The Color of Burnout

Burnout is orange. It's made of sharp pointy things and it smells of blackened pizza. It makes you prickly and insufferable if you think about it too much. It's not especially pleasurable but the outcome can be positive in the long run. I've been here, before.

Yes, my friends, I am definitely still in the midst of blogger burnout. I thought maybe a week or two of avoidance would do the trick but I'm still happiest away from the computer. So I've been thinking maybe I'll do weekly updates till I get over the hump. It doesn't aggravate me to sit at the computer and write. It's merely reviewing that I can't tolerate.  Frustrating, but hopefully it will pass.

Reading update:

After my last update, I finished Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Believe it or not, I was never assigned any Steinbeck reading at all during my school years. Shocking, no? I've read several of his works as an adult and inexplicably convinced myself that Of Mice and Men was one of them. But, recently I came to the realization that I was wrong; I hadn't read it at all. And, of all the books I've read recently, Of Mice and Men turned out to be the one that gave me the strongest I want to talk about this sensation I've had in quite some time. So, it was definitely a fulfilling read.

My copy of The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell arrived via Paperback Swap not long before Trish announced her Sparrow Read-Along (#SparrowRAL at Twitter, still under way) so I joined in on that and finished it, mid-week. The story is still rolling around in my head. I liked the story but I loved the characters, particularly Emilio. I still miss Emilio.

I only finished two other books, this week, both poetry for children from the "Poetry for Young People" series published by Sterling, both purchased. I enjoyed the extra material in the two volumes I read in April: Robert Frost and African-American Poetry, so I was very excited to find some of the other titles in the series reasonably priced when I went shopping for poetry.  These are the two I purchased and read, this week:

The illustrations in both books are fabulous and I particularly enjoyed the Kipling because there was ample information about each poem, beyond the biographical information at the front of the book. I'm not certain Dickinson is for me, to be honest. But, I do claim a few favorite lines from her poems -- like, "Hope is the thing with feathers" -- even though I'm not entirely taken with her poetry, in general.  I've been in a Serious Poetry Mood, so I have purchased a few other titles and hope to get started on them, soon.

I've also begun reading The Light Between the Oceans by M. L. Stedman, as planned. I began reading Gail Sheehy's memoir, Daring: My Passages, shortly after I started The Sparrow, although the reading of Daring skidded to a halt during the time I was most immersed in The Sparrow. And I just began reading A Survival Guide for Life by Bear Grylls, last night. I'm definitely enjoying my reading more, now that I've relinquished the pressure of reviewing. Hopefully, I'll someday get my reviewing mojo back. In the meantime, I'm just going to enjoy myself and take each day as it comes, soak up the air, endeavor not to burn the next pizza, play with the cats. It's in the 70s! The windows are open!!  Cool air makes being alive a million times more gratifying.

Happy thoughts to all.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey - Two cats for the price of one, a reading update, recent arrivals, and that Atkinson book

Hello there!  Sorry about the belated Fiona Friday pic.  I don't mean to make you suffer an entire weekend without a cat photo.

You won't believe why I hardly showed up at the blog, last week.  Television!  Seriously. I know I told you that I've recently been a bit of a streaming junkie (pretty weird for a girl who doesn't normally watch anything at all, apart from the occasional PBS show or movie), but this was just unreal.  Last week was all about Jericho, Season 1 -- a show that was canceled years ago, and yet I still decided to torture myself.

When I started watching the first season, my husband walked past and said, "You've got a higher tolerance for stupidity than I do."  Haha.  Honestly, Jericho did have a terrible start but it improved.  I'm particularly fond of episodes that are heavier on action than interaction.  Eventually, I got so hooked that I watched the final 6 or 7 episodes of the first season in a single day.  I'm midway through Season 2.  Probably not the best way to spend my time but I'm having fun, so I guess that's okay.  :)

Reading-wise:

I read the same book all week long and finally finished it on Thursday or Friday:  The India Fan by Victoria Holt.  Enjoyed it but not enough to stop me from watching Jericho.  I picked up Firefly Island immediately after finishing because I was supposed to tour it (I missed my tour date but talked to the publicist and she said no biggie, just post within the tour). So far it's just not grabbing me.  I set it aside (again -- that was actually my second attempt) and read Legacy of a Rescue by Marta Fuchs on Saturday, the story of how the author's father and other people in his forced labor camp were saved during WWII by a fellow who ended up perishing in the war. More about that when I review the book.

Last night I started reading The Pope's Last Crusade by Peter Eisner, a book about how Pope Pius XI tried to warn people about how dangerous Hitler was, before WWII broke out.  It's great, so far.  And, then I read a bit more of Firefly Island, today.  Page 64 and it's still not grabbing me.  I think I may have to give up and do a DNF post, but I'm going to give it at least till page 75.  Usually, I love Lisa Wingate's books so I keep hoping it'll pick up.

Recent Arrivals:

• The Pope's Last Crusade: How an American Jesuit Helped Pope Pius XI's Campaign to Stop Hitler by Peter Eisner - from HarperCollins for review.  That one actually just arrived on Friday and I found myself promptly drawn to it.
• NOS4A2 by Joe Hill - from HarperCollins for review.  It'll be interesting to see if I survive Hill's latest. I loved his first book, 20th Century Ghosts (short stories - link leads to my review) but after reading it I was honestly too terrified to read a full novel by him, at first.  I guess if you wait long enough between horror reads, even if you're a wienie like me you can built up some guts.  
• Little Chipmunk's Wiggly, Wobbly Tooth and Little Raccoon Learns to Share, both by Mary Packard and illustrated by Lisa McCue, who has long been a favorite children's book illustrator - from Sterling Children's Books, unsolicited.  I'll have a Children's Day in a few weeks.  I'm always up for unsolicited kids' books.  They make me happy.
• The Secret of the Nightingale Palace by Dana Sachs - from HarperCollins, just arrived today.  I'm pretty sure I didn't request this one, although I might have and just don't recall. I'll look in the files to make sure I don't have a tour date I've forgotten about.  Either way, I'll give it a go.  

We had snow flurries on Saturday!

And, today it hit 70.  Wild weather.  It was so gorgeous out (sunny, dry with little puffball clouds and a brisk wind) that I took a nice, long walk in the neighborhood, today, and then sat on the deck reading and taking photos of birds for a couple hours.  We had a flock of cedar waxwings come through!  Very exciting.  I've only seen them one other time.  They're so stunning that I've been hoping to see them again, ever since.

And, about that book by Kate Atkinson . . . 

I honestly didn't even think about Life After Life much, most of last week, but I've decided that since I got stuck when I tried to review it, I may just default to the old "self-interview" concept.  That is my one blogging block-breaker that never seems to fail.  Not sure who I'll use as my fake interviewer.  The goofier I get with self-interviews, though, the better they seem to work.

Since I cruelly deprived you of cat photos on Friday . . . 

 . . . a second dose of kitty joy for today.

Happy Monday!

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - Just watching TV . . . and another update

Just FYI, Isabel was watching Downton Abbey.  She has excellent taste.

I don't know where the time is going, really I don't.  Last weekend, we had the entire family here, as I mentioned over the weekend.  Fiona actually seemed to enjoy having a house full of people and even acted a little bit sad after everyone left, although she did occasionally hide when the dog came in from the backyard.  Fi is gradually becoming my lap cat.  I'm very thrilled about that.

Isabel really disliked feeling obligated to retreat to the closet and occasionally emerged as far as the master bedroom long enough to bat a jingle ball around.  At night, she contentedly slept beside my feet. The moment everyone left, she was out and about.  She's a skittish girl -- probably for good reason.  She was a rescue and judging from where she was found, Izzy was likely dumped from a vehicle.  But, she's slowly gaining trust and now lets me pick her up and pet her without squealing.  She's just wary of strangers.  

We spent a lot of time on the patio/deck of our new house, went out to eat once, ate buffet style another time, and went for a walk in the Cypress Swamp on the Natchez Trace.  It was a great weekend.  This is one of my shots of the Cypress Swamp, where the leaves are just beginning to turn:

On Wednesday, Kiddo's girlfriend, C, came over to "help" hand out the Halloween candy (she really did the work while I kept her company).  C's going to be a teacher and it shows on Halloween.  She asked almost everyone, "Who do we have here?" and then said, "What do you say?" It's absolutely amazing how few of the kids we've had the past two years knew the words "trick or treat".  C often had to prompt them and even then most of the kids, when asked what to say, replied, "Thank you?"  One said, "Um . . . pleaaaase?"

Unfortunately, we had several hundred trick-or-treaters but we stocked up too much and ended up with one super-sized bag of candy left over at the house and another that C took off our hands.  Usually, I just throw the candy away.  I hate to do that, but we certainly don't need to eat it.  I suppose it's just a matter of pep-talking myself about throwing away something I don't need, which feels just a bit like burning money.

In reading news:

I finished reading The Longest Way Home by Andrew McCarthy and absolutely loved it.  The end even made me a bit teary.  If you are a fan of travel memoirs, jump on this one.  It's excellent.  I hope to get around to reviewing The Longest Way Home, soon.

Speaking of reviews:

I honestly have not felt like writing at all, hence my absence.  Sometimes I just have to step away for a while.  I'm not going to go on hiatus.  I'll just write when I feel like it.  In the meantime, I have joined National Novel Writing Month.  So, at least I'm writing fiction, if nothing else.

Back to reading:

I'm currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo for The Estella Society's read-along.  The Count of Monte Cristo has long been one of my favorite books and I've read it repeatedly.  So, I was a little stunned when I opened the book, last night, and realized it had the word "abridged" on the cover in tiny print.  WHAT?  I've been reading an abridged version, all these years?  My copy is so old and battered that I've actually covered it with clear Contact paper to help preserve it.  I suppose it won't hurt to replace the book with an unabridged version, but I'm still shocked that I never even noticed the word "abridged" on the cover.  In my defense, the print is tiny and the color is close to that of the Count's coat, so it's easy to overlook that one little word.

Recent arrivals:

I think it's been nearly 3 weeks since I mentioned arrivals other than the purchases I made at last week's book sale.  Books are not arriving as regularly as they used to.  I'm so far behind on reading the books off my ARC stacks that I can't remember the last time I requested a book.  One review book arrived, last week, but it's been a while since I requested it.  Recently walked in:

The Cat Who Came Back for Christmas by Julia Romp - an impulse purchase
Miss Buncle Married by D. E. Stevenson - for review from Sourcebooks (the single request book that has arrived)
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller - purchased used at a store that specializes in old vinyl record albums
Cooking at Home on Rue Tatin by Susan Herrmann Loomis - from Paperback Swap
Spot the Animals and
1-2-3 Dinosaur's Bite - both illustrated by Steve Jenkins and unsolicited arrivals from Sterling Kids (they're great -- will review them as soon as I can get myself to sit down long enough to write a string of review posts)
The Walnut Tree by Charles Todd - Accidentally pre-ordered while in an Ambien haze.  Ambien should be outlawed (but, darn it, sometimes I need help sleeping!)
How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard - purchased for F2F Book Club and the day it showed up, I realized I won't be able to make it to the November meeting (but it looks fun, so I'll read the book)
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton - sent by my delightful and generous friend, Tammy

In other news:

We joined a gym.  It's huge -- three stories including two swimming pools (one for laps; one a "therapy" pool, as it's associated with a hospital), a cold bath and jacuzzi, an indoor track, tons of plated and free weights, a spinning room, two basketball courts, two racquetball courts, a class room (for Zumba, yoga, etc.), one pool table and one ping-pong table.  I actually prefer the smaller gym in our former town.  Unfortunately, it's just too far to drive on a daily basis and I desperately need some kind of routine.  I miss the ladies and it will take some time to get used to our new gym, but there's no denying it's one rocking fine facility.

This week's Haiku:

And, the reason I chose this week's Haiku (which I hear people didn't appreciate during Hurricane Sandy, since the full moon only made tidal issues worse):

Enough for now!  Happy Weekend to all!  And, wishes for quick restoration of power and delivery of supplies to those who are having a rough post-hurricane experience.


©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.

Looking backward and forward - July reads, new books and the usual malarkey/twaddle

Just finally getting around to posting my July reads in review:

85. Kaytek the Wizard - Janusz Korczak

86. This Year You Write Your Novel - Walter Mosley

87. Truth Be Told - Larry King

88. Johnson's Life of London - Boris Johnson

89. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce

90. The Bond - Wayne Pacelle

91. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

92. The Knights of Derbyshire - Marsha Altman

93. Dreaming in English - Laura Fitzgerald

I didn't write much about any of them, but I liked every single one. Absolute favorites were A Town Like Alice, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Johnson's Life of London and The Knights of Derbyshire. Links lead to my reviews, such as they are. Some are a mere paragraph.

Moving did get in the way of reading, a bit, but I'm extremely happy to have read 9 books. Book time served as my escape when I had time to rest a bit and it helped me recharge for the next round of packing, painting or cleaning.

Recently finished but not yet reviewed:

The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Shadow Show, ed by Weller and Castle

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison

Enchanting Lily by Anjali Banerjee

I'm going to start cranking out those reviews, ASAP. Don't want to fall so far behind that I start forgetting what they were about.

Currently reading:

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian - will finish this one, today

Looking ahead to future reading:

I've received enough books to make the husband lift his eyebrows in the past few weeks . But, I've also donated 2 bags of books, have swapped a few and have 6 more full bags lined up by the front door (this is a combination of justification and "thank goodness because books are heavy things to move"). I neglected to mention at least one week's arrivals, so brace yourself.

Recent arrivals:

• Rock Solid Faith Study Bible in NIV, "for teens" came from Zondervan, for review.
• Undecorate by Christiane Lemieux - purchase
• Paris in Color by Nichole Robertson - purchase
• Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn - from Harper for review
• The Cutting Season by Attica Locke - from Harper for review
• Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon - from Harper for review
• Istanbul Passage by Joseph Kanon - from Atria, I think via their annual giveaway during Book Expo America
• Khatyn by Ales Adamovich - from Glagoslav Publishing for review
• The Mirrored World by Debra Dean - from HarperCollins for review
• Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower - purchase
• The Stars Shine Bright by Sibella Giorello - from Thomas Nelson for tour

Some whys:

Rock Solid Faith Study Bible - because I love study Bibles and am always interested in the extra info, which doesn't necessarily agree from one edition to another.

Undecorate and Paris in Color (<---that one's Bellezza's fault) - because I need inspiration for dressing up the new house and a bit of an eyeball feast -- I really love design books. I don't want the interior of my new home to just look like "Same old stuff; new space".

The Stars Shine Bright - Love this mystery series and can't bear to miss a release.

The Mirrored World - I confess I requested the title because I loved her first book so much. I didn't even bother reading the description.

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned - was on my wish list along with several other books, all of which were short-listed for the Franklin O'Connor Award the year Simon Van Booy won (2009). I found this one at Off-Square Books in Oxford, MS, last week.

Oh, did I forget to tell you Kiddo and I drove to Oxford to wrap up some last-minute details before his big move? I was also sick with a summer cold, all week. It's lingering a bit, hence the lack of a Monday Malarkey or Tuesday Twaddle post.

Irritating book news:

Have you noticed Goodreads changed the "To Be Read" shelf to "Want to Read"? What do you think? My opinion can be summed up in one syllable: eck. "To Be Read" and "Want to Read" are two completely different concepts, in my humble opinion. If it's a TBR book, that means I already own a copy or am planning to chase one down as soon as possible. "Want to Read" is more a more wishy-washy kind of thing, in my mind. To me, it means I'm interested in a book but don't own it -- and who knows if I'll end up with a copy. I wish they'd just added a separate shelf instead of ditching "To Be Read".

Favorite headline and lead line from a news article, this week:

Nome resident opens fire on musk ox in defense of her dog

Authorities in Nome say it would be better for dog owners to fence their yards than rely on firepower now that large numbers of dog-hating musk oxen have taken up residence in and around the Western Alaska City.

--from the Anchorage Daily News

I don't know why; that just made me laugh.

Back with reviews as soon as I can find the time and muster the strength (or whenever I feel like it). :)

©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.

Monday Malarkey - De-pinking and reading and other jazz

This week made my head spin! We're almost done de-pinking the Pink Room in our new house. Woot! I'll post an "after" photo, when I get one. This is the textured wall before we taped and began painting -- the rest were just flat pink (including the closet). I know you've seen this awful room, before, but I'm pretty sure Huzzybuns doesn't want me to share pics of him painting, so . . . you get a step stool.

I'll take photos of our progress, as we finish things. Other than painting, I've cleaned and lined all of the kitchen drawers and we've managed to hang three decorative items: a clock and Portuguese bowl in the kitchen and a framed print a local artist gave me in the half bath.

Amazingly, in spite of driving to the house to take small loads and start the cleaning and painting process, I managed to finish three books, last week!

Books finished in the past week:

Johnson's Life of London by Boris Johnson - If you read my blog regularly, you already know this one is about people who have made an impact on the city of London, over its lengthy history. The link leads to a mini review.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (on sale July 24, 2012) is the story of a man who sets out to mail a letter in reply to a woman who has written to tell him she's dying of cancer. He let her down, many years in the past, and decides that the letter just doesn't seem like enough. So, he keeps walking and decides that he's going to continue walking hundreds of miles to see her, thinking the anticipation will keep her alive.

What an amazing book! The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry could have easily been far-fetched or trite, but instead it is meaningful and incredibly believable. Harold and his wife are logically flawed and real. There was only one brief section that I found a little hard to swallow. Otherwise, the book is darn near perfect because the characters are so utterly human. Harold has his doubts, now and then, and the way he goes about his walk even changes from time to time. Along the way, he encounters helpful, kind people and some whose motives are not so noble. Wonderful, wonderful book. Highly recommended.

The Bond by Wayne Pacelle is subtitled "Our Kinship with Animals; Our Call to Defend Them" and it's authored by the current president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The Bond is a difficult read. Most people think of the Humane Society as an organization that's all about rescuing dogs and cats. But, their reach extends to animals of all kinds, all over the world and the book is both about the bond between humans and animals and the various kinds of abuses HSUS is working at halting.

Like the recent books about food sources, The Bond will make you want to avoid the meat aisles at your local grocery -- not only because of the incredibly cruel practices of the meat industry but also because those same practices are dangerous to humans. Downer cows, for example, are still routinely allowed to slaughter. You know what that means, right? Downer cows can be cows that are exhausted from miserable treatment and dehydration during crowded rides to slaughter, but they may also be suffering from what's commonly known as "Mad Cow Disease". No cow that's unable to walk from trailer to slaughterhouse floor should ever become a part of the food chain, but they do . . . and with USDA officials present. I've only recently returned to eating beef (after the first Mad Cow death and the death of a friend from Mad Cow -- which was not publicized at all -- I decided the USDA couldn't be trusted, for quite a few years), but it didn't last long. I will not eat beef, again.

Other abuses discussed are puppy mills and why AKC or other pure-bred licenses do not guarantee that you're purchasing a healthy animal (and may even mean the opposite) that was raised by a caring breeder; dog- and cock-fighting, including why the HSUS chose to allow Michael Vick to speak out against dog fighting for the organization; the cruel treatment of chickens, cows and pigs by industrial farmers and why crowding and other poor conditions mean a danger to humans; the annual seal slaughter in Canada and why it's finally tapering off; why wolves and mountain lions are still being slaughtered in spite of the fact that they're necessary predators; how ending the killing of whales has led to tourist income; why one zoo no longer has elephants, and more. The politics of all this killing and mistreatment are mind-boggling.

There were times I thought the author didn't explain things well enough (for example, he didn't go into detail about why a certain practice may have caused the Asian avian flu epidemic) or left me feeling like a particular story wasn't thoroughly wrapped up. And, obviously the book is a painful read for animal lovers. But, it's a necessary one, definitely recommended -- especially to those who may want to become involved in protecting animals and who care about the sources of the food we eat in the U.S. A little preachy, at times, but that's probably necessary. And, I'm a little confused. Doesn't the Humane Society still euthanize healthy animals? I need to look into that.

Just walked in, this past week:

• Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers - from Paperback Swap (Kiddo already read this one and gave it two thumbs up)
• The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison - unsolicited from Algonquin Books

I am reading:

The Knights of Derbyshire by Marsha Altman. I believe this is the 5th in Altman's Darcy series. I started reading it in the midst of reading The Bond. I needed a little sweetness and light as an antidote to reading about the horror of animal cruelty.

Some animals have very cushy lives, thank goodness:

They give us their trust, companionship, love and loads of belly laughs. I'll always wonder how people can abandon animals. It's a mindset that makes no sense to me.

Wednesday will be our first day of curbside recycling!

Since we don't live in our new home, yet, I'm dragging my recyclable items along with me. Exciting!!!

I'm down to 2 posts per week, at best, right now. Will try to at least keep up the Monday Malarkey and Fiona Friday posts, if nothing else. Happy Monday to all!

©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.

Fiona Friday - Just portraits and an update

I have fallen behind on reviews, this week, thanks to migraine weather (changing pressure) and life basically sucking. Hopefully, next week will be more normal. However, I have two blog tours, next week, and one of them is scheduled for Wednesday. You may have noticed that I had a blog tour on Wednesday of this week. Well, shucks. I wasn't doing Wahoo! Wednesday posts when I signed up for blog tours, so I didn't think to look at my calendar for obstacles. At any rate, I'll be back to wahooing in a couple weeks.

Books I've finished, this week:

The Cove by Ron Rash - A tour book scheduled for next Thursday. Does Ron Rash always write tragedy? Just curious. I have two other Rash titles on my shelves but I'm thinking about getting rid of them, which gives you a hint as to how I felt about The Cove.

I Always, Always Get My Way by Krasnesky and Parkins - About a 3-year-old who thinks she can get away with anything because she's "only three" but finds out even the youngest member of the family has to deal with the consequences of her actions.

The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones - Just finished this one, last night. A very strange book set in Edwardian England. Alternately charming and horrifying, as in . . . you never know when someone's going to bring a horse or a ghost into the house and how the residents will react.

Just walked in:

Poachers by Tom Franklin - from Paperback Swap

Signs of Life by Natalie Taylor - I got this for filling out a questionnaire, but I've already forgotten what it was about - from Broadway Paperbacks. I've been curious about this book because I used to write a column by the same title. The book is a memoir; my "Signs of Life" was a humor column about my family/everyday life.

Play These Games by Heather Swain - for review from Penguin but it's not at all what I expected. I think the publicist may have mixed two book descriptions together in her pitch letter. It looks fun, though, so no biggie.

Currently reading:

The Paper Garden by Molly Peacock - Wednesday's tour book. I'm enjoying it, so far. When I flipped through the book, I thought the photographs were paintings of Mary Delany's flower sculptures, but the author says they only look like paintings; they are actually photographs of her works of art. No matter how long I stare at them, I can't see it. They still look like paintings to me. Wild.

The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel - I had a little trouble putting this one down, last night. A young mother goes into hiding with her newborn baby, at the beginning of the book. A chapter or two later, the child's father -- a reporter -- is given a clue to his child's existence. But, he doesn't know why Anna and Chloe are hiding or where to look for them and, anyway, he's allergic to heat so he heads back to New York before Florida can kill him. Actually, just writing about it makes me want to run back to grab the book.

Light on the Concrete by Lucas Hunt - I loved this book of poetry so much on the first reading that I didn't stop to take notes or mark the book with post-its. So, I've been planning to go to the coffee shop since last week, thinking it would be a nice, calm place to sit at a table and take notes (this also has to do with my need to get out of the house, since our oak trees are blocking all the light and home has become a virtual cave). I won't even go into how those plans have crashed and burned, but I've reread bits and pieces and a full reread with a cup of fluffy mocha is still on the agenda.

Voyagers of the Titanic by Richard Davenport-Hines - There's a lot of interesting information that's new to me in this book (and I've been a regular Titanic reader for a long, long time) but the writing is a bit dry and I dislike the fact that the author doesn't always bother to mention who lived or died. So, he may be cooking along, telling you about some young rich guy that everyone loved and you're wondering, "Yeah, okay, he was great -- everyone loved him. Did he survive?" I kept a second book with a list of all the passengers and crew beside the bed and kept referring to the list (survivors in bold print).

I was shooting for finishing by the anniversary, but actually stalled on the reading on that day. There was a whole lot of twitter chatter about the Titanic; meanwhile, people I care about were being threatened by a nasty storm that was generating tornadoes in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. I set the past aside to pray for people in the present. I've yet to return to the book, but I do love reading about the Titanic, so I'm sure I'll get back to it.

And, the London Tales . . .

Since I'm so far behind, I may either go to the mini-review format or just post several in one day. I need to catch up before I forget the important details in the books I've read. I'm hoping I'll be able to sneak in some travel tales, next week, as well. It's a very odd problem having too many things to post about and not enough days in the week!

Happy Weekend to All from Bookfool!

©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.

Weekly Reading Update #6 - Reviews of Haiku Mind, A Taste of Salt, Learning to Bow and To the Moon and Back

Before we talk books, we must admire the spider lilies!!!

I'd never seen spider lilies before I moved to the Deep South and every year I am awed by them. This year, the spider lilies bloomed early. Usually, they don't show up till October, but I'm assuming our very early cool front fooled them into blooming prematurely. Spider lilies don't last long if it warms back up (which it did, after a few blissful days), so I rushed down to my neighbor's yard, walked around and sat on her driveway to snap a few photos. Three days later, her yard service mowed them all down. They're not exactly a precision lawn-care service.

So . . . books. Books, books. This past week was a good one. I finished 4 books and only one of them didn't thrill me -- but I still managed to get something out of it.

Haiku Mind by Patricia Donegan - I've been hacking away at this book of "108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness & Open Your Heart" for at least 6 weeks. It's best taken in small doses, actually. From the intro:

This is not just an anthology of haiku poems, but rather spiritual reflections on 108 haiku--I used 108 because it is an auspicious number in Buddhist thought as there are 108 difficulties to overcome in order to become awakened [. . . ]

The haiku chosen to talk about the theme of "adversity", for example:

violets here and there

in the ruins

of my burnt house

--Shokyu-Ni

After the haiku, the author talks about the haiku, it's meaning or (sometimes) why the author wrote it. And, then she talks about the concept and how we can react to it on a spiritual level. The book is really about being open and accepting in life. It's quite lovely. My only complaint is that the author has a tendency to write in fragments, which can become irritating, hence the recommendation to read it slowly and in small doses. Definitely recommended for those curious about haiku and/or seeking a book for relaxing daily reading and reflection on spirituality.

The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate is a book Algonquin Books sent me unsolicited. I tend to love a lot of those Algonquin surprise books, but this one was a little disappointing. Josie is a black marine biologist married to a white man. It's challenging enough being a smart black woman in a white man's world, but she also has her family in Cleveland to deal with. Her alcoholic father has been sober for a decade but her parents' marriage never recovered. And, Josie's brother is following down his father's path, battling addiction.

After a trip home to fetch brother Tick from rehab, Josie finds that she's must confront her difficult past. But, while Josie finds herself still unable to share her inner feelings with her husband, she encounters someone who helps her to forget the fact that she never seems to quite fit in, anywhere.

I don't think I'll say much more than that because I might give too much away, but I'll tell you what I liked and disliked about The Taste of Salt. It was fascinating peeking into the world of an educated black woman, seeing the world through her eyes and realizing just how incredibly difficult it must be to succeed when bettering yourself is considered somehow betraying your entire race. The author didn't attempt to make sense of the whole "acting white" concept or why it's irrational, but the glimpse into Josie's world is revealing.

Unfortunately, the story is a little sordid and definitely too tragic for my personal taste. Josie allows herself to be ruled by her emotions and her refusal to work on her issues in a moral, positive way causes her world to crumble. The Taste of Salt is a sad, sad story. I'd have liked to see a bit more of a redemption and an ending with hope.

Learning to Bow by Bruce Feiler is about Feiler's year spent teaching English in a Japanese school. As memoirs go, it's beautifully written, honest, clear and engrossing. He talks about his triumphs and errors, friendships and occasional disastrous social experiences, travels outside of the small town where he taught and the contrast between city and small-town life in Japan.

I think the highest praise I can give Feiler, besides the fact that his writing is excellent and obviously well researched (when he goes into detail about historical background, you know he's done his homework) is that Learning to Bow is written with great respect. He observes and records his thoughts on Japanese society (often in comparison to the West or the U.S., since he's American) from the perspective of an outsider viewing Japan through the educational system without ever stooping to cliche or demeaning the Japanese in any way.

Also, I think it's a testament to Feiler's fine writing that I found myself thinking, "I can't wait to read more of his books," even while I was still in the midst of reading Learning to Bow. Highly, highly recommended.

To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell is over 400 pages long, but her books are such breezy fun that I whipped through it in about 2 days. Ellie Kendall's husband has died in a tragic automobile accident. She conjurs up his image up and speaks to him, now and then, knowing he is a figment of her imagination -- not a ghost but a deliberate creation, her way of holding onto him just a while longer.

After a time, Ellie becomes tired of the knowing glances and comments that people make at work, the way they treat her more gently because of her loss. She needs a change; it's time to move on. When her famous father-in-law decides to purchase a home in upscale Primrose Hill, she moves in as its caretaker. There, she finds a new friend, slowly reenters the world of romance and locates a job where she can be herself without worrying about the word "widow" hanging over her head. Her boss is handsome and wealthy but happy to have an office manager who is not the slightest bit interested in him.

Meanwhile, Ellie's new best friend is in love with a married man, her father-in-law falls for a woman who is going through a time of turmoil, and her relationship with her husband's best friend becomes more than a little confusing.

Like all of Jill Mansell's books, there is one main romantic storyline but there are other little romances going on, on the side. Honestly, I don't know how she does it. Jill Mansell is such a pro. There's always an inciting incident and you know the heroine will fall happily in love. But, the journey is inevitably surprising and always massively entertaining. As I mentioned last week, I cried through a good portion of this book because the death of Ellie's husband hit a little too close to home, but I knew that was just me being emotional. Like every other Mansell title, I loved To the Moon and Back. I'd particularly recommend her books as a light read for beach or plane or anytime you're looking for an uplifting, happy storyline.

Next up, I hope to finish that book on outdoor design. But, I've been happily diverted. I'm currently rereading Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy. You know I adore Simon and am enamored of his writing but I confess the beginning of the book is rough. It's very flowery. If you haven't read it or you've tried and the metaphorical onslaught conquered you, I recommend patience. The heavy use of metaphor tapers off, eventually. Everything Beautiful Began After is truly a lovely story about wounded souls, deep friendship, grief, and learning to live every moment as if it is your last.

The other book in my sidebar is a book of poetry by a friend of Simon's, Lives by Lucas Hunt. The jury is still out on this one. It's not lyrical poetry . . . I'm not sure quite how to describe it. But, having seen the author do a bit of reading online, I can tell you that this author's poetry sounds better coming from the author's mouth. Lucas appears to be utterly charming.

In other news, one of the main reasons for my minimal blogging (my new fitness regime) has resulted in yet another drop in size. I've now lost 3 dress sizes. Oh, how fun it was to hear the zipper go up with ease on my goal dress, this weekend! I rustled around in the closet and found a new goal dress to work toward fitting into, this morning. I've still got a long way to go, but I am really excited to be on a downward trend in clothing sizes. And, I'm sure future airplane seat mates will appreciate my shrinking hips, as well.

What's up in your world, this week?

©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.

Weekly Reading Update #5

As reading weeks go, this past week was not one of great quantity, but I enjoyed what I read and am loving my current reads. I finished The Oracle of Stamboul (<----link to my review) in record time because it so thoroughly sucked me in. Loved the characters, the setting, the storyline. It was just an all-around great reading experience and I highly recommend it.

Next up was my mystery book, the unpublished manuscript by my friend, Greg Moffatt. I'm trying to make sure I focus on finishing at least one of the books that have been lurking too long in my sidebar, each week, and I was anxious

to get back to this one. Greg is multi-published, with several psychology books on violence, crime, etc. and one on parenting but his new manuscript is a coming-of-age memoir. I enjoyed it. Greg's a very good writer and I have no doubt he'll find a publisher for this book, as well.

Since I finished Greg's book, I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off, running numerous errands, going to the gym, taking pictures with my new camera (I finally got a lens, after several weeks of borrowing) and cleaning like a madwoman. Our house has had a clutter problem for ages and we've been hacking away at it, but this week was one of those weeks that I was in "just let's toss it out, for crying out loud" mode. Sometimes, don't you just wish time would expand to fit all the things you need to accomplish? I felt that way, this week. My reading suffered due to all the cleaning and errands, but I've started two more books. I'm nothing if not an addict.

Learning to Bow by Bruce Feiler has been on my shelf for several years and when I decided now is the time, I didn't actually know quite where to look for it. As it turned out, I'd placed the book on a fairly prominent shelf. Wahoo for that! I thought I'd read two of his books, but after looking at Bruce Feiler's website, I realize I've only read one: Abraham. It was excellent and prompted me to collect the two other titles I own: Walking the Bible and Looking for Class.

Learning to Bow is about the year Feiler spent teaching in Japan and it is absorbing, so far. Japanese customs are so very far removed from those in America that it's easy to appreciate the author's occasional discomfort and utterly fascinating to read about his conversations with co-workers, internal thoughts, comparisons to life in the U.S. I don't have the book handy, but the publication date was the early Nineties. I can't say what, if anything, may have changed in twenty years, but Learning to Bow is an engrossing read and hopefully still fairly accurate.

To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell is an ARC from Sourcebooks. I started reading it about 2 days ago and managed 97 pages, during about 80 of which I had tears streaming down my face. As with all of Mansell's books, there is a major change that takes place in the life of the heroine at the beginning of To the Moon and Back. In this case, a woman is widowed after her husband suffers a severe head injury in an automobile accident. The bits where he was in a coma were rough reading for me, simply because they were so authentic and I've been through watching a loved one linger in a coma then having to contribute to the decision to unplug life support when it became clear that brain function was gone.

But, of course, the tragedy is just an opening to yet another fun, romantic storyline. I am crazy about Jill Mansell's books. They're consistently enjoyable and every story is unique. Mansell has a terrific sense of humor and a wonderful way of tugging the heartstrings.

I'm also reading my camera manual. Exciting, no? I'm not sure which of the two remaining lurkers I'll focus on finishing, this week -- probably Jamie Durie's The Outdoor Room, since Haiku Mind is a book from my personal library and The Outdoor Room is one that was sent to me for review.

Incidentally, that last post about my review policy (which seems kind of pointless, since I'm not going to accept any ARCs till I've read or attempted everything I've already received) was awfully fun to write because it gave me a chance to reflect on what it is that I really love to read and the few types of books that don't interest me. Odd timing, though, writing a review policy as I've come to the conclusion that it's not fair to anyone for me to accept any books, eh?

I am slowly returning to some minimal blog-hopping, when I can find a spare moment, plus a bit of twittering. And, I plan to continue working on updating various bits of the blog. Next up, I hope to improve my author links and then update links to other blogs. As always, if you're a regular visitor and I haven't managed to add you to my blog roll, please feel free to ask me to add you. I can use the nudge. Since I've given up using Google Reader, I realize that I didn't transfer some blogs I was reading regularly to my blog roll, so there are probably at least a few people out there who are baffled as to why I suddenly stopped visiting. I need to amend that problem.

How was your reading week?

©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.

Weekly Reading Update #4 - Incl. mini reviews of The Call, The Lost Wife and The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine

I thought last week would be a bad reading week because I spent half of my week in New England with Carrie, aka Care of Care's Online Book Club. I told her Simon Van Booy would be doing a reading at the Boston Public Library and advised her to go, a couple months ago. She said, "Why don't you come up here and go to the reading with me?" Well . . . who can pass up an invitation to hang out with a friend and see a favorite author in the same trip?

Simon was amazing, of course. He is a spectacular speaker, poised and elegant, charming and self-deprecating, witty and insightful. If you haven't read any of his books -- his novel, Everything Beautiful Began After and the two short story collections, The Secret Lives of People in Love and Love Begins in Winter -- you really must. And, if you ever have an opportunity to see him, don't pass it up!!!

Of course, Carrie is always a blast to hang out with.

As it turned out, I still had a terrific reading week. Here's what I read:

The Call by Yannick Murphy (fiction) is about a veterinarian in Vermont whose son gets shot and goes into a coma. The vet thinks he's seeing spaceships, then something happens and he has to make a life-changing decision. That's a vast simplification. The Call is a riot. It's also touching, and an all-around good story, definitely one of the most enjoyable books I've picked up in a while. I highly recommend The Call, especially if you're looking for a quick, light and delightful read with plenty of drama and depth. I left my copy with Carrie because she asked. "Ask and ye shall receive" apparently still works just fine.

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman is the story of a couple who are married and only together as husband and wife for a few days. Czechoslovakia is on the brink of invasion and Lenka refuses to leave her beloved family behind when her husband's family manages to acquire only enough visas to allow her to travel with them, but not her father, mother and sister. She reads his name in a list of dead after a U-boat attack. He believes she died in Auschwitz. Years later, they meet at the wedding of their grandchildren. The Lost Wife is a novel based on a true story and it's a good one. The only problem I had with it was a few weird tense changes. I'm guessing the author was trying to imbue certain scenes with an immediacy that past tense wouldn't allow, but the occasional switch to present tense was simply confusing. Otherwise -- great story, nicely written but not brilliantly so. Definitely recommended.

The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine by Alina Bronsky is a book that Carrie playfully shoved on me and which I started reading almost immediately. I'd only brought The Call and Simon's Everything Beautiful Began After with me and I finished The Call the night I arrived. My first thought, as I began reading The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine, was that reading it was probably the closest I've ever come to the reading equivalent of gawking at a car wreck. It's compelling, but why? Why couldn't I tear my eyes away? Possibly because it's really quite funny, if a bit freaky and disturbing. Rosa believes herself to be beautiful and perfect, the mother of an ugly, stupid daughter named Sulfia. Rosa accepts her daughter's explanation for her mysterious pregnancy -- that she dreamed of a man and became pregnant. Surely no man would have her ugly daughter.

When her granddaughter Aminat arrives, Rosa takes charge. Obviously, Sulfia is too dim and preoccupied to care for her own child. But, while this fierce grandmother works, takes care of her grandchild, henpecks her husband and drives her daughter batty, she also manages to keep all of them alive during a time of rationing and despair in Russia. Rosa is at once clueless and tenacious, self-confident to the point of being strident, baffling and fascinating, devious and admirable.

It's not a spoiler, to share the final two lines to give you a peek into Rosa's crazy, irreverent mode of speech:

"I was afraid to hear that she had already been there and that I hadn't noticed. I much preferred freeing metal countertops from encrusted bits of food and sending silent thanks to God, mechanically, out of courtesy--I mean, so he wouldn't feel totally useless."

In the end, I decided The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine is, at its core, a survival story and I loved it. Now, I want to read Alina Bronsky's first book, Broken Glass Park. Thanks for sharing your copy of Tartar, Carrie!!!

Care's Review

Softdrink's Review

I'm about 2/3 of the way through The Oracle of Stamboul, which I just began reading last night. It's a tour book that I'll review later this week. I didn't take anything from my sidebar along to Massachusetts, so the rest of those books are still languishing. Hopefully, I can begin to amend that, this week. I'll be home for a good, long time, now!

Just FYI, the Boston Public Library is full of awesome:

©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.

Weekly Reading Update #3 - Including mini reviews of Juniper Berry, Lord and Lady Spy, and Horoscopes for the Dead

This photo has absolutely nothing to do with my weekly reading update. I just thought it was cute.

This past week was a pretty good reading week! Happy am I! I finished reading 4 books.

Juniper Berry by M. P. Kozlowsky (Fiction; ages 8-12) is a book about a young girl who used to have a lovely life with her actor parents. Then, they became extremely famous (Jolie-Pitt famous), moved to a massive mansion, began to take less and less interest in her and finally became distant, angry, muttering strangers with no time for their daughter. When Juniper meets a young neighbor whose parents have gone through exactly the same thing, they decide to investigate. What they find involves a tree, a whole lot of balloons, lost souls, glowing bugs and an evil bad guy. I thought Juniper Berry started out terrific, went downhill and then ended on a decent note. It's not a favorite but it definitely would have qualified for the RIP VI Challenge, if I'd bothered to sign up . . . which I haven't done. But I still intend to, if it's not too late.

Lord and Lady Spy by Shana Galen (Romantic Historical Fiction) is not quite what I expected. I figured two spies married to each other would mean lots of adventurous spying, maybe a bit of Mr. & Mrs. Smith: Regency Style. Unfortunately, the book begins with a little spy action but quickly becomes a murder mystery involving the Lord and Lady competing with each other to try to win a spot in their former spy agency, which has mostly disbanded. Whilst trying to one-up each other (comparing the number of bullet scars) and trying to repair their floundering marriage (mucho graphic sex), they work on solving the mystery. Eventually, the storyline improves a bit, but this particular book was a little shy on the type of action and adventure I'm accustomed to in a Shana Galen book. It was only my love of her action scenes that kept me going. I'd particularly recommend this one to the romance crowd. I like a little chaste romance but I mostly read Galen's books for the action.

Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins (Poetry) - Oh, how I love Billy Collins. I bought this slim volume of poetry at Borders. It was absolutely my most exciting find (although I found a lot of great books . . . maybe a few too many for the budget). I've already mentioned this book in last week's Fiona Friday post -- about how I admire the way Collins can turn something ordinary into a funny, witty, meaningful bit of poetic genius.

Take, for example, "What She Said". Here is how it begins:

When he told me he expected me to pay for dinner,

I was like give me a break.

I was not the exact equivalent of give me a break.

I was just similar to give me a break.

--from "What She Said", p. 68 of Horoscopes for the Dead

I can't imagine anyone reading that and not breaking out in a grin. I absolutely loved Horoscopes for the Dead and gobbled it down in a single evening. It's definitely one for the keeper shelves. Wouldn't you know, my eldest has already dropped a hint that he'd be happy to take it off my hands! Um . . . gift idea?

The other book I finished will not be released till October 1 and the title wouldn't fit up there in the subject line because I already pretty well bogged it down. But, if you must know, it's a children's book entitled The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister and I'll definitely review it when the time comes.

Currently focusing on:

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman (Historical Fiction/WWII) - The story of a Czech couple separated at the beginning of WWII and reunited in the United States, many years later. Married but separated when she refuses to leave her family, his letters are returned and he assumes she was killed in a concentration camp. She reads his name in the list of dead when the boat he was taking to Canada from England is torpedoed. I will probably finish this book tonight or tomorrow and then I'll let you know what I think, next week!

I haven't picked up any of the other books currently in the "Now Reading" section of my sidebar for at least a week. Oh, no, that's not true. I still occasionally read a few pages of Haiku Mind. But, my friend's manuscript and Jamie Durie's The Outdoor Room ended up at the bottom of my bedside pile, this week, and I let my whims take over my reading, as is often the case when I'm slumpy. I plan to focus on those two, soon. I took How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson out of my sidebar because that cupcake cover was making me hungry, but I'll keep hacking away at it because I do have the desire to become more domestic and I am just crazy about Nigella Lawson's chatty, relaxed writing style.

In other news, we only got about 6" of rain from Tropical Storm Lee -- definitely on the low side of predictions and the rainwater soaked in pretty nicely because we've had a lengthy drought. We have enjoyed the cool front that came along behind the storm. The cats are ecstatic about being able to sit in open windows, sniffing the outside smells.

How have you been doing, this week?

©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.

Weekly Reading Update, including a brief review of Maman's Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan

For reasons made obvious in my last post (we were out-of-town most of last week for Eldest's wedding), I didn't manage to accomplish much in the way of reading. I did, however finish the two Grandma's Attic books that I briefly reviewed. I hauled all of the Grandma's Attic books, including the two I reviewed last year, to Nashville and passed them on to my multi-talented, cake-decorating sister-in-law, who has two little girls.

I also finished reading Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen by Donia Bijan. Apart from the fact that there was a lot of jumping back and forth in time (which is typical, I suppose, since the book is a memoir), which made the reading occasionally confusing due to tense issues, I really enjoyed Maman's Homesick Pie.

Donia Bijan spent her first 16 years of life in Iran, then her family eventually moved to the U.S., where Bijan attended college. After college, she moved to Paris to train as a chef at the famous Cordon Bleu Cooking School. Bijan moved back and forth between the U.S. and France to work at various establishments and hone her skills, then she opened her own restaurant. Maman's Homesick Pie blends memories of her childhood and home life with talk of college, cooking school and the many places she worked to develop her skills as a chef.

Donia Bijan's story is partly about her love of food, how it developed and how she came to blend the recipes and flavors from the three countries in which she's resided to create her own recipes and menus. But, it's also a loving tribute to her mother, who died in a pedestrian/car accident. Her mother was an excellent cook who loved preparing food and passed on her joy to her daughter. She was also a fascinating woman who was involved in politics and nursing, a woman with a strength and spirit you can't help but admire.

Maman's Homesick Pie is one of the best cross-cultural and "inside the world of the chef" memoirs I've read in a while. Although Bijan's family lost their home and possessions during a regime change in Iran, her mother was determined to bloom where she was planted and that rubbed off on the author. There's no whining about their tremendous losses. Instead, Bijan focuses on the scents and flavors that gave her joy and how she became a chef because it was truly the only profession she could imagine for herself.

If you love a foodie memoir with plenty of recipes and a chatty writing style, you'll love Maman's Homesick Pie. I heartily recommend it. There are some unusual ingredients that I doubt we'll be able to obtain in some of the Persian recipes but the author did mention alternative ingredients that can be substituted, in many cases.

I'm jumping the gun, here. The release date is October 11, but I couldn't convince myself to set down Maman's Homesick Pie, once I started reading. My thanks to Algonquin Books for the sending me this unexpected ARC in the mail.

I'm focusing on Lord and Lady Spy, at the moment. And, I'm enjoying a daily dip into Haiku Mind. Otherwise, I really am not doing much reading; the other books in my sidebar took a nice drive to Nashville and back for no apparent reason. Hopefully, I'll get my groove back, soon. Since I bought a few books that were on my Paperback Swap wish list in Nashville, I have room to add a few titles. What wonderful books would you recommend that I add to my wish list?

©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.

Weekly Reading Update including a brief review of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi Durrow

Oops, looks like kitty is looking the wrong way. The books are to the left, Izzy!

Welcome to my first weekly reading update! I just realized I have a dual book tour due on the 24th, so I'm going to try to crash through those two small books and pre-post my reviews (if I fail--and this is one of my busy weeks, so that's very possible--you'll just see the sneak peek and I'll review, later); but, in the meantime, here's what I'm reading and what I've recently finished.

Only one book completed, recently:

I just finished reading The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow over the weekend. I'd originally hoped to finish the book in time for Algonquin's Book Group discussion, last week, but wacky weather made last week a migraine rollercoaster and I was happy to finally finish a book, period.

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky is about a bi-racial girl, daughter of a black American soldier and a Danish mother, who survives a plunge from the roof that kills her mother and two siblings. She is then thrust into a situation that causes her to rethink her identity as she moves in with her black grandmother and aunt and is labeled "black". Prior to moving to the U.S., she didn't think about or question her skin color. She was simply a person, not a black or a white or a mixed-race individual.

The story is based on both the author's experience (also the daughter of a black American soldier and Danish mother) and a true story the author read in a newspaper about a family that jumped from a roof. Only the daughter survived and the author combined that story with her personal experience to create this fictional tale.

While I had a little trouble getting into the story, at first, The Girl Who Fell from the Sky is a book that will stick with me for a long time. It seems very timely as there are probably a lot more bi-racial youngsters, now that legalized segregation is long gone and, hopefully, people are becoming more enlightened about the meaninglessness of skin color. I only really have one bi-racial friend and I know she struggled with her identity, but she's never mentioned specific incidents. I think The Girl Who Fell from the Sky really helps you to get that "in her shoes" sensation, to understand how difficult it must be to experience prejudice and random classification (being told you're black, even though you're also half-white, in this case). Highly recommended.

What I'm reading, now:

Jamie Durie's The Outdoor Room - This is a coffee-table-sized book about a television designer's techniques for creating the right outdoor room for a particular homeowner's personality and style. I've never seen the show, but I am loving this book, so far. Unlike a lot of similar design books, this The Outdoor Room is quite heavy on the text as the author goes into great detail about his design process and how you can use his way of planning to design an outdoor room that fits your personal style and needs.

Durie talks about collecting pictures that grab your eye -- of random objects, colors, textures, things that appeal to you -- looking around at what you've already done, design-wise, within your home, and creating your own little design board that will help you figure out what's important to you and how to use what you love to create a room that will work for you. I'm not very far into this book but I'm really enjoying it.

Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness & Open Your Heart by Patricia Donegan is a book of 108 Haiku verses by various authors (many of whom the author met at some point, although the vast majority seem to be deceased). The number 108 has to do with the 108 difficulties a Buddhist has to overcome to become "awakened." #13, for example, is a haiku that fits the concept of "interdependence":

a heavy cart

rumbles by--

peonies tremble

by Buson Yoka

Donegan elaborates about the meaning behind each of the Haikus she's chosen, often including what the author was specifically talking about in a particular Haiku (why, for example, an author noticed the way a certain flower looked when it was in flames -- a haiku that had to do with the bombing of Tokyo during WWII), followed by a brief author bio. This is a very cool little book that I bought on sale at Borders on Sunday. The poetry section was still surprisingly intact, so I had a lot of options and I'm really glad I happened across this particular book.

Maman's Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan is one of those foodie memoirs that are so popular, now, and I can already predict that it will be a hit because the author has a comfortable, chatty writing style that will make you smile. Plus, the recipes look great. Donia Bijan is a chef whose parents were originally from Iran but moved to San Francisco in 1980, hence the subtitle, "A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen." Right now, I'm reading about Bijan's mother's years as a nursing student in England and I have to tell you . . . the story about how she showed up in London knowing only two words of English is a hoot. You will love it.

Maman's Homesick Pie is not due to be released till October, but it's one of those books that I like to say I "accidentally" started reading. That just means I picked it up to read a little, out of curiosity, and found that I couldn't put the book down. I am absolutely in love with this book, so far, and I know my future daughter-in-law will love it, too. And, probably my husband will want to play around with some of the recipes. If you like recipe-packed memoirs, go ahead and jot this title down. It's a good one.

Lord and Lady Spy by Shana Galen is a romantic historical adventure in which two married spies lose their jobs and then have to compete against each other for a single slot with the spy organization that has let them go -- whoever solves a murder wins the job. Hardly seeing each other at home worked well while they were both spies. Neither knew the other worked for the Barbican group and after the tragic loss of a child it was easier staying apart, busy and challenged, than dealing with their loss. Now, they not only see each other in a new light but also have no choice but to deal with their tattered marriage. So far, so good! I love Shana Galen's books because they're heavier on adventure than romance, which suits my taste.

How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson is a book about baking, but it's not just about baking. It's about reclaiming the part of you that desires to putter around in the kitchen and create something wonderful. Since I've been avoiding the kitchen for a couple decades (I'm a survivalist cook) but have been yearning to get back out there just for the fun of it, I figured baking would be a good place to start and a recipe book will hopefully stock me up with a few new recipes so my poor Bible Study group can have something other than pineapple or apple-cinnamon cake when it's my turn to do dessert. I'm pretty sure Nikki turned me on to Nigella. Thanks Nikki! I am absolutely crazy about Nigella's delightful, casual writing style. I might actually pull the cover image out of my sidebar, just because that cupcake picture makes me crave cupcakes, though.

Unnamed Manuscript by A Friend is just what it sounds like. One of my writer friends asked me if I'd be willing to read his memoir and make suggestions. On the day I began reading, I got so totally caught up in his story that I lost track of time and barely made it to exercise class. And, then I set it aside for a week, but I'm hoping I'll have some time to focus and finish the manuscript in the next week or two, since I'm going to weekly updates (and Fiona Friday -- and anything I'm committed to reviewing . . . obviously, I tend to burden myself a bit). Anyway, so far it's fabulous. My friend is already multi-published; he's not a new writer and he's not asking me to edit. He just wants my opinion.

And, in the mail . . . three books arrived, today:

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman from Berkley for review

The Call by Yannick Murphy from HarperPerennial for review and

Three Rivers Rising: A Novel of the Johnstown Flood by Jame Richards from Paperback Swap

What's new in your reading life?