry back into focus as a suspected killer. And his old friend Silas is doing the investigating. Silas has been back in town for a while, but he hasn't even looked at Larry when he's happened to drive by the garage where Larry sits around waiting for business. When Silas finds Larry near death, he is reminded of their past friendship and decides he must solve both crimes. Did Larry kill another woman and then attempt suicide? Or is he the victim of a murderer, as well? Only Silas is motivated to find out the answers . . . because Silas knows something the rest of his buddies in law enforcement don't know about the night Cindy disappeared.

A quick note: I have one other Tom Franklin book on my shelf and SuziQ, who knows my tendency to nightmares, has told me she thinks I should avoid it. And, in general, I avoid mysteries (although I'll occasionally read one for a change of pace). So, I probably wouldn't have bothered with Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, if not for my F2F book club. More on that, later.

What did you like most about the book? Mind-blowing writing. I thought Tom Franklin's prose was amazing, the characterization sharp, the story gripping. Because I started reading Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter before we left for Japan and didn't pick it back up until at least 3 weeks later, I am doubly impressed. I only had to go back a page or two to remember what exactly was going on. Writing that sticks with you so completely for that long is very unusual.

What did you think of the main character? The book shifts back and forth between the viewpoints of Larry and Silas, so I consider both protagonists. Larry is full-grown when this new mystery occurs, still living alone and an outcast; he's never really had a chance to come into his own as an adult. But, in spite of the fact that he's a pariah, he's a good man. He has a heart; he's a man of honor. He's a sad, lonely man but I liked him.

Silas, on the other hand, is also an interesting and strong character but he has one very large flaw -- he hasn't told the truth about the night that Cindy disappeared. He knows something crucial. But, what does Silas know? Could it have saved Larry? Would Silas have put himself in danger by sharing that information, back when Cindy disappeared? Those questions and their answers help to reveal Silas' character so I won't tell you exactly how I felt about Silas in the end.

Thoughts about the plot? The plot has enough interwoven threads to be engaging and make your mind churn without ever becoming so intricate that it makes your head hurt. So, I'd say the plotting is just about perfect. It's a mystery but it's literary -- as much a book of deep character studies as a tale of investigation into crimes present and past.

I particularly loved the way Franklin flipped racial perspective on its head. Silas, the black man, is the guy everyone looks up to -- a good citizen, great athlete, very much respected. Larry, the white guy, is the fellow everyone's afraid of -- possible criminal (never proven), misunderstood, considered frightening. It was refreshing to read a Southern mystery with a respected, likable black character doing the crime solving.

The only thing I didn't like: Silas and Larry met when Silas moved down to Mississippi from Chicago. Silas' mother is from the area in Mississippi where they move. She says, "I have people" there, when he asks why they're going to Mississippi. But, Silas has the same exact accent as his mother, Larry and everyone else. I would have liked to see a slight distinction in the way Silas spoke -- some hint that he'd picked up a little of Chicago speech while he lived there. He does occasionally say something with a bit more formality, but it still never felt like he had any hint of the Midwest in his mode of speech to me.

The Southern dialect is pretty distinctive, fits the way I've heard some people speak around here and yet is written in a very readable manner. You may wonder why a character calls barbed wire "bobwire", at first, but then it becomes plain that the book is written in vernacular yet done so well you think the author doesn't know how to spell. Pretty impressive really.

In general: Excellent story, astounding writing, perfect plotting . . . gosh. I think Tom Franklin should go to the head of the class and bow. Definitely one of the best books I've read, this year. Highly recommended. Warning: It's pretty gritty. There's some bad language and a few really graphic descriptions from murder scenes (of the stomach-turning variety).

And, what about that group meeting? We had a really interesting discussion at my F2F meeting. Everyone was impressed with the writing and nobody complained about the dialect (most are from Mississippi, so they'd know better than I would how genuine it comes off). When we got to the question, "What did you think of Larry," though, a lot of our members thought he was really "pathetic" or "pitiful". I was the odd reader out. I actually liked Larry and thought he was somewhat stunted in his growth as a human because of not ever having much normal interaction with people as an adult. But, he was honorable. He was a reader and obviously intelligent, if socially inept. He could have stayed away from town, built a decent life for himself and left that whole world of rejection behind. But, he chose to take care of his mother, who was already showing signs of Alzheimer's when his father passed away, and remained an outcast simply because he cared enough to stick around.

"The Land had a way of covering the wrongs of people" is a quote that was mentioned in the discussion questions. What did the author mean by that? Again, I was the odd one out. I thought he was referring to the passage of time. Because the land grows and changes, evidence of lives and the crimes people commit disappears beneath layers of soil and vines, etc. People die and become part of the land. Civilizations are buried if you take that line of reasoning very far. When I said I thought that quote referred to the passage of time and tried to explain, though, I must have done a pretty crappy job. I got a lot of blank looks and everyone else ended up saying they didn't quite understand what he was trying to say. Well. Tom Franklin lives in Mississippi, so I suppose one of us needs to breeze by Ole Miss and ask him. *holds up hand to volunteer*

There was also a question about the title of the book and I'll just skip right over and tell you what my friend John Floyd said (author in my sidebar---->). John said Tom Franklin told him he originally planned to set the book in Alabama but he wanted to call the book Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter so he changed the setting to Mississippi. So, apparently there's no deep meaning to the title.

Back to that bit about the other book SuziQ suggested I avoid. Hell at the Breech is the title of the other Franklin book I own. It's around here, buried somewhere. I see it, now and then, and I keep thinking I need to get rid of it. As it turns out, Hell at the Breech was a book my group discussed several years ago (I've only been a member for about a year). And, they kind of hated it. They all agreed the writing was great, very vivid, but it was so very violent that some of them couldn't finish it, a couple had nightmares, several mentioned being unable to get some of those images out of their minds, to this day. Yeah. That one's going out the door, the next time I see it. But, I do plan to read more by Franklin. I'll just ask SuziQ for advice, before I do.

Fiona Friday - Framed (starring Isabel)

2011-12-02T13:46:00.004-06:00

A few DNFs -The Matchmaker of Kenmare, Eyes in the Mirror and The Lantern

2011-11-29T15:50:00.007-06:00

I need to tackle my review backlog very soon, but I've got this little pile of Did Not Finish advance readers that I'm tired of tripping over, so . . .

Books I Did Not Finish and Why:

The Matchmaker of Kenmare by Frank Delaney - Released in February of 2011, my copy of The Matchmaker of Kenmare is an ARC that's been haunting me. Haunting, I tell you! I read Delaney's Ireland for HarperCollins' now-defunct First Look program (thumbs up) and The Matchmaker is at least partially set during my favorite time period to read about, WWII, so I wanted to love this book. I deeply desired to fall in love with it. But, after two attempts, I gave up.

Why did I set it aside? The simplest reason: I didn't find it engaging. But, I still keep looking at the book longingly, certain that if I could just get past the first 50 pages I'll love it.

The Matchmaker of Kenmare has received some pretty sparkling reviews and just bizarrely passed a spontaneous flip test, so I will probably give it a third chance. But, I'll do a little skimming within those first 50 pages in the hopes that doing so will get me past what I consider to be a yawn of an opening.

Eyes in the Mirror by Julia Mayer is a YA novel that I got from Sourcebooks for review. I must admit, the combination of cover image and description completely sucked me in. I wanted to read that book! It was one that I dived right into the moment it arrived on my doorstep.

Mini-description: Dee always desired to escape into another world but was stunned when she fell through a mirror, into the parallel life of Samara. Samara was friendless until Dee showed up in her life and agreed to switch places with her. Now, Dee is convinced that Samara's life needs fixing and has set out to change things. But, Samara doesn't like living in Dee's world and just wants her own life back.

Sounds good, yes? Unfortunately, the bit I overlooked in the description was the bio. The moment I began reading, I started to wonder how on earth such a simplistic, poorly written book managed to end up a published work of fiction and I flipped to the author's bio hoping that it would shed some light on that dilemma.

Oh. Okay. Mayer wrote the first version during an 8-week program between her sophomore and junior years of high school. Quite an accomplishment, really. The writing is at least justifiably immature. But, honestly? It's just flat awful. I will not give Eyes in the Mirror a second chance. I set it aside in flabbergasted horror (although not as soon as I read that bio -- I gave it at least another 20-30 pages before giving up). I've read beautiful, mature writing that's been passed over by publishers because the subject matter wasn't considered timely and I truly believe this book was only published because paranormal books are currently "in". There are probably a few people out there who will enjoy Eyes in the Mirror, but I will not be recommending it to anyone.

The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson - A gushy, buzzy favorite in many corners and a book whose gorgeous cover you can't help but ogle, The Lantern fell completely flat for this reader. I would blame high expectations if I hadn't received the book early and found it pretentious and irritating before it even managed to work up a buzz.

Actually, I hate it when people use the word "pretentious" to describe someone's writing. I don't know the author. She might be totally down-to-earth, not one whiff of pretense about her. But, even flipping through randomly, just this moment, I found myself cringing. The writing just comes off as overwrought to me.

It's not unusual for me to end up absolutely hating books that get a lot of praise, but darn it! It sounded so good! I just peeked at Paperback Swap, where there are 168 people waiting in line for a copy (4 stars based on 2 ratings) and Amazon (4 stars on average and a broad range of reactions). With that many people waiting, I think I should offer up my ARC on the off chance it will find a happy home.

So, if you are dying to read The Lantern, leave a contact email in the comment section and tell me why you so desperately want to acquire a copy (sorry, US residents only). No need to broadcast this giveaway. I'd rather give it to a regular reader than someone who happened to read a random giveaway tweet. This will be a quick giveaway. I'll draw a name by Friday, December 2 at 10:00 AM, and if nobody signs up I'll just donate it. That gives you about 48 hours to sign up. *Remember to leave a contact email or you're basically screwed*.

Unfortunately, the ARC does not have that dreamy cover, sorry. The cover of this book I purchased last week, however, does:

I know the whole hands-holding-whatever thing has been done to death, but Amaryllis in Blueberry strikes me as the kind of book cover I'd like to stick into a frame and hang on my wall. I just love that stunning electric blue. Unfortunately, the story didn't live up to either the beautiful cover or the appealing description. I got to page 40 before giving up on this one. Too much negativity from the characters turned me off. I mulled giving it a second chance for about 2 nights before deciding, "Nah," and have already swapped it. I've mentioned this one in a past post but I had to share that cover. I adore that cover.

All ~~three~~ four of these "boo, hiss" DNF opinions are just that -- merely my personal opinion. If you're one of the authors and I meet you in a dark alley, someday, I promise not to kick your butt for wasting my time. Wait! I meant . . . remember my opinion is just one drop in an ocean of opinions and there's no need to pick a fight with me. Plus, I probably have at least 50 pounds on all of you and could roll you flat, although I hope to be all muscle and no flab by the time we meet.

The mailman just rang my doorbell!

He delivered some books for Kiddo's birthday (the only thing he asked for -- three books from a series he's currently reading) and Christmas Stories from Mississippi, my face-to-face book club's December selection. The plan is to read "one or two stories per year" because nobody in my F2F group apparently likes to read books that require a lot of thought during the holidays and they always struggle with selections.

It'll be interesting to see if I can actually stop myself at a mere two stories. The very last story is by Willie Morris! I love Willie Morris! Okay, I think we just answered that question.

Next up will be a review of a book. Which book? You've got me. I'm not sure just how I'll approach the reviews, yet -- most recent or first read? Whatever I feel like reviewing? We'll just burn that bridge when we get to it. Or, something like that.

Bookfool in a Goofy Mood

New on my shelf

2011-11-28T13:12:00.014-06:00

I bought several books over Thanksgiving break and one arrived by mail. Here's what I got:

The Book of Marvels: An Explorer's Miscellany by Mervyn Peake came from Hastings Books & Music in Conway, Arkansas. I love that store. It's been one of our "stop and stretch" points on the trip home to Oklahoma for well over a decade and I was especially excited to visit the store because I'm spending almost zero time in bookstores since the demise of Borders.

When I picked up this beautifully illustrated volume, I was immediately captured. It's subtitled, "An Explorer's Miscellany" for good reason. The writings look to be quite a hodge-podge with excerpts dating as far back as the writings of Herodotus. I'm going to really enjoy digging into this book.

Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake is a book I've read about, but I don't know where or when. I just recall reading about it and thinking, "Hmm, maybe someday." So, when I found a copy on a table full of remainders, I flipped through it. The writing looks a little intense, but sometimes I like a good challenge. We'll see how that goes, when I get around to reading.

As always, I read a few random passages. The beginning looked particularly daunting, but the language is lovely. When I returned home, I discovered why the opening seems a little confusing. Gormenghast is the second book in a series. I'll need to find a copy of Titus Groan, the first book. Reading the first book will likely make sense of the foggy beginning. I read a trade publication description in which it's referred to as a "gothic masterpiece" and elsewhere I've seen the word "fantasy" bandied about. Gormenghast is a crumbling castle; Titus Groan its owner. I'm intrigued.

The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano has been on my mental wish list for a while -- not a physical wish list, but I have a couple trusted blogger friends who read and enjoyed the book, so the idea of finding a copy has been lurking in the aging neurons. Sounds like it's about two fish out of water who try to get together (romantically speaking) and find that loners don't necessarily work well in a relationship.

While searching for a cover image, I discovered that there is a movie version of The Solitude of Prime Numbers. I'll have to look into that. Has anyone seen it? Near as I can tell, it's an Italian film and possibly the artsy type that a lot of people don't like. I tend to really like foreign flicks because they're so much less predictable and far more interesting than the standard Hollywood fare but we don't get them, here. I don't actually know anyone who is partial to foreign films (except for my eldest son, who hasn't mentioned it) so I don't know whether it was well received by its intended audience.

Edward S. Curtis: Coming to Light by Anne Makepeace has been on my PaperbackSwap wish list since . . . um, 2006? Maybe 2007. I recently considered dropping it off my wish list to open up a slot because I was starting to think it was never going to be listed. But, just before we left for Tulsa, a copy became available and it arrived while we were away.

At any rate, I'm very excited to finally acquire a copy of Coming to Light. It's a National Geographic book, large but not coffee-table huge -- just big enough that some of the more detailed photographs, at about 8" x 10", are satisfying. There's plenty of text, as well. I've desired to read more about Curtis, the man who became obsessed with photographing Native Americans before their traditions completely disappeared, since I read a fictional account of his life. I didn't realize he'd altered some photos and reused certain costumes when photographing men from different tribes; I learned that much just in perusing the book after we arrived home, yesterday. I have a feeling I'm really going to enjoy this book!

Where I Spent My Thanksgiving Holiday

2011-11-28T11:37:00.004-06:00

Huzzybuns and I spent our Thanksgiving here:

Well, not really in downtown Tulsa (that was taken as we drove past downtown) but with my wonderful in-laws. We also took a side trip to my sister's house to meet up with my niece and her little boy, whom we hadn't yet met. He's nearly 11 months old (walking a few steps at a time, although he's crawling in this photo) and such a sweet boy!

I only finished one book on this trip: The Wind is My Mother by Bear Heart. It's so fascinating that I've considered getting an extra copy to pass around. I'll tell you more about that, later. I also recently finished reading The Housekeeper and The Professor by Yoko Ogawa. It's a sweet story but I can't say it was a favorite.

On the way to Tulsa, we stopped at Hastings Books & Music in Conway, Arkansas. I love Hastings and I've so missed bookstores, since Borders' tragic closing. So, I had a great time there. I bought a book about explorers that looks fun. And, then I went to another Hastings near my niece's house and bought several books. I'll have to grab those and bring them to my desk to chat about, later, but I started to read one of them: Amaryllis in Blueberry. I liked the writing style and the idea, but I was finding the characters too unlikable to keep my interest, so I decided to put that aside and started reading The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton, which I'm loving.

Since I'm still having a great deal of difficulty concentrating to read, I've decided to go ahead and remove all but Tapestry from my sidebar. It's really the only book I'm reading, at this point. Hopefully, my reading will pick up soon. But, in the meantime . . . off to tidy and prepare to decorate for Christmas! Happy reading!

Fiona Friday - Hey, Mom!

2011-11-25T07:16:00.004-06:00

This is really a terrible picture but I was excited when Fi turned around after she caught her little bird on a stick, like she was checking to see if I'd observed her fine hunting skills.

And, she looked right at the camera during a rest break, too! Excitement!!

Happy (early) Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T05:50:00.001-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans! I'll be hanging out with family, tomorrow. I also hope to sneak in some reading time. We shall see. Isabel suggests a nice post-meal bath.

Yes, that was just a way to sneak in a photo I like. Have a great couple of days! Happy reading to all!

Remembering You by Tricia Goyer - review and giveaway/chat links

2011-11-21T07:00:00.002-06:00

Remembering You by Tricia Goyer

Guideposts - Fiction/Christian

310 pages

I'm going back to an old format I used to use regularly, for this particular review. Who knows. I might just stick with it for a while.

What led you to pick up this book? Remembering You was advertised as a tour book and I was chosen to review it (by Litfuse Publicity Group -- not sure how they choose, but generally you don't get to sign up for two tours in a row). The WWII battle site setting and the author were the two things that caught my interest. I've been curious about Tricia Goyer's writing for a while. To be honest, they caught me at a weak moment. I'm still not accepting books for review. Allegedly.

Summarize the plot but don't give away the ending. When television producer Ava Ellington's grandfather Jack asks her to accompany him on a trip to Europe to the sites of the battles he fought during WWII, she agrees. She decides to turn it into a working trip, bringing her camera and her curiosity along with her. Grandpa Jack and Ava meet up with his long-time best friend from the service, Paul, and Paul's grandson Dennis. Dennis and Ava have a history but their time together ended badly. During their travels, Ava discovers that Grandpa Jack has a secret that she feels compelled to uncover at risk of infuriating all of her travelling companions. Will Grandpa Jack reveal his painful war secret or will Ava end up creating a lasting rift between them? Can Ava and Dennis forget the past and begin again?

What did you like most about the book? The setting(s) from Paris, France through Belgium and Germany to Austria and the WWII history upon which Grandpa Jack's story was based. I thought it was pretty plain that the author had done her research.

What did you dislike about the book? I thought the plotting was a bit transparent and found it difficult to buy into the storyline fully. Had it not been a tour book and a quick read (sadly, I will often finish a book that flows, whether or not I'm fully enjoying it), I might not have finished the book. While it is a Christian novel, I didn't find the Christianity aspect overwhelming or preachy, but it did feel a bit like it was thrown in rather than . . . I don't know, organic? It just seemed a little awkward to me, although not nearly as awkward as the romance and the cheesy conflict.

What did you think of the main character? Ava was pretty annoying. She gradually seemed to soften a bit but my main problem with her was that I just didn't believe in her as a character. I was never able to fully set aside the feeling that I was reading a novel and get swept into the story.

Thoughts about the plot? Not to beat a dead horse, but I just thought the conflict was too forced and some of the plot elements too convenient. However, Remembering You does have a nice grounding in reality as far as the war dimension goes. I know my father felt very strongly about the years he spent in the service and was deeply connected to his war buddies. They often travelled great distances to meet up with each other and it's not uncommon for people to hold reunions at the sites where their war experiences took place. So the setting felt realistic, if not the story itself. I could also certainly buy into the conflicting emotions of an old man returning to a site of terrible tragedy.

In general: A very light, Christian read with a solid basis in history. Generally disappointing but not enough to convince me I should avoid the author's other books. In fact, I just discovered I have another WWII novel by Tricia Goyer tucked away on a bookshelf I haven't drawn from in some time. I will definitely read it. She is a highly admired Christian author and while this book didn't work for me, the fluidity of her writing is excellent and her research strong. Remembering You also has the benefit of being a clean story - no swearing, violence or sexuality.

3.5/5 stars for cleanliness, appearance of historical accuracy (I didn't look up any details, but Goyer is known for her research and I found historical references believable) and above-average flow.

The following is slightly altered from the press info about a Kindle Touch giveaway that was sent to me. I had a little difficulty opening the attachments, so you may see this content in a different format, elsewhere.

Tricia Goyer is celebrating the release of her novel, Remembering You, with a Kindle Touch giveaway for you and the friend of your choice. Then on 11/29 she'll be wrapping up the release of Remembering You with a Book Chat Party. During the first half of the party Tricia will be chatting, sharing a sneak peek of her next book, and giving away a ton of great stuff. Then she'll head over to her website for a live chat. Readers will be able to chat with Tricia via video or text.

Don't miss your chance to win a Kindle touch for yourself and to remember a friend this holiday season with a Kindle touch for them, as well!

Read what other reviewers are saying here.

You can find additional sweepstakes info and enter, here.

I haven't got the foggiest idea how to add all the little icons that are posted elsewhere, so I'm going to direct you to another site to click through to Facebook and Twitter. Obviously, I need to brush up on some technical bloggy things. I used to know how to add HTML to images but I've forgotten how and, as I said, I had difficulty opening the attachments from the publicist. Serves me right for waiting till the last minute.

In other news:

I'm slumpy, again. I'm starting to worry about my brain. Did I not feed it well enough in its younger years? Does it need more coffee to combat its natural attention deficit? I've been trying to go with the flow (watching Season 1 of White Collar . . . at least I'm entertained), but when you're a book lover living in a house that looks like a library with bedding and a kitchen thrown in, it's really distressing when your desire to read abandons you. I'm enjoying everything I'm reading. I just don't feel like reading very often. Horrors.

I hope to enter recovery, soon. Maybe a little turkey will help.

Fiona Friday - Stretch-Paw Izzy

2011-11-20T13:54:00.001-06:00

Mini reviews - Don't Look Now, How to Be an American Housewife and The Education of a British-Protected Child

2011-11-16T10:23:00.011-06:00

I've got such a backlog of books to review that I'm going to do a few minis to make it a bit easier to get caught up. All of the following are from my personal library.

Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier is a collection of 5 of du Maurier's creepy short stories, most of which I would guess are closer to novella length. My copy was printed in 1971, when Dame du Maurier was apparently still churning out bestsellers, the copyright date: 1966.

The title story, "Don't Look Now" is my favorite. It begins in a Venice cafe, where a grief-stricken couple, John and Laura, have traveled to try to lift Laura's spirits. While playing a silly game, imagining things about people nearby, they meet two older women. One of the women makes a dire prediction and accurately describes their deceased child, whom she claims to have seen happily sitting at the table with her parents. But, she is blind. After the old woman warns them something is going to happen and says John should leave Venice soon, their vacation takes a frightening turn. Is the blind lady truly psychic? What is the meaning of her warning to John?

"Don't Look Now" is one of those stories that is just predictable enough to make you want to say aloud, "No! Don't go down that alley!" But, it's still surprising enough to satisfy. The remaining 4 stories are a little less fulfilling. "The Breakthrough" tells the story of an engineer who gets tangled up in a frightening experiment. "A Border-Line Case" is the story of a woman who tries to fulfill her father's dying wish but ends up in a frightening situation that leads to a revelation she probably was best off not knowing. And, "The Way of the Cross" is about entanglements and intrigue on a group tour to Israel.

"Not After Midnight" was really the only other story that fully captured me -- enough so that after finishing the story I went on a search for someone to chat with about it. I'm not certain I understood the ending (I didn't find anyone to discuss it with, so if you have the book on hand and want to chat with me, I'll happily reread it). "Not After Midnight" is about an art teacher who becomes intrigued by the odd behavior of an American couple while on a painting holiday in Greece and finds himself falling into the same traps as a man whose curiosity led to his death, the year before.

While only 2 of the 5 stories really thrilled me, I still recommend Don't Look Now. Du Maurier's writing is always vivid and atmospheric; the collection is worth checking out, if only for the title story and would have made an excellent read for the RIP Challenge if I'd ever bothered to sign up. In the fall, I always feel compelled to read something spooky, signed up or not.

How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway tells the story of Shoko, an ailing Japanese woman who married an American soldier just after WWII. Her damaged heart may not hold out much longer; and, she longs to return to her home country to reunite with her estranged brother before she dies. After her doctor forbids her to travel, she takes a dramatic turn for the worse. So, she asks her daughter to go to Japan in her place.

Divorced mother Sue agrees to travel in Shoko's stead and takes her daughter along on the journey. In Japan, Sue becomes privy to family secrets and helps to heal the wounds Shoko and her brother have carried with them for decades.

How to Be an American Housewife is told in two parts, the first part from Shoko's point of view and the latter from Sue's. The change of perspective was a little jarring, at first, because I'd grown to love Shoko and the author did an excellent job of giving the two women distinctive voices. Her skill at making the characters distinctive made the transition difficult, in other words. By the mid-point, I also found that I was predisposed to dislike Sue because Shoko doesn't understand her. It doesn't take long to see events described by Shoko from Sue's perspective and to like her, as well.

I loved this story for many reasons. First and foremost, the storyline drew me in and the pages flew. But, apart from that, I loved stepping into Shoko's shoes and seeing what it's like to move to a spouse's home country and leave your own behind. I also liked reading the WWII scenes and some of them were so genuine that I was not surprised to find out they really happened. Highly recommended!

The Education of a British-Protected Child by Chinua Achebe is a book that Amy of Amy Reads talked me into buying when we met up at my local Borders as it was in its dying days. It wasn't a hard sell. I'm always fascinated by Amy's choices but they're far removed from my own, so I was excited to have her point out a book she particularly enjoyed.

The Education of a British-Protected Child is a collection of essays that mainly focus on education, the Nigerian experience (war, politics, imperialism), slavery and other topics important to Achebe, Nigerians and blacks in general. Although it's one of the most post-it filled books I've read, this year, when I first sat down to write about the book I was so overwhelmed by all the passages worth quoting that I think I'm best off just saying that it's worth the time.

Achebe has a unique perspective in being a highly-educated African who has experienced imperialism from the side of the natives, excellent education in an impoverished nation, a wide variety of experiences in other countries (teaching, travel, even more schooling) and war on his own turf. I learned a great deal from this book and felt like my own beliefs were challenged a bit. At times, I disagreed with Achebe, sometimes I was enlightened and in general I was quite simply in awe of him. I may share some quotes in a future post.

My Face-to-Face book group meets to discuss Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, tonight! I can't wait! Happy Wednesday to all!

Monday Malarkey - reading and otherwise

2011-11-14T09:58:00.007-06:00

This post has been brought to you by a particularly beautiful autumn in Mississippi:

I'm going to do my best to hack away at that backlog of unwritten reviews, this week, but for now . . . an update on life and books, starting with books.

I finished 3 books, last week (links lead to Amazon, although I am not an associate):

Remembering You by Tricia Goyer - A Christian novel about a woman who travels to Europe with her grandfather, his best friend and his best friend's grandson to retrace the older fellows' path in WWII. This is a tour book and will be reviewed soon.

Flight to Heaven by Capt. Dale Black - An e-book, also Christian but non-fiction about a man who was the only survivor of a plane crash at the age of 19, in 1969. A pretty exciting read by a very impressive guy. I didn't mean to read Flight to Heaven, but I actually hit the wrong book image, started reading and, by the time I figured out I'd opened the wrong book (about a paragraph in) couldn't bear to switch back to the book I'd intended to read.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin - A novel I likely would have avoided because of the "mystery" aspect if not for my book group, but thank goodness I didn't. My F2F book club meets this week to discuss the book. I can't wait! It is definitely deserving of the awards and praise it's received.

I've recently received two books in the mail:

Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire came unsolicited from HarperCollins. Since I haven't read Wicked or any of the other books in the series but my son's girlfriend has read them all, I handed it to her and asked if she'd be willing to write a guest review. She said, "Yes, but it might take me a while." She's a busy college student, so her response was expected. I'm hoping she'll find the time to read it over Thanksgiving break. She's going to loan me her copy of Wicked so that I can eventually review Out of Oz, as well.

Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast by Bill Richardson - from Paperback Swap. I have no earthly idea where I read about this book, but it has a badge saying it won "The Stephen Leacock Award for Humour," which seems like a very positive sign.

And, now the bad news, which isn't really all that bad:

Nano went splat. Actually, I'm not surprised that I simply let go of my Nano writing because I'm still a little off on my wake-sleep schedule and knew it would be a stretch to keep up the kind of dedication you need to write a novel in a single month after a big trip. I'm not even disappointed. Writing for a couple weeks has nicely reawakened my desire to write fiction, so I'm going to continue to do so -- just not the book I started writing on the 1st of November. It was fun but turned out to be a book about . . . nothing. It was so seriously lacking in plot that I decided it wasn't worth my time to continue.

I love NaNoWriMo and believe it is an excellent event, a positive activity to join in on, a great way to give people that little nudge they need to at least try (if writing is something they've only talked about), to start over (if you've written in the past and let your skills lapse) or to shove yourself through a novel (if you're already a success and just love the challenge). My wishes for success to those who are still participating.

In everyday life:

Still pretty out there, still taking lots of pictures. But, we had a gusty day and we're on the downhill side of our fall color. Some trees are close to being totally bare. We've enjoyed taking drives to enjoy the color while it lasted. Winter is pleasant in Mississippi and we're really enjoying the unusually brisk autumn air (well, we were -- it's supposed to get nearly to 80, today). It's not winter, yet, but this shot looks a bit wintery, doesn't it?

Fiona Friday - Space Ace Has Landed

2011-11-11T20:03:00.003-06:00

This is the only photo I've managed to take of Fiona, since we returned from vacation. She must have been spaced out, since she almost never sticks around when the camera comes out. Izzy, on the other hand, has posed so many times that I will probably insert an Isabel photo or two into coming posts.

Yes, I know I am being a bad, bad blogger . . .

2011-11-10T20:31:00.013-06:00

. . . but I have several excellent excuses.

NaNoing, for example. So far, life seems to be occasionally getting in the way of the novel writing (you know, sleeping -- my current Life Focus -- and working out, appointments and errands and bill-paying, etc.) but I've completed about 20% of my 50,000 required words and it's been ridiculously, stinking fun. My hero was dreadful in that, "Good grief, he has absolutely no flaws . . . I think I'm going to heave," way. So, I turned the first 8,000 words into a dream sequence and now I'm being just flat mean to my characters. It's such a hoot. Where else can you have that kind of fun without actually hurting anyone?

I've also been driving around town, snapping photos of fall color. We knew a storm was coming after Oklahoma's freaky weekend "Quakenado" (first the quake, then the tornado -- I didn't come up with that cute coined word, unfortunately) because Oklahoma's messes tend to land in our yard, so I rushed out to capture as much as possible. We are having an unusually beautiful fall, probably thanks to several unseasonably early and sharp cold snaps.

We did lose quite a bit of foliage in the storm, but not enough to end the beauty completely, so I'm still at it. Today, I took some pics in the Big City because I had to go there anyway, so I figured I might as well drag the camera along and look for more photo-opportunities.

And another thing! I've been playing with my cats. They are very demanding, but how could you possibly turn down a face like this one?

Impossible. Incidentally, Isabel's perched on top of our entertainment center in the photo above; and, shortly after I snapped that picture and several others, she rolled off. Poor Izzy is really bad with heights. I worry about that girl. Fortunately, I had a bin full of clothing to break her fall. It sometimes pays to be a lousy housekeeper.

I've been trying to sort through my million squillion photos of Japan, but to be honest I'm just intimidated. Between the two of us (Huzzybuns and I), I'm pretty sure we took about 2,500 photos. There's a lot of tossing-out to do -- neither of us is brilliant at photography, I'm afraid -- but plenty of decent photos will remain and there's much to tell. I've set up a travelogue blog, but at this point in time I'm keeping it private. I'll sprinkle photos into this blog, now and then. Never fear.

Yes, we rode the bullet train!!! Did you know it's actually easier to eat salad with chopsticks than with a fork, once you get the hang of eating with them? I learned a lot in Japan. Also, if you're going to order spaghetti at a Japanese Italian restaurant, for heavens sake don't order the kind with tomato sauce. White cream sauce is good.

I do everything I can to keep you informed. Gotta go. We'll talk books later, 'kay?

Well . . . that was what I call a break

2011-11-07T16:29:00.009-06:00

I'll update my sidebar in a bit, but I just wanted to drop in to say, "Hello! I'm alive!" I'm still going to be on limited-blogging status for as long as it takes to get my house in order and all that fun stuff (that could be eons) but I'm at least back to reading.

While I was away, I hardly read a thing -- literally, did not finish a book for almost 3 weeks. It was distressing. But, on the other hand, I had good reason in that for a good portion of the time I've been gone I was losing my mind over packing all the proper things and then for much of the rest I was hanging out here:

Huzzybuns and I went to Japan! We got to hang out with the charming Nat of In Spring it is the Dawn (and her delightful husband, H., the one day he was available). And, then we came home and one of us basically slept for a week. Can I just say Nat is (besides an excellent guide and lovely lady) a person with great stamina?

We had such fun. We ate a lot of terrific food. This is one of my favorite dishes. Anyone care to hazard a guess? Eel soup! Seriously, I love eel.

Anyway, we had a blast and now it's back to cleaning, purging and National Novel Writing Month. Unfortunately, I started out NaNoWriMo with a bang and then . . . you know . . . basically slept for a week. So, I was ahead but now if I continue at my current rate, NaNo is telling me I'll finish my novel by Christmas. Haha. I love it. I plan to get back on the proverbial horse, today.

The one book I managed to finish whilst on break was Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister by Liz Kessler, a Kindle freebie that I chose because it was easy reading and I was dead on my feet. We had pretty full days in Japan. I didn't finish it till a couple days after we returned.

However, today I just finished my second book since my arrival home: Remembering You by Tricia Goyer. And, I'm back to reading Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin ("back," although I did manage to read a handful of pages while we were in Kyoto) and Emory's Gift by W. Bruce Cameron (which I'd barely begun before we left, so I restarted the book -- and am currently on page 71). I'm also reading The Wind is My Mother by Bear Heart and enjoying it immensely. TWiMM is a book by a "Native American shaman" from Oklahoma and, at one point, I had to set it aside briefly to let myself wallow in homesickness. But, I got over myself and actually used one of his healing techniques to make my husband's achy shoulder feel better when it was keeping him awake.

So . . . that's everything I'm currently reading. I'll get back to Drama by John Lithgow soon, as well. Drama is a very enjoyable read by a stunningly down-to-earth actor. I think you'll like it if you're a fan of memoirs by the famous (I am normally not, but I have another one on the stacks, here, and I have a poetry book by Lithgow that I've only partially read -- enough that I already knew he was a decent writer and pretty much lacking in the usual arrogance, by the point at which Drama was offered to me).

My bottom-line assessment of Japan: Totally freaking awesome.

Would I go again? I would not have left, if there'd been an option to stay.

The People: Love 'em. So polite. You pick up on the bowing thing pretty quickly, but I only learned how to say, "I'm sorry" or "Excuse me" (kind of a general-purpose word, I think: "sumimasen") so I would definitely purchase a phrase book before returning.

Did I miss reading? Oh, yes. It was horrible not feeling like reading, but I just had no interest in reading at all! Weird.

And, yet, I managed to get zen for a time . . .

I missed my kitties but they were well cared-for by my son's lovely girlfriend, so we returned to relative calm in spite of our lengthy absence.

Since I'm working on writing a hasty novel, I can't say how often I'll check in during the month of November, but I'll be back whenever I can squeeze in the time.

What did I miss in Blogland, while I was away? Anything marvelous? Any flaming controversy? I hope you had a great time, too! Read anything wonderful?

Blogging Break

2011-10-15T18:49:00.006-05:00

Cropped from this source

Lives by Lucas Hunt

2011-10-15T13:29:00.001-05:00

Lives by Lucas Hunt

Vagabond Press - Poetry

93 pages

It takes a nation bent on home repair

and self improvement to destroy

abusive tyranny.

--from "The Close Followers" in Lives by Lucas Hunt, p. 41

Sometimes I wonder if this is the local insane asylum

for the squirrel kingdom,

Their version of a hospital for the psychotic.

Then I obsdrved others in the neighborhood

And traveled to different towns, to the countryside

In hopes of spotting one stable squirrel, yet saw none.

To the contrary, my studies find these cute little animals

mentally abnormal,

To be clear--they revel in perilous situations.

--from "The Business of Squirrels" in Lives by Lucas Hunt, p. 52

I ordered a copy of Lives after Simon Van Booy recommended that his followers follow Lucas Hunt on either Twitter or Facebook -- I can't recall which. Hunt has a newer book out, Light on the Concrete, but I was unable to locate a copy (I'm pretty sure it hadn't been released, yet), so I just grabbed what I could find in order to get a taste of his writing. Simon told me he and Lucas have been friends for 17 years.

The description, copied from Paperback Swap:

Lives is a rich and lyrical collection of poems - both a passionate and occasionally ironical account of life in a modern world of infinite possibility. Here is the full spectrum of the varied colors of human experience from the pleasantly erotic to the disturbingly violent. The poet breaks from contemporary forms of expression to confront reality and the beyond, and to communicate powerful truths about eternal situations. Filled with vivid (and visceral) imagery of work, love, dreams, and death, these poems celebrate the phenomenal aspects of life while acknowledging the futility of our continual search for meaning. The need for ritual, reason, and intoxication all serve as (black) comic relief from the all too common experience of tragedy. Hear this invocation from one of the new poets of our age: Of origins beyond explanation, ruled by laws unknown, Come spirit of poetry, muse, sing us something new!

Actually, I didn't find the poetry in Lives at all lyrical. But, Lucas Hunt's poetry is definitely passionate, full of imagery, and unique. I think the book is very aptly titled. Lives crosses a broad spectrum; Hunt observes life, people, animals. I mentioned in a past post that I've watched a video of Hunt reading his poetry and he comes across as charming and funny. His writing might lead you to believe otherwise, at least in this book, as it can be a little dark. But, sometimes it is definitely ironic or humorous.

The bottom line:

Not a favorite book of poetry, but I still enjoyed reading Lives and came out of the reading with a few favorite poems and passages. I hope to eventually read his newer book, Light on the Concrete.

Demian by Hesse and The Book Borrower by Makkai

2011-10-15T12:03:00.002-05:00

Because I feel like I have very little to say about either of these books, I've decided to lump them together in one post.

Demian by Hermann Hesse is a book I plucked off my shelves when someone on Twitter mentioned a German Lit discussion. Unfortunately, I didn't bother to "favorite" that comment and never saw another tweet about a discussion, but that doesn't matter. At the time, I was having trouble settling on a book to read. I wandered to my shelves to look for the book the twitterer mentioned, Homo Faber by Max Frisch, but wasn't able to locate it (I've since found my copy). Demian was on the shelves, though, and when I sat down to read a few pages, it grabbed me.

Demian is a very internal book. I had to look up notes about it because, to be honest, it's hard to describe. Wikipedia's entry on Demian describes it as a Bildunsroman, a novel focusing on the psychological and moral. Well, that's certainly on target. Max Demian is the name of a friend of the hero, Emil Sinclair, who begins with a story of being bullied and lying to impress a bully and feeling tremendous guilt when his immoral choice causes him to end up in an even worse situation. When Emil meets Demian and Demian somehow drives away the bully, Emil is grateful but also impressed by his maturity and insight. Eventually, he becomes obsessed with Demian's ideas about spirituality. After many years, he slowly settles on his own beliefs.

Here's the plot summary from Wikipedia:

Emil Sinclair is a young boy raised in a bourgeois home, amidst what is described as a Scheinwelt, a play on words that means "world of light" as well as "world of illusion". Emil's entire existence can be summarized as a struggle between two worlds: the show world of illusion (related to the Hindu concept of maya) and the real world, the world of spiritual truth. In the course of the novel, accompanied and prompted by his mysterious classmate 'Max Demian', he detaches from and revolts against the superficial ideals of the world of appearances and eventually awakens into a realization of self.

This is the kind of book I probably really needed a teacher to guide me through, but I liked the prose; I was drawn in and really wanted to know what would become of Emil and his friend, whom he refers to as "Demian". I'm not all that familiar with existentialism and I admit that a good portion of the book eventually became a little frustrating. But, I don't regret reading it. Demian was definitely an unusual read for me and reading it broke me out of my slump. It also made me yearn to go back to school to take some literature classes. I'm glad I read Demian, but it was certainly not a favorite so much as a nice break from the common.

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai is one of my "Goodbye, Borders" purchases. I bought it primarily because of Jill, aka Softdrink's review at Fizzy Thoughts.

In The Borrower, Lucy Hull is a young librarian living in a small Missouri town who works in the children's section of her library and does weekly chapter-book readings. One of her favorite patrons is a 10-year-old boy named Ian Drake. Ian's parents are hyper-religious, the kind who don't allow their children to read Harry Potter . . . the banning kind, I suppose. Ian likes to read everything and Lucy is happy to check out books she knows his mother won't approve of and quietly smuggle them to Ian.

Lucy's not particularly happy at her job, but she's got a bad case of inertia. When Ian spends the night in the library and she finds him in the morning, Lucy tries to take him home. But, she doesn't have a phone number or address for Ian's parents and he's not the slightest bit interested in sharing that information. Instead, he tries to direct her to his grandmother's home. Even though Lucy suspects the grandmother is fictional, she goes along with him and ends up inadvertently driving him across the state line . . . kidnapping him without intent. And, then they just keep on driving and end up spending weeks away from home while his parents and the police are frantically searching for the missing boy.

The idea is far-fetched, but The Borrower starts out very fun because of the light-hearted tone and all the references to books. Unfortunately, the author seems to have had an agenda. Eventually, the book becomes a bit of a diatribe about tolerance and a rather scathing view of Christianity. The author confuses intolerance with Christians, in general. Of course, Ian Drake's parents are the extreme type -- book-banning, homophobic and willing to close their child off from the world, if necessary. But, being a liberal Christian who loves her gay and heterosexual friends equally, I was really put off by the preaching. In the end, I felt like The Borrower was a waste of perfectly good reading time and regretted the purchase, but not only because of the heavy-handed theme. I also grew weary of Lucy's voice. She's cheeky but eventually she becomes tiresome.

The one thing I continued to love about The Borrower was the literary references. And, Ian Drake is a very lovable, spirited character. Lucy's Russian heritage and her father's illicit activities are an important part of the book and pretty entertaining, as well. Unfortunately, there were two things that were supposed to be mysterious during her travels and I figured out both of them long before the end of the book, so they turned out not to be surprising. I don't personally recommend the book.

And, now, you must have a happy picture to offset one iffy and one negative review. Things are blooming like crazy, now that it's cool and lovely in Mississippi. Here's one of my favorite recent photos from our yard, a rosebud:

The onslaught will continue as long as I feel like reviewing, but as always . . . no need to comment on everything, if you're a regular reader!

The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister by Lodding & Beaky

2011-10-15T12:00:00.001-05:00

The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister by Linda Ravin Lodding

Illustrated by Suzanne Beaky

Children's Fiction (Ages 4-8)

Flashlight Press

32 pages

The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister is the delightful story of a young girl whose working parents have booked her solid with daily after-school activities. She takes lessons in knitting, tuba, yodeling, sculpture, water ballet and karate. Her parents mean well, although they don't realize Ernestine yearns to just play like her next-door neighbor, Hugo. When her father leaves for work, he says, "Live life to the fullest, Ern!" Her mother says, "Make every moment count, E!" as she heads out to catch the bus.

One day, Ernestine gets a scathingly brilliant idea. She hides her calendar and her nanny's phone, then zips across the street to the park, where she and Nanny happily play. Meanwhile, Ernestine's yodeling instructor informs Mrs. Buckmeister that her daughter has not shown up for her lesson. Mr. & Mrs. Buckmeister go from one class to another, asking if anyone has seen Ernestine and becoming increasingly frazzled. They arrive home exhausted, with a fresh understanding of why Ernestine looks so pale. Then they hear laughter across the street and find their daughter in the park. Ernestine explains what she and her nanny have been up to and asks if she can drop a few of her extra-curricular classes.

"But how will you live life to the fullest without sculpting and swimming?" asked Mr. Buckmeister.

"Right," Mrs. Buckmeister agreed. "And how will you make every moment count without yoga and yodeling?"

"Like this," Ernestine said.

Here, you see an illustration of Ernestine with her arms spread wide, her eyes closed, breathing in the fresh air.

Everyone inhaled. Then they exhaled.

"My, the view is heavenly," said Mrs. Buckmeister.

Ernestine gets her way. Her mother takes up gardening. Her father builds a treehouse. Ernestine still practices karate and plays the tuba, but with her friend Hugo.

And sometimes she just plays.

The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister almost seems geared more to the parents who will read the book to their children than to a small child, at least thematically. It's a meaningful but nicely silly story with cheerful, goofy, colorful illustrations. The author was particularly clever at naming Ernestine's teachers. She takes sculpting from Mr. Lumpkin. Mrs. Goldfisher teaches water ballet. Mrs. Stichem is her knitting instructor. Karate is taught by Grand Master Hi Ya. Nanny O'Dear says "Oh, Dear," quite a bit as she finds Ernestine's calendar of activities complex enough to make the occasional error.

Illustration-wise, I particularly love the fact that the "cast" -- teachers, friends and classmates -- is ethnically mixed. And, Ernestine's two cats add a bit of adorable fun to the depictions of Ernestine's home interior.

The bottom line:

A bright and playfully illustrated, immensely clever story about how living life to the fullest can be accomplished without exhausting oneself by cramming in as many activities as possible. The only thing I did not like about The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister was the occasional sequence within an illustration, showing the characters progressing, say, down a hill. For some reason, I thought that might be a little confusing. I could be wrong. I'm going to ask one of my teacher friends what she thinks, and I'll try to remember to report back on that after my blogging break.

Fiona Friday - Troublesome children

2011-10-14T14:09:00.003-05:00

With apologies to those who have already seen this one on Facebook and Twitter:

Backwards glance - July, August & September Reads

2011-10-11T21:14:00.003-05:00

Looking way the heck back, as in 3 months' worth of reads . . . with apologies. I've reviewed all but two of the books I read from July to September, but many of them were included in multiple-mini-review posts. So if you follow the link and find that I reviewed three or four books in the same post, that means there is not a full-length review, elsewhere. In one case, the same book was read twice and therefore both links lead to the same review.

Of the two I have not yet reviewed, one will be reviewed shortly and the other is unpublished (my friend Greg's book, Riding with No Hands).

July

79. The Summer of the Bear - Bella Pollen

80. Avebury Avenues - Esther Smith

81. The Ghost of Greenwich Village - Lorna Graham

82. Everything Beautiful Began After - Simon Van Booy

83. Gone - Michael Grant

84. Face to Face with God - Jim Maxim

85. One Second After - William R. Forstchen

86. Agonizing Love - Michael Barson

87. Amazing and Extraordinary Facts: Great Britain - Stephen Halliday

88. God Gave Us You - Bergren and Bryant

89. The Help - Kathryn Stockett

90. Divergent - Veronica Roth

91. When She Woke - Hilary Jordan

July was not bad for a summer month! Favorites were The Summer of the Bear, Everything Beautiful Began After, The Help and Divergent. I really enjoyed When She Woke, Amazing and Extraordinary Facts: Great Britain and Gone. Avebury Avenues was very informative (but tourist-book length and most interesting to those who have visited or plan to visit Avebury Stone Circle in Wiltshire, England). Agonizing Love was pretty fun but you can't think about it too hard if you're a feminist or it'll make your head hurt. One Second After was decent in a post-apocalyptic horrifying way, but the characters all sounded alike and that drove me nuts. God Gave Us You is directed at a very narrow crowd. The Ghost of Greenwich Village is probably the one book I regret reading.

August

92. Inside Out - Maria V. Snyder

93. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami

94. Pillow Talk - Freya North

95. 13 Little Blue Envelopes - Maureen Johnson

96. The Last Little Blue Envelope - Maureen Johnson

97. The Girl Who Fell from the Sky - Heidi W. Durrow

98. Still More Stories from Grandma's Attic - Arleta Richardson

99. Treasures from Grandma's Attic - Arleta Richardson

100. Maman's Homesick Pie - Donia Bijan

101. Horoscopes for the Dead - Billy Collins

August was not bad for a month of few books. My two favorites would have to be Horoscopes for the Dead (poetry) and Inside Out (YA) but What I Talk About When I Talk About Running and Maman's Homesick Pie followed close on their favored heels. I always love the Grandma's Attic books and I liked The Girl Who Fell from the Sky. The two Blue Envelope books (both YA) were, I thought, disappointing in spite of the fact that I really like Maureen Johnson's unique turn of phrase. Pillow Talk was really very well written and not deserving of its fluffy pink cover, but the language in a couple portions offended me so greatly that it couldn't possibly end up a favorite. A little cleaned up and it would have been close to the top; the story is much deeper than I expected and Freya North is a very sharp writer.

September

102. Lord & Lady Spy - Shana Galen

103. Juniper Berry - M. P. Kozlowsky

104. The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister

105. The Lost Wife - Alyson Richman

106. The Call - Yannick Murphy

107. The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine - Alina Bronsky

108. The Oracle of Stamboul - Michael David Lukas

109. Riding with No Hands - Gregory K. Moffatt, PhD

110. To the Moon and Back - Jill Mansell

111. The Taste of Salt - Martha Southgate

112. Learning to Bow - Bruce Feiler

113. Haiku Mind - Patricia Donegan

114. Everything Beautiful Began After - Simon Van Booy (reread)

August shocked the heck out of me. Seriously. I thought with all the travel (two weddings and a trip to Boston) I'd get next to nothing read, but instead it turned out to be a solid reading month. Favorites were Everything Beautiful Began After (which I loved even more on the second reading), Learning to Bow, To the Moon and Back, The Oracle of Stamboul, The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine, The Call and The Lost Wife. I'm disappointed with my ridiculously brief review of The Lost Wife. It deserved a better description. There were some minor problems but it was a very good book and I whipped through it, completely engrossed in the story. Haiku Mind (poetry/spirituality) was enjoyable but best taken in small doses and I enjoyed my friend's book, Riding with No Hands, but don't feel like I can say much about it, so . . . it goes in the generic very-good file. I'll review Ernestine Buckmeister, soon. Lord & Lady Spy had some great adventurous moments and I do think it would make a great series if the characters go on to do more spying and less arguing, but it wasn't my favorite book by Shana Galen.

My two disappointments were Juniper Berry and The Taste of Salt. Both started out good and then went downhill.

October has been pretty good, so far, with 6 books finished! I can't seem to keep up with reviewing the way I used to and it's going to get worse for the rest of the month. But, then November should be normal, I hope. How many times have you heard that? Well, I'll do my best to crank out reviews of the books I've read, so far, although they will probably be brief reviews, for the most part. In a few days, I think I'm going to have to go on a blogging break. The cooler weather is motivating us into a cleaning frenzy, here, and I am truly enjoying seeing little spaces open up in my cluttered house. So, I have to keep rolling with it, while the urge lasts. I've even put myself on holiday at Paperback Swap, so that I won't have to spend time wrapping parcels and running to the post office, although I'm going to have to make several runs to the library to get all my donations hauled to the perpetual sale corner. Those bags of books are heavy!

How is your reading month going, so far?

Fiona Friday - Isabel puts herself in storage

2011-10-07T11:56:00.007-05:00

How to Survive the Titanic by Frances Wilson

2011-10-06T12:34:00.010-05:00

How to Survive the Titanic or The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay

by Frances Wilson

Harper - Nonfiction/History

352 pages

How to Survive the Titanic is partly a biography of J. Bruce Ismay --the wealthy former owner of the White Star Line whose reputation was permanently ruined when he left the sinking Titanic -- and partly a fascinating comparison between Ismay's downfall and several works of literature that mimicked his story.

Anyone who has read much of anything about the Titanic will have heard of J. Bruce Ismay, but How to Survive the Titanic goes into greater depth than more general Titanic books. The author delves into Ismay's upbringing, schooling, personality, telegrams sent from the Carpathia, testimony in both the U.S. and U.K. inquiries into the disaster and Ismay's correspondence with a Titanic widow. The author also draws from numerous opinions by literary giants of the time as to Ismay's guilt or innocence and thoughts about whether or not those who stayed behind could be considered "heroic".

As for the language of heroism employed by the halfpenny press, 'There is nothing more heroic in being drowned very much against your will, off a holed, helpless big tank in which you bought your passage than in dying of colic caused by the imperfect salmon in the tin you bought from your grocer'. It would have been finer, Conrad suggests, 'if the band on the Titanic had been quietly saved, instead of being drowned while playing -- whatever tune they were playing, the poor devils'.

from pp. 187-188 of How to Survive the Titanic, Advance Reader Copy (some changes may have been made to the final print version)

I went into the reading of How to Survive the Titanic thinking Ismay deserved a fair shake and came out of it thinking he had a serious case of irresponsible entitlement. The fact that Ismay sent messages using the code name "Yamsi" (Ismay backwards) insisting that a ship should be held so that he and the surviving crew members could immediately return to England whilst he was ensconced in the doctor's cabin on the Carpathia seems damning enough. But then the author carefully brings those messages into question.

I liked the fact that Wilson made me go back to Square One -- Wait just a minute, there, did he really mean to dash away from responsibility? -- and then turns right around and deals out all the vast evidence that Ismay coldly stepped off the boat in full knowledge of how few would be saved from the sinking ship and without bothering to even inform any of the people who worked directly for or with him that the boat was definitely going under. He was not apparently tormented by the disaster and did not accept one iota of responsibility nor was he technically "ruined". Ismay's story is both fascinating and appalling.

Unfortunately, there really wasn't all that much to say about Ismay's post-Titanic life, beyond his testimony, his letters and the raw facts about his retirement and withdrawal to an estate in Ireland. So, the subtitle of the book is a tiny bit misleading. Yet, How to Survive the Titanic is a fascinating addition to the many works about the disaster.

I confess that I got a little tired of the lengthy description of Joseph Conrad's fictional Lord Jim and how closely the downfall of Jim paralleled that of Ismay, but I enjoyed the vast majority of How to Survive the Titanic and definitely recommend it, particularly to those who hold a fascination for the disaster.

The bottom line: An intriguing addition to the many books about the sinking of the Titanic, with focus on one infamous survivor and some interesting literary parallels to his downfall (some of which go on at surprising length). Recommended. There are a few annoying repetitive grammatical errors. Hopefully, changes will have been made to the final copy. I received an uncorrected proof from HarperCollins.

I think I'm going to go back to rating books numerically, at least occasionally. In this case, I'll say 4/5 -- very good; not a book I'd reread but definitely enthralling enough to recommend.

In other reading news:

This past week has not been particularly productive. I've floated from one book to another and put aside too many to even mention, although I'm enjoying The Education of a British-Protected Child by Chinua Achebe. But, yesterday I saw mention of a book that I know I used to own on Twitter in a tweet about German literature and roamed out to the shelf where I kept it for an embarrassing number of years. Apparently, I either moved the book (Homo Faber by Max Frisch) or decided I was never going to read it and donated it. But, I did happen across a different German author and whipped through Demian by Hermann Hesse, last night. While I can't say I really liked it all that much, at least it got me back to reading and I appreciate the sense of completion.

After I finished Demian, I moved on to The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai, which I'm enjoying immensely. Hopefully, that's a sign I've reached the end of my week-long fiction slump.

Recently walked in (in the past few weeks):

Never Been Bit by Lydia Dare - ARC from my friend Melissa

The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma - from Paperback Swap

A Darcy Christmas by Grange, Lathan and Eberhart - from Paperback Swap

Nothing: A Portrait of Insomnia by Blake Butler - from HarperCollins

The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar - from HarperCollins

A Man of Parts by David Lodge - from my friend Sandie

Cat news:

I discovered there's a kitty setting on my new camera! Unfortunately, I don't think it's an improvement over the regular automatic setting, which I overuse because the camera seems to do a better job of focusing than I do, now that I'm old enough to have trouble seeing the focusing screen.

Today, a neighborhood cat waltzed up to our window and sent poor Isabel into a frenzy. She wildly scratched at the woodwork, trying to dig her way outdoors to fight him off. That would be quite an unfair fight. Slim is a big, muscular boy and Isabel is tough but she's a featherweight. Fiona was never bothered by Slim before Isabel arrived in our household; the two would just blink at each other through the window when he dropped by our house. But Slim growls at Izzy, which Fi naturally finds a wee bit upsetting. At any rate, Slim's visit is an excellent reminder of why it's good to keep the cats indoors-only.