Elephant a la Mode by T. Roy Nakai

Elephant à la Mode: An Epicurean Guide to Life
By T. Roy Nakai
Copyright 2009
Outskirts Press - Memoir/Personal Growth
222 pages
Link to Amazon that doesn't benefit me

Roy Nakai was born at the Manzanar War Relocation Center during WWII, an American concentration camp. When I read the promo for Elephant à la Mode, which was sent to me by the author, I thought there would be more information in the book about what his family experienced living as American citizens in what amounted to a prison colony. There was actually very little about the camp itself. Of course, Nakai was young enough not to have any memory of his birthplace. But, the theme of the book starts with the camp and continues through the memoir and, indeed, his entire life.

While imprisoned, Roy's parents and those who were with them put their focus on a phrase and a word. "Shikata na gai" means "It cannot be helped." They reminded each other of this fact in the camp, and later Roy's family raised him with that phrase as a reminder that things happen and you just have to live with them or "gaman", which means "to persevere".

I picked up this book thinking I'd take my time with it, the way I usually do because I balance so many books. Instead, I had a bit of trouble putting it down. This particular memoir is about the author's personal challenges and how he's survived them. It's written in a really annoying format, as conversations between Roy and his daughter or Roy and his therapist, but I felt like it was worth working a little to read the book.

You know something awfully traumatic must have occurred for him to end up with the therapist, but he takes his time describing his life. In spite of the fact that the book is awkwardly written, his life story is really quite fascinating and his family history puts a unique spin on what can be a slightly tired genre. He seems like a likable guy, the kind who remains a friend for life but has a tendency to ignore the spouse (he's been married three times), devoted to his child and fond enough of children that he chose to become a pediatric dentist because he liked working with youngsters.

Roy Nakai had been working as a pediatric dentist for 25 years when tragedy ended his career as a dentist and he was forced to reinvent himself in order to survive. And, then an even worse tragedy struck. I'm not sure it's a spoiler, although it's left out of the publicity material, so I'll treat this bit as a spoiler.

Oh, no, not the red letters, again. POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!!!! Read at your own risk! You have been warned.

The second tragedy was the death of his only daughter. I think it would have actually been helpful to know about his daughter's death, simply because the "conversation" format is so clunky. You have to really want to read his story to continue, if you happen to find his choice of presentation uncomfortable or just flat annoying. I really wanted to read his story, so I chose to gaman through the rough writing. And, when I got to the death of his daughter, I must admit I sucked in my breath and cried a little. It was a shock. I think he wanted you to be a little stunned because the point is that, all along, part of his method of getting through tragedy has been to keep a conversation going with his daughter about how important it is to keep on living.

END SPOILER ALERT!!!! You may now run around in circles shouting, "I'm free! I'm free!"

This book was seriously in need of some editing. There are misused and misspelled words and it's not a smooth read because of the conversational format. In general, I tend to avoid reviewing books by Outskirts Press (a self-pub) because of the lack of editing and frequently-poor writing. But, I couldn't bear to pass this one up. And the roughness didn't stop the book from being a really good story with a wonderful theme -- bad things happen and it's your job to keep going, transform yourself if necessary, and move on.

4/5 - I feel obligated to take a point off for the awkward writing and poor editing, but I loved this book. It was just what I needed. The author's tragedies helped me put the loss of my fur buddy into perspective and gave me a mental boost; it helped me get up off the couch. In the end, I understood the reason he chose to write the book as a conversation with his daughter (less so, the bits in which he conversed with his therapist --although she was a part of his healing process) and felt that it was still a bad choice, but the book is so meaningful and poignant that I recommend it.

Just don't come running to me to complain about the format. It's really annoying, but if you're struggling with loss or wondering whether it's worth going on, Roy's story might help you. It helped me. Thank you, Roy. And, my thanks for the review copy.

Things I forgot to remember - I do that a lot, actually

A little irony, here, I think. Note the book No More Clutter in the midst of one of my crammed bookshelves:

The sheer quantity of books (not those pictured) that I haven't reviewed is starting to get insane, so I'm going to go ahead and go crazy writing mini-reviews, then I hope I will finally, finally get back to blog-hopping. I've missed reading other folks' posts, but when I did manage to read a few, last week, I found myself utterly speechless. I had nothing whatsoever to say. I'm not so sure I ever make brilliant comments anyway, but at least I can usually manage to type something.

This weekend, I bought a little pile. I'm allegedly on a book-buying ban, but . . . okay, forget it. There's no excuse. I bought the following:

Stealing Heaven - Elizabeth Scott

How Green Was My Valley - Richard Llewellyn (the spacing gods are out to get me, again)

Armageddon in Retrospect - Kurt Vonnegut

If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period - Gennifer Choldenko

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You - Ally Carter

The Cat Inside - William S. Burroughs

The Printer's Devil - Paul Bajoria

I'm going to remove some of the images of books I've read and need to review from the sidebar, because it's looking a little heavy. But, here's what I have read and not reviewed in recent weeks (for my sanity, I think I'll cross them off as I review):

Custer Survivor - John Koster

Elephant a la Mode - T. Roy Nakai

They Were Just People - Tammeus & Cukierkorn

Fidelity - Grace Paley

First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria - Eve Brown Waite

The Making of the African Queen - Katharine Hepburn

The Cat Inside - William S. Burroughs

I'd Tell You I Love You, etc. - Ally Carter (see list above)

Spellbinder - Helen Stringer

How I Live Now - Meg Rosoff

I don't believe I've ever fallen quite so far behind. Oh, well. Things happen. C'est la vie.

My wonderful friend Cindi has asked me to post info about a contest that includes blog columnists and since it's relevant, I agreed. I'm copying her release verbatim, with the exception of the part where I substituted a link for the URL, so write to Cindi at the address noted, if you have any questions:

2010 NATIONAL SOCIETY NEWSPAPER COLUMNISTS CONTEST Print, Online and Blog-Columnists it is Win, Place or Show Time! Dust off your columns from 2009, find the ones that shine and enter the 2010 annual contest. Make this YOUR year for recognition. Submit with the best of the best and go for the gold. Entry forms and contest guidelines are an easy click away at the NSNC web page. You may just have the winning article...but you can't win if you don't play. It's that simple...GOOD LUCK!

For additional information contact: Cynthia Borris, National Society Newspaper Columnist Contest Chair cynthiaborris@gmail.com

Yes, Cindi, I really did dream God told me I'm fat. It was not my happiest moment.

I've had very few comments to approve for the last few days, probably because everyone's afraid that I'll regale them with stories of my dearly departed cat (don't worry; if I write about my cats, I'll just write stories about their lives as blog posts and I'll entitle them accordingly, although I don't plan to do so).

Yesterday, I took advantage of not having to reply and updated my sidebar a bit. I've removed the tribute to Dewey, but that doesn't mean I'll ever forget her. I simply felt like my heart needed me to put something even more personal in the sidebar. Yes, of course. The cats. Well, they were great pets.

After I added my kitties, I moved all links that smacked of advertising to the bottom of the sidebar. They're not advertisements. I'm not paid to put them in my sidebar; I added them by choice. But, my blog is meant to be a homey, chatty place and books aren't the only thing it's about. So, I decided to keep my tour group -blog directory - media links but move them to a less prominent position.

My third accomplishment was to finally list and link to the books I've read since 2005 in my sidebar. This is something several people have asked me to do. I don't know how to create tabs, so I decided to just go ahead and set up links. Easy peasy. They're lists by month - title and author only. Just for the heck of it, I tossed in my reads from 2000, as well. Typing up all that info was surprisingly fun. Now, I know when I first read Paul Auster, which year I read that Faulkner "with" my eldest (he pretended to read it), and how the variety of books I've read has changed in recent years. Well, I think it's interesting.

Coming up next: A Brevity Test. I usually fail. This time, I'm determined. We'll see how that works out.

Happy Monday!

Bookfool, only cringing a little at the task before her

Kitty Stuff . . . Cause Nothing Else is Working

I've been wrestling with the same review for two three days and my options at this point seem to be:

1. Print it out and shoot it (with nerf darts, obviously), or

2. Try writing something else and then go back to that uncooperative review, later.

I've decided to go with the latter because I'm not sure where the nerf guns have gone. So . . .

Let's Talk About Important Stuff - Kitty love:

Jason of Moored at Sea has come up with a lovely fund-raising project, the Poor Kitties Memorial Fund. Apparently, Neil Gaiman and I have something in common beyond our love of books. Read that 50 times as this is likely the only time you'll see "Neil Gaiman and I have something in common." And what, you ask, might we have in common? He has a dying, blind kitty. Well, okay, mine has already perished but there have been some grieving cat lovers in Jason's sphere and this spurned him to action. Gaiman's cat is named Zoe.

Update: Neil Gaiman has posted a blog entry about the death of Zoe. She died last night, Sunday, January 24. My condolences to Mr. Gaiman.

What a crap thing to have in common with a fabulous author -- dying/dead blind kitties. But let's just try not to think about that and focus on the good.

Jason decided to hold a charity drive "in memoriam of poor kitties" and Mr. Gaiman suggested The Great Lakes Bengal Rescue as the recipient of said charity for kitties. Alternately, one can donate locally, of course. The idea is to do a kindness for kitties. This is a fundraiser I can get behind. Both our dearly departed kitties, Spooky and Sunshine, were rescues.

Spooky and Sunshine taught me a great deal about life and love. I truly believe our pets give back as much love as they're given and then some. At this point, I still get teary when I look at kittens online, so I think I need to give myself a little time to grieve before we adopt again, but a house without any fur kids just sucks. It's way too quiet. No crunching cereal noises, no meow of hunger, no purring. I'm going to donate. I hope you will, too.

The Great Automatic Grammatizator and Other Stories by Roald Dahl

The Great Automatic Grammatizator and Other Stories by Roald Dahl
Copyright 1996
Puffin Books - Fiction/Short Stories
264 pages

The Great Automatic Grammatizator is a collection of Roald Dahl's adult stories specifically gathered to market to young adults. To be honest, I doubt I realized it was marketed to the YA crowd when I bought it because it was one of those books I snatched up at such a bargain price that the manner in which it was classified surely didn't matter. But, I thought the Young Adult classification was rather interesting given the fact that some of the stories seemed awfully adult -- not in a rude way but in the manner of events or situations.

"Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat", for example, is a horror story involving a married woman, a lover, and a mink coat. The story tells what happens when Mrs. Bixby, who has had a lengthy affair with a wealthy colonel, gets a beautiful mink coat as a parting gift when he decides to end the affair. You get into Mrs. Bixby's head a bit, which is part of the adultness and creepy factor. She considers her husband a dull man, not exciting or particularly handsome, and certainly less demanding in the bedroom as the years of her marriage and affair have gone by.

There's no way she can justify the acquisition of a fancy mink coat, so she decides to pawn the coat without giving the shop her personal information. She then informs her husband that she's found a pawn ticket with no name on it. He agrees to collect the pawned item for the $50 disbursement listed on the ticket because it must be something of great value -- whatever some unknown person pawned, he assumes it's worth paying $50 for. There's a clever, awful twist that I probably shouldn't mention but . . . here, I'll save you with a spoiler alert, so you can decide whether or not to read on:

SPOILER ALERT - Don't read this spoiler if you plan to read the short story, "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat" right away (or you just don't want to know the ending because that would be cheating)!!!! You have been warned!

It turns out Mrs. Bixby's husband, a dentist of moderate means (who certainly couldn't afford such a deliriously high-quality mink coat) has been having an affair of his own. His wife eagerly shows up at his dental practice expecting to find that he's retrieved the coat. Instead, he hands her a hideous mink collar with two little mink heads grasping each other's jaws. And, then the dentist's secretary walks by in a glossy mink coat.

END SPOILER!!! It's safe, you can come out, now.

The situation in that story seems pretty adult to me but, then again, I suppose affairs are just run-of-the-mill to the younger crowd, these days, given what's on TV.

The way Roald Dahl takes ordinary situations and turns them into horror reminds me a bit of Richard Matheson's short stories, such as "The Incredible Shrinking Man". Like Matheson, Dahl's stories begin with a completely ordinary person or situation. Something minor but ominous or telling occurs and then the author keeps ramping up the suspense until the story ends on a truly awful note or with a surprising twist. His stories are creepy, but at the same time Dahl maintains his sense of humor. I do love Dahl's sense of humor. My favorite of his works by far was Going Solo, one of two memoirs he wrote -- at least in part because his real-life anecdotes tend to be really funny. The creepy factor is missing entirely from Going Solo.

I enjoyed The Great Automatic Grammatizator and Other Stories, but there was only one story that I considered knock-your-socks-off amazing writing and that was "Katina", the story of a young Greek girl who is adopted by RAF fighters "in the last days of the Greek campaign" of WWII, after her family is killed in the bombing. "Katina" is an incredibly vivid, moving story, unquestionably realistic because Dahl served in the RAF and experienced WWII first-hand. The brutal honesty of the story and its tragic ending combine to make "Katina" both believable and poignant. I think "Katina" is worth the price of the book. It's truly a beautiful piece of writing.

Rating an anthology or collection is so rough. I'd give "Katina" a 5/5, but I think the endings of most of the stories are a little abrupt, if apropos, and people who don't like short stories would tend to dislike this collection. I'm a little more tolerant with short stories than a lot of people and I like Dahl's writing enough that I'd rate it a 3.75/5, overall. The writing is solid, but I didn't enjoy it as much as some collections.

I had to look up anthology vs. collection to figure out if I was using the word "collection" correctly and I happened across the concept of the "omnibus", a word that is totally new to me in the literary sense. Here's the definition I found for the word "omnibus": A volume of reprinted works of a single author or of works related in interest or theme.

And, the definition of "collection": A book of selected writings from various books by an author of the same theme or various themes. e.g. a book of selected short stories from various books by the same author.

Since I don't think the works in The Great Automatic Grammatizator are all thematically related (certainly, there is only one WWII story) and they came from various books by the same author, I'm going with "collection" as the descriptor. Never say I don't keep you informed.

I found a wonderful article written by one of Dahl's daughters in 2005, reminiscing about her father upon the release of a new movie version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I was reading a little bit about Dahl and searching for photos when I happened across that article -- probably for a really ridiculous reason: I wanted to see a photo of him standing because I knew he was tall, but I didn't realize he was that tall -- Dahl was 6'6". I never did find a standing photo, partly because I got sidetracked.

While I was bopping around the internet, I also happened across an article about measles written by Roald Dahl. The story was connected to a modern story about a woman in Great Britain who chose not to have her daughter given the "jab" to protect her from measles and whose daughter then ended up in a hospital with a bad case of measles, gasping for breath and unable to have visitors. The article was linked up to Dahl's own story about the death of one of his daughters before measles innoculations became available. Dahl's 7-year-old daughter, Olivia, was recovering from a long battle with the illness, he said, when he handed her some pipe cleaners to play with. Her mind, however, was not connecting with her hands and he became concerned. Within an hour, he said, she was comatose. Within 12 hours, she was dead. The doctors could do nothing to stop the measles-induced version of encephalitis that killed her.

My childhood innoculation against measles "didn't take" and I was very, very sick for several weeks but I had no idea the disease could be deadly, so I found that essay fascinating. Dahl's objective was to encourage British parents to get their children innoculated because the vaccination was not mandatory in Great Britain. The United States had made it mandatory some years prior to the time he wrote the article.

Anyway . . . babble, babble. Look up Roald Dahl and you'll learn all sorts of fascinating things. I'm convinced I would have loved to meet him and, of course, we would have ended up friends for life and la-di-da.

I've spent way too much time goofing around, going on tangential Roald Dahl-related journeys, today, so I'll stop here. I'm not writing my reviews in any sort of order. Maybe next time I'll shoot for brevity and succeed. I don't even know what I'll be writing about. Someone shake me.

Off to do the housework I ignored all day. Happy Thursday!

Bookfool who really should get up off the chair, for crying out loud

Beyond the Night by Joss Ware

Beyond the Night by Joss Ware
Copyright 2010
Avon - Romance/Paranormal
357 pages
Author's website

The cover blurb describes Beyond the Night as paranormal, but I would call it a futuristic/dystopian novel with some paranormal elements. I'm not sure if that's technically a correct description, but Beyond the Night is definitely set in the opposite of a utopian world.

Elliott Drake and several of his friends have awakened from a 50-year nap. They haven't aged; they just mysteriously bypassed 50 years. Elliott and his friends were exploring in a cave when disaster struck. After awakening, they emerged from the cave to find their world had been utterly destroyed. Now, they must survive in a world controlled by dangerous people who have discovered the secret to immortality and who use zombie-like creatures to do their dirty work.

Jade was captured by the immortals but managed to escape. Since her escape, she has changed her identity to protect herself and those she works with. Jade risks her life regularly as she and her cohorts seek to understand their insane new world and find a way to overcome their enemies. When she meets Dr. Drake, she initially distrusts him, but there's something that draws her to him and slowly he gains her confidence.

Elliott has developed a mysterious ability to cure illness or injury, but there's a catch. Not quite the miracle he originally thought it was, Elliott has to take care not to end up inadvertantly hurting people, as well.

Stuck in this new world together, Jade leads Elliott and friends to the town of Envy. Envy has such an interesting background that I don't think I'll share it; it was awfully fun reading the explanation for the name and the city's history. Once they get to Envy, things really start to happen. They've already had to defend themselves from the zombies or gangas. Now, in Envy, they happen across a secretive plot that could destroy what little the people sheltering in Envy have left. As they set out to find answers, they'll face new dangers and discover the secret that led to the world's destruction.

The secret is weird. I'm not sure how else to describe it and I don't want to give anything away. I enjoyed Beyond the Night because of the story's complexities and uniqueness. Joss Ware is a pen name for Colleen Gleason. In Beyond the Night, I recognized Colleen's hallmark - her ability to create a unique world in spite of the fact that she's entered highly-marketable (often "ditto") writing territory. That's what I loved about the book most, the uniqueness of her world.

What I didn't like was the bad language. There is much more truly nasty language than I expected; the author used a few words that I consider completely taboo, parental-advisory terms. I don't like reading them and I wouldn't hand a book that I know contains those words to my kid. The book is also definitely heavier on romance than what I became accustomed to in Colleen's Victoria Gardella vampire series, which might explain the pen name -- to distinguish the two distinctly different styles, one heavier on romance and the other heavier on action.

It's really totally unfair to compare the two series, but it's also difficult not to. I absolutely loved Colleen Gleason's vampire series and found I had to really work to shut off my expectations. In general, I liked Beyond the Night more the further I got into it. A lot happens, although I thought it was a little slow to crank up and there were times I thought the usual miraculous escape from danger was a little bit of a stretch, but I do like action scenes.

I'm not a typical romance reader in that I dislike graphic sex and bad language, so I'm not going to rate Beyond the Night. Instead, I'll say I enjoyed the fact that there was plenty of complexity to Joss Ware's futuristic world; but, since it's heavier on romance, I'd particularly recommend this book to the romance crowd. If you don't mind more emphasis on romance or are willing to overlook that and the bad language, go for it. Having said that, I do want to continue the series.

In other news: I am now so far behind myself that I'm not sure I'll ever catch up with me. Didn't I say I was going to write some mini reviews? I wonder what ever happened to those. Maybe they'll still appear. I make no promises. A few of the books I've read were sent by either a publisher or publicist and they have top priority. If I do write mini-reviews, it'll probably be a good thing, anyway. I've always thought my posts are way too long.

My eldest son helped divert my mind from the cat to other matters, this weekend. Note to son: I'll mail the Dave Ramsey book, tomorrow, and will be happy to generously offer you some excellent hints about how to stretch your grocery money. You can go a long way on a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut-butter, some raw veggies and fruit, for example. Skip the beer and drink tap water. Don't buy frozen or canned food. There. Don't say your mother never does anything for you.

Back to the rest of you . . . What was I saying? Oh, bookish stuff. A lot of us are trying to read more deliberately, this year. I haven't actually read all that much, but it sure seems like I'm enjoying my reading a bit more. Over the weekend, I read The Making of the African Queen by Katherine Hepburn. I love the movie, so I enjoyed reading about the experience. I also finished They Were Just People: Stories of Rescues in Poland During the Holocaust by Tammeus and Cukierkorn. I have a feeling I'll have a lot to say about that book. If you're a fan of WWII books, grab a copy of They Were Just People. It is excellent.

Gotta go. I haven't used that nifty new treadmill for a few days. Enough moping around. It just makes the butt bigger, you know.

Bookfool, who will be watching old Chuck episodes but has watched some of the new season on Hulu and thinks, "Yes! Chuck still rocks!"

Veracity by Laura Bynum - review delayed and thanks

I was supposed to read and review Veracity by today (Monday, that is), but this was a tear-filled weekend and I sat in front of the TV like a mindless mushroom instead of reading, so the review will be delayed. I've read a whopping 16 pages; I simply couldn't concentrate. However, they were a rocking fine 16 pages, I must say. Veracity is a novel about a dystopian future world in which a pandemic has occurred some 33 years in the past. The time period is around 2045.

There's a new government in the U.S. and all citizens have a "slate" -- a small chip -- imbedded in their necks in such a way that to remove it will slash the carotid artery. Speech is controlled by the slate and the only way to disable it is apparently by forcing oneself to speak a red-listed word. I don't know the name of the heroine, yet (the book is not near me, so I'm just relating what I've read) but she has been "recruited" by some organization outside the city walls in which she lives.

So far, I've really enjoyed what little I've read. I'll try to review Veracity as soon as possible but it's probably going to take me a few days to get back in the swing of things. I had no idea the loss of my sweet Spooky would so thoroughly rock me to my knees. I am grateful beyond measure to those of you who stopped by with hugs and kind words. You sustained me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Love to all,
Bookfool

Rest in Peace, Miss Spooky

You were the sweetest, gentlest cat that ever owned a us. Thanks for many years of love and affection.

Love,
Your family

Letters to Darcy by Tracy Ramos (sneak peek)

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Tracy Ramos

and the book:

Letters to Darcy: a mother’s heartfelt letters to her unborn child

Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (November 9, 2009)

***Special thanks to Maggie Rowe of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tracy Frisbie Ramos is the mother and home educator of six living children, ages two to eighteen, and is joyfully expecting a new child to join their family in November. Tracy’s mission in life is to serve God by raising godly children who will make a different for His Kingdom on earth. It is Tracy’s hope that the legacy of her seventh child, Darcy Anne, will continue to spread the message that children are a gift from God and that the life of the unborn is sacred and should be protected. She and her husband, Jason, currently live in Magnolia, Texas.

Visit the author's website.

Product Details:

List Price: $9.99
Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (November 9, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1414333846
ISBN-13: 978-1414333847
AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Foreword

There comes a time in one’s life when a single decision changes everything. For Tracy and Jason Ramos, that decision was to allow their unborn daughter Darcy Anne to live. Faced with the reality that she was carrying a baby with trisomy 18, Tracy was given the option of ending the pregnancy early, after being assured that her baby was not compatible with life. The Ramoses chose life over death because of their faith in a sovereign God who does all things for His glory. Darcy Anne arrived a few months later as a beautiful bundle of joy, just like the Ramoses’ previous six children.

Although Darcy Anne’s life expectancy was only a few hours, God kept her alive for fifteen amazing days to teach each of us some valuable lessons about life. This gift from God reminded us that life is measured not in days but in daily experiences. Tracy and Jason knew that because their time with Darcy Anne would be short, their memories would have to be long. And so, each hour of Darcy’s life was filled with the joys that most girls have years to enjoy: birthday parties, hugs and kisses, painted toenails, and even a ride on her daddy’s motorcycle. Tracy and Jason treasured each memory with Darcy Anne as if it would be the last.

You are about to read Tracy’s thoughts that were captured in her Web diary. Hundreds were reading about the daily emotions the Ramoses experienced. People who did not know Tracy and Jason began watching a fragile life change the world, one heart at a time. As it turns out, this little four-pound-seven-ounce bundle of joy provided an international audience with a message that should never be forgotten: Each day we live should be for God’s glory, and each of us brings glory to God by the way we live each day.

Tracy and Jason chose life over death for their daughter, and she brought great glory to God as a missionary for life. Those of us who lived this journey with the Ramos family will be forever changed. For those of you who will read of this journey, my hope is that you will see how God has a plan for everything He creates. Darcy Anne is a testimony that life is precious from the moment of conception and that it is given to humankind to fulfill a purpose. Darcy Anne’s purpose was to bring a family together, to unite a church, to remind all of us of how we are to live our lives, regardless of their length.

—Ted Seago

Honored pastor of Darcy Anne Ramos

Grace Community Church

Magnolia, Texas

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

This was one of the most beautiful days of my life. I just found out that I am pregnant. Even though we were not planning on having any more children, God had other plans. I always said that you were our first surprise baby and that you were special because God chose for you to become part of our family. Inside, I was leaping with joy. I saw the plus sign on the pregnancy test, and joy filled my heart. I had felt a void from the decision we made to not have another baby. But God intervened and filled that void. I was overwhelmed with gladness. I waited a week to tell your daddy because I knew he would be shocked. I actually first told your aunt Nekita and then your big sister Ate Brittany.1 I wanted to explode with excitement and tell everyone, but for the first time in your mommy’s life, I showed self-control.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Today was our church’s Valentine’s Day party. We had a great time. I was mostly excited about telling everyone that I was pregnant with you. Darcy, our church really loves babies and got so excited to hear about you. They really were so happy. Daddy even sang me a special song. He forgot the words, but it was still really pretty. He sang “And I Love You So.” Now whenever I hear that song, I will think of you.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

This was my first real scare. I started having crippling pains and bleeding. I just knew that I was going to lose you. I was devastated. I knew that I was given this seventh chance and now it was over. I gave up all hope.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

The bleeding continued all night. I decided to stay home from church and rest. The bleeding finally stopped at noon. I was so relieved. I was glad but still very anxious.

Monday, February 25, 2008: First Sonogram

Today, I decided to go to the doctor and have an exam. I wasn’t scheduled for my visit till next week, but since I was having problems, they went ahead and saw me. They did a sonogram and said everything looked good. I even got to see and hear your heartbeat. Never was I happier. You were a fighter from the very beginning, just like Mommy!

I love you, Darcy. I love you so much.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Well, the bleeding started back up. It seems like this is happening again. It only lasts for about twelve hours and stops. This time isn’t as bad as the last. It sure does scare Mommy when this happens. I hope you are okay.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

I decided to stay home again from church. I am very nervous about doing anything strenuous. I want to make sure you are okay.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Today was my first legitimate doctor’s appointment. I got so sick that I threw up everywhere. Don’t worry, Darcy. I think it was food poisoning and not morning sickness (even though I’ve had a lot of that, too). Dr. Ritter was very nice and did not make me endure the exam but rather just talked to me about what to expect and the extra tests I could get if I wanted them. I also had Daddy pull over along the side of the road on our way home to throw up some more. I was very sick.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

The bleeding started up again. This seems to be happening once a week, on Saturdays. Maybe it is because I tend to do more on the weekends. I hope that I am not overdoing it. I will try to be more careful on weekends. I have continued to have crippling pains, and they seem to be getting worse. It affects my arms and legs. I love you. I have a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday. I will ask him what is going on then.

I love you and hope you are all right.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

I missed church two Sundays in a row and thought I would go today. I talked to some ladies at church about my symptoms and asked if they could be a sign that something is wrong. But they gave me some advice, and I am going to take it. When I got home, my symptoms got really bad. I got a rash all over my belly, and it itched so much. I am going to my regular doctor tomorrow to see what he says. I hope this is not a result of something being wrong with you. I will pray.

Monday, March 10, 2008

I went to my doctor to see what is wrong with me. He didn’t want to diagnose me and referred me back to my ob-gyn. I guess I will see what he wants me to do.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Remember when Mommy said that I was a fighter? Well, I am stubborn, too. I waited till today to go see Dr. Ritter. The pain is too bad to endure anymore. So I went after I had Well, the bleeding started back up. It seems like this is happening again. It only lasts for about twelve hours and stops. This time isn’t as bad as the last. It sure does scare Mommy when this happens. I hope you are okay.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

I decided to stay home again from church. I am very nervous about doing anything strenuous. I want to make sure you are okay.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Today was my first legitimate doctor’s appointment. I got so sick that I threw up everywhere. Don’t worry, Darcy. I think it was food poisoning and not morning sickness (even though I’ve had a lot of that, too). Dr. Ritter was very nice and did not make me endure the exam but rather just talked to me about what to expect and the extra tests I could get if I wanted them. I also had Daddy pull over along the side of the road on our way home to throw up some more. I was very sick.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

The bleeding started up again. This seems to be happening once a week, on Saturdays. Maybe it is because I tend to do more on the weekends. I hope that I am not overdoing it. I will try to be more careful on weekends. I have continued to have crippling pains, and they seem to be getting worse. It affects my arms and legs. I love you. I have a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday. I will ask him what is going on then.

I love you and hope you are all right.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

I missed church two Sundays in a row and thought I would go today. I talked to some ladies at church about my symptoms and asked if they could be a sign that something is wrong. But they gave me some advice, and I am going to take it. When I got home, my symptoms got really bad. I got a rash all over my belly, and it itched so much. I am going to my regular doctor tomorrow to see what he says. I hope this is not a result of something being wrong with you. I will pray.

Monday, March 10, 2008

I went to my doctor to see what is wrong with me. He didn’t want to diagnose me and referred me back to my ob-gyn. I guess I will see what he wants me to do.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Remember when Mommy said that I was a fighter? Well, I am stubborn, too. I waited till today to go see Dr. Ritter. The pain is too bad to endure anymore. So I went after I had lunch with Daddy. Dr. Ritter prescribed some steroids, and I need to take them. He didn’t want to refer me to an allergist yet, just in case my symptoms cleared up. He did say that it has nothing to do with you and that you are not experiencing any bad side effects from the steroids or my symptoms.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Dr. Ritter has cured me. Steroids took all of my symptoms away. I must have been allergic to something. I’ve stopped eating all weird stuff. I hope I stay well and you are okay.

I love you, Darcy.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

All of my symptoms have come back with a vengeance. I went back to Dr. Ritter. He is sending me to an allergist. I went to see her, and she gave me more steroids. She said to be careful with them because of the risk of getting gestational diabetes and having a big baby. She also referred me to a rheumatologist. The allergist wants me to make the earliest appointment with the rheumatologist, which is the middle of April. She ordered some blood tests. I will go tomorrow to have blood drawn.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

I went to have my blood drawn. Daddy and I have our regular lunch date since it is Thursday.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

It is Easter! And Bella gets to share Easter with her birthday. We were going to go to Incredible Pizza, but they were closed. We took her to CiCi’s instead. We will have to go to Incredible Pizza some other time. Isabella’s little secret sis made a special cake for her. It was so pretty and yummy!

Postscript

Although life at the Ramoses is starting to resemble a somewhat routine pace, life after Darcy has felt as if we are suspended in another reality. Darcy shook our complacency by causing us to reevaluate many of the ways we viewed circumstances and treated people. She compelled us to rely fully on God and to trust in His providence.

It’s true that we experienced new depths of pain and anguish, but as is the case with any life-changing experience, we are forever changed because Darcy accomplished the purpose God had for her coming. Little Darcy led us to love more deeply, to forgive, to have faith, to never limit God’s power, to accept His grace and pass it on, to seek more closeness with God, and to abandon our sinful pasts and move ahead to new beginnings.

Our children Brittany, Isabella, Alexys, Mallorie, Roman, and Bryson learned that living the abundant life is about making the right choices and that the choices they make have temporal and eternal consequences.

God sent Darcy to us to help us heal. This is our new normal.

As for the thousands of family members, friends, and caring strangers from all over the world who visited the Web site, Darcy’s impact on them was profound too. Perhaps the greatest change occurred in the hearts of those who, before reading about Darcy, had already made the choice (and had even set up appointments) to have abortions but later changed their plans. Many have renewed their relationships, not just with the Lord but with their loved ones, especially their children.

In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all.

Isaiah 11:6

I read Letters to Darcy in December. It's extraordinarily poignant. While I think I would have opted to abort a child I'd been told wouldn't survive to birth, there are several cases that Tracy Ramos quotes regarding children who were allegedly not going to survive but who came out just fine. That was Tracy's hope -- maybe she the baby would be all right or they'd find a miracle cure before Darcy arrived. As it was, Darcy's 15 days on earth were a genuine miracle. I admired the author for sticking to her guns, doing what she felt was right, in the face of some pretty strong opposition. The book is a tender portrait of her pregnancy, her fears and hopes, and the baby's short time on earth. It will make you cry. And, maybe it will make you rethink the concept of life and death -- when it begins, when it ends, whether abortion is right or wrong. It's thought-provoking and exhausting, tender and beautiful. Highly recommended.

A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi

A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi

Copyright 2009

Sweetwater Books - Thriller/Paranormal

339 pages

When the author contacted me about reviewing A Circle of Souls, it sounded fabulous. I'm a little squeamish about violence in books, but I liked the sound of the paranormal aspect -- a young girl whose dreams are actually psychic messages from a murdered child.

The squeamish bit kept me from reading it for quite a while. I received the book in July and didn't read it till December because I kept thinking it was something I would have to be in the right mental state to handle -- and apparently, I pretty much never consider myself in the right mental state to handle violence, but I finally opened the book and found that I couldn't put it down. What a shock to find that in spite of the initial horror (the young girl's death is pretty brutal) the pages absolutely flew.

A Circle of Souls has two storylines that converge. A young girl is found brutally murdered and FBI agent Leia Bines, an expert in cases involving missing children, is called in to help solve the case. I'm actually writing this backwards -- first, the reader gets to know the murderer in a vague way and then the little girl strays into his path and is killed. That part is horrible and I don't believe it's a spoiler or I wouldn't have mentioned it. It's not till later on that Leia is brought in to investigate, when some clues are uncovered and it becomes certain that the missing girl is not alive.

Around the same time of the murdered girl's death, a seven-year-old girl named Naya is brought in to the Emergency Room after a nightmare caused her to endanger herself by climbing onto a balcony wall in her sleep. Dr. Peter Gram, a psychiatrist assigned to Naya's case to determine the cause of her nightmares, first decides he must rule out any physical cause (such as brain tumor or seizures) before checking her into an inpatient children's psychiatry unit to attempt to unravel the problem.

Naya is a remarkably skilled artist who draws images of her dreams. When the psychiatrist in charge of Naya's care realizes her dreams are actually psychic images sent by the murdered girl (her explanations of her sketches help lead him to that conclusion), he connects with Leia, the agent in charge of the murder investigation, to help her solve it.

I was stunned at how beautifully this book was written. I didn't pay attention to information about the author, at first, but it was written in a way that made me think either he was an amazing researcher or a genuine physician -- especially during scenes that ring true to my own experience, such as the doctor having to dicker with people at the girl's insurance company to make sure she got the care she needed. I finally flipped to the back and found that the author is, in fact, a psychiatrist. Not all physicians can write so well, though, in spite of their knowledge. I found the book impressive in craftsmanship. Besides being well structured, the author nicely inserts his medical expertise without ever going overboard and carefully doles out clues in order to maintain suspense.

A Circle of Souls was by far the most gripping book I've read in ages, well-balanced and written in a way that convinces you, "This could happen." For the subject matter -- a girl who is receiving messages from a murdered child -- I think it's pretty stunning the way the author pulled it off and maintained suspension of disbelief.

5/5 - A gripping, beautifully written, believable story. I couldn't put this book down and look forward to future works from this author.

Just finished: The Automatic Grammatizator and Other Stories by Roald Dahl

Now drinking: Novel Teas. You've probably heard about Novel Teas. I need to find a link to let you know where to buy some because I'm not even sure where to find the stuff, but for now . . . just a word about the tea. I've seen this particular brand of tea mentioned at other blogs and I wasn't quite sure I got the point, then I was contacted and asked if I'd like to sample it. So, now I "get it". It is simply a good blend of tea with a little tag containing a bookish quote. I like tea, although I don't think you could call me a huge tea drinker -- I tend to veer toward flavored and herbal teas. But, I can tell you I do love this tea. It's smooth, not bitter. I don't drink sugar in my tea unless it has a bite to it and there's no tang that needs to be covered up in Novel Teas.

Plus, I'm a sucker for a bookish quote. As a side note, I have forgiven my mother for raising me on that disgusting dried crap known as Nestea. You have to wonder what she was thinking. It took half a sugar bowl to make that stuff palatable. I didn't taste brewed tea until I was a married woman. Anyone who thinks that's beyond weird, hold up your hand.

Gotta go baby my furball. Hope your Wednesday was full of wahoos!

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Copyright 2010

Little Brown - Fiction

565 pages

I finished reading The Swan Thieves a couple of days ago and I've had to let it roll around in my head a bit. I'm not even certain I can fully express how I feel about it, but I'll give reviewing the old college try.

First of all, you should know that this is my first Elizabeth Kostova read. I haven't read The Historian and I resisted reading it for a very long time, simply because: a) it's a chunkster and b) it didn't sound like my kind of book. I've been scolded about that, a good bit, but we'll worry about whether Bookfool will get around to reading The Historian some other time.

The Swan Thieves tells the story of a psychiatrist who goes over and above the call of duty in seeking out answers to a troublesome patient's depression and anger. When Robert Oliver is brought to Goldengrove (a live-in psychiatric facility) after attempting to attack a painting with a knife, he speaks to Dr. Marlow briefly and pretty much says, "Feel free to ask anyone you want to about my problems." Then, he ceases to speak. Oliver is a painter (Artist #1) and Dr. Marlow finds his attack on a painting baffling. Marlow is also an artist (Artist #2). He brings Oliver paints, brushes and an easel in the hopes that resuming his painting will help Oliver open up, but he gets absolutely nowhere. A set of letters written in the late 19th Century, which Oliver reads repeatedly, add some additional clues while simultaneously managing to muddy the waters.

Eventually, Marlow decides to take Oliver up on his offer to interview whomever he pleases and Marlow contacts Oliver's ex-wife, Kate. Kate (Artist #3) says she really doesn't want to talk about her ex, but then she does an about-face and tells him their story in gory detail, all the way from the time they met (which, I agree with Katherine, is totally forced and screamed "plot device") to their divorce. In Kate's house, Marlow finds some clues to Oliver's obsessive, repetitive painting of a particular woman, but he still has no real answers and eventually moves on to interviewing yet another painter (Artist #4 -- really, a little variety in the characters would have been just dandy) and the next woman in Oliver's life, Mary.

Here we toss in something else that I found rather uncomfortably implausible, but I don't want to give that away so let me just say . . . Mary sounds just like Kate, who sounds just like Marlow in that everything she says -- and Mary decides to type up her story, rather than telling it in person as Kate did, which doesn't change things a bit -- is told in excruciating detail, through the eyes of an artist, and without bothering to leave out some cringe-worthy personal details that serve no purpose, whatsoever.

The gist: This is not a well-crafted novel. I like Elizabeth Kostova's writing in that it's evocative of the senses. At times, I enjoyed the detail; I was in the mood for a chunky book full of heavy description (very unusual for me). Normally, I wouldn't have gotten far but I wanted to know the answer to who the mysterious woman in the paintings was and why Robert Oliver was so obsessed.

But, the lack of distinction between the characters, obvious plot devices and a few "clues" that end up being fairly meaningless made the book a mediocre read. At the end of The Swan Thieves I realized the mystery wasn't all that mysterious -- I'd done a pretty good job of figuring everything out by about page 200. There were also a few bizarre little let-downs. There is, for example, a character named "Olivier" in the book. I anticipated a connection between Oliver and Olivier. Could they have been related and Robert's last name Americanized? What if Oliver was the reincarnation of Olivier, thus giving Robert a reason that a long-ago romance haunted the young artist?

Well, no. Nothing that exciting happened. In fact, Olivier turned out to be a given name rather than a surname. It would have been better, I think, had there been a connection between Robert Oliver and at least one of the characters from the past. And, the ending . . . oh, my gosh. The ending really kind of ticked me off. I've decided I won't put up a spoiler alert and mention the ending but I think I can safely say that it was just flat ridiculous and confirmed my lingering suspicion that one of those transparent plot devices was the refusal of Robert Oliver to speak. There wasn't any valid reason for him not to speak. He could have just told the psychiatrist everything that it took 565 pages for Marlow to unearth.

So, I guess I felt a little used. But, I still enjoyed the book. Go figure. The only thing that really bugged me, all the way through the book, was that every key character was an artist and every key character sounded exactly the same. And, then, of course the ending . . . in the end, the psychiatrist didn't actually do the job of a psychiatrist but he still managed to perform a miracle by talking to everyone but the patient and figuring out what was eating him.

3/5 - Average. The detailed descriptions are lovely if you're in the mood to have someone throw an encyclopedia of art and nature at your head, but this author needs to work on giving her characters more distinctive voices and make sure that each scene has a purpose. There was way too much superfluous information -- clues that didn't actually mean much of anything at all and heavy detail that quite simply ought to have been cut.

Bear in mind that I still enjoyed the book. It's just very flawed, in my personal humble opinion.

This is the first of about a squillion reviews I need to write. I think I may do a few slap-dash, quickie reviews in the coming days, just so that I can avoid skipping any of my recent reads entirely but spend a little less time agonizing over reviews than I did on this one. This review took forever to write. Ask Kiddo. He keeps walking into the room to say, "Are you still working on your review?" Yes, and nobody's paying me. Maybe I should give up blogging and become a productive citizen.

Naaaah.

Happy Monday!

2009 Reading Year in Review

*In case I make mistakes or leave things out, updates will be in red. Also, I have no idea where I got that image ----> so if you created it and it's important to you to be acknowledged, just let me know.*

2009 Reading Year in Review

Number of books read: 202

Total pages read: 49,794

Average book length: 247 pages

Longest book read in 2009: Holly's Inbox - by Holly Denham - 665 pages, followed closely by To Serve Them All My Days by R.F. Delderfield at 598 pages

Shortest book read in 2009 (not including children's books): Sometimes My Heart Pushes My Ribs by Ellen Kennedy - 64 pages

Fiction reads: 135

Non-fiction reads: 67 - In spite of the fact that I tried to go easy on the non-fic

Usually, I write new-vs.-previously-read authors, at this point. It looks like an exhausting job. I'm skipping it.

Favorite fiction (Adult):

Love Begins in Winter - Simon Van Booy

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Winifred Watson

Agent to the Stars - John Scalzi

The Lone Ranger & Tonto Fistfight in Heaven - Sherman Alexie

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Katherine Howe

Sweetwater Run - Jan Watson

June Bug - Chris Fabry

To Serve Them All My Days - R. F. Delderfield

The Foundling - Georgette Heyer

A Circle of Souls - Preetham Grandhi

The Girl She Used to Be - David Cristofano

Favorite Fiction (Children's and Young Adult):

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy - Ally Carter

Daylight Runner - Oisín McGann

SLOB - Ellen Potter

So Not Happening - Jenny B. Jones

Otto Grows Down - Michael Sussman

Chicken Dance - Tammi Sauer

The Maze Runner - James Dashner

Uglies - Scott Westerfeld

Christian the Lion - Bourke & Rendall

Found - Margaret Peterson Haddix

Schooled - Gordon Korman

Into the Wild - Sarah Beth Durst

Favorite Non-Fiction:

84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff

A Lovely Little War - Angus Lorenzen

No Touch Monkey - Ayun Halliday

The Non-Runners' Marathon Guide for Women - Dawn Dais

In the Sanctuary of Outcasts - Neil White

Ex Libris - Anne Fadiman

Don't Shoot! We're Republicans! - Jack Owens

The Unlikely Disciple - Kevin Roose

Crossing Myself - Greg Garrett

A Climate for Change - Hayhoe & Farley

How to Lower your Cholesterol with French Gourmet Cooking - Chef Alain Braux

The Blood of Lambs - Kamal Saleem

The Church of Facebook - Jesse Rice

Commonality in a lot of my favorites: I seemed to favor books that made me smile, taught me something new or took me on an exciting adventure. Fantastic writing was a bit rare, this year.

Best (and longest) title: During My Nervous Breakdown I Want to Have a Biographer Present by Brandon S. Gorrell

Most Awesome Writing:

Love Begins in Winter by Simon Van Booy - After I loudly gushed about this book, some smartypants committee gave him an award for the book (the Franklin O'Conner Short Story Award), which just goes to show that you should listen to Bookfool when she says someone's writing is all kinds of awesome.

The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano - This one may surprise some people, but I thought the story was absolutely pitch-perfect.

The Foundling by Georgette Heyer - Awesome writing, adventurous plot, excellent characters, lots of laughs and some white-knuckle excitement. I think Heyer was amazing, but this is the most entertaining of her books that I've read, so far.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie - His writing simply blows me away.

Also, kudos to Ruth Reichl. While I didn't care for Not Becoming My Mother, her writing is so breathtaking that I rushed off to add a bunch of her other books to my wish list.

Anne Fadiman's writing is awesome, too, even though she makes me feel like chopped-liver-for-brains. I'm saving Ex Libris to use as a study in vocabulary, someday.

Best edge-of-seat thriller: A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi (Hope to post a review of this one, soon).

Authors I read more than once:

Simon Van Booy (2) - I read Love Begins in Winter twice and bought 3 copies. Who hasn't read it, yet? We need to talk.

Gene Luen Yang (2)

Shaunti Feldhahn (2)

Colleen Gleason (2) - The second book was written under a pseudonym (Joss Ware).

Ellen Potter (2)

Dr. Carl Verner (2)

Paul McCusker (3)

Greg Garrett (2)

Georgette Heyer (4)

Scott Westerfeld (3 - Uglies, Pretties, Specials)

Jeff Smith (5 - all from the Bone graphic novel series)

Margaret Peterson Haddix (3 from 2 diff. series)

Debbie Macomber (2)

Authors I wish would hurry up and write more:

Patricia Wood - I hear she has turned in her next book -- Wahoo!!!! Now, get back to work, Pat. Kidding, kidding.

Simon Van Booy - Always waiting for more. Always, always. And, that's in spite of the fact that he's Hot Stuff so there's plenty coming. Thank you, Harper Perennial, for signing Simon.

Hugh Laurie - Still waiting, Hugh - come on, hurry up. That House, M.D. gig is no excuse.

John Green - I didn't like Paper Towns as much as his first two, but we're talking itsy bitsy degrees. I love John Green's writing, his attitude, his respect for teens, his nerdiness . . . and his hair.

So far in 2010: I've read a whopping three books. This is partly because I'm reading 2 chunksters at once and partly because it's a hell of a job keeping up with a blind cat who wants to sleep in the room with the new carpet and can't find her way to the food bowls or litterbox from there.

Favorite moment in the past week: When we heard the rain. No ice storm!! Squeee! We are all happy to have dodged that bullet.

Reading goals for 2010 - not using the word "resolutions", this year:

1. Read from my shelves.

2. Purchase no more than 1 book per month (so far, so good)

3. Read what I love; love what I read. Stop reading if a book doesn't grab me. Seriously! I mean it!!!

4. Quit worrying about the fact that I'm just about the only blogger on the planet who doesn't participate in challenges and that I can never, ever keep up with that damned Google Reader.

5. Read at least 144 books.

6. Read no more than 1 or 2 advanced readers per month. It'll be really fun to see how this one works out. I've got a couple of seriously tempting offers in my in-box.

7. Seek out and read more classics, better writing, and a broader variety of international writers.

8. Get all caught up on the pile of ARCs I didn't get to in 2009.

I think this post is more than long enough. I shall cease and desist, now. Happy weekend to everyone!

Snow Twice, Impending Ice. Wow . . . weird winter.

We had a second snowfall, this week! It didn't last long and it promptly melted, but as you can see from the photo above (taken with my handy, dandy new point-and-shoot), the separate snowflakes were beautifully formed. I took photos of snowflakes on my fleece shirt, in my son's hair, on the car, in the leaves. Lovely, lovely.

At this moment, we're bracing for the winter storm that most of the country is expecting but we're not supposed to get snow. This time around, it's too warm and we're right on the borderline between the expected snow area and rain, which means . . . ice storm. I hate ice storms. We don't own a generator, in spite of the fact that I've been lobbying to get one for about 15 years, and now our fireplace is cracked so we can't use it. We always, always lose power in an ice storm and once we hit the level of ice that breaks tree limbs, it becomes really noisy and frightening as limbs and trees crash down around us.

I've spent the day washing laundry and cleaning dishes to avoid having to worry about smelly piles of things that can't be washed and the husband has been cooking a few things that can be nibbled without the necessity to heat or cool them. We have at least three working flashlights and plenty of candles all ready. I'm hoping all this preparation will scare the ice away.

If the power goes out, I plan to huddle with the cat and read like crazy by flashlight. I'm currently reading three books:

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Mr. Darcy's Great Escape by Marsha Altman

The Great Automatic Grammatizator and Other Stories by Roald Dahl

I was enjoying all of them till I had to take today off to actually do some housework. The cat, fortunately, had an alternative lap (the kiddo's) so she's been happy in spite of my activity level. Tonight, Kiddo said he'd had enough of lying about with a cat on his lap and now the husband has her. We're nothing if not a family that coddles its feline.

I'm hoping to participate in the Bloggiesta hosted by MawBooks in order to do a little catch-up, this weekend, power permitting. Since we're expecting the ice to show up in the middle of the night, I think I'll just go ahead and shut down till after the storm that I hope won't materialize. Wishes for warmth and safety to all during the winter storm!

Bookfool, off to clean myself since the house is pretty much done

How I Spent My Christmas Vacation

Hello, everybody!!! I missed you! I'm glad I took off, though, because we were really, really busy during our holiday break. We drove up to Nashville for Christmas, then down to Birmingham and on to Huntsville, Alabama.

Because we spent our Christmas in Nashville (where future Daughter-in-Law lives) and it turns out Davis Kidd Booksellers is a very, very dangerous place (plus, I dropped by Barnes & Noble - one is a B & N book; feel free to guess which one), I came home with a pretty little pile. At the top of this post is a totally accidental shot of my husband carrying the bag of books across the parking garage, which I took when I turned the camera on while walking and then tried to turn it off but hit the wrong button. Isn't that cool? Anyway, books. You're here for the books:

Top to bottom:

The Two Princesses of Bamarre - Gail Carson Levine (I've read this one and regretted parting with my copy, but this copy is prettier)

The Color of Fire - Ann Rinaldi

The Sweet Potato Queens' 1st Big-Ass Novel - Jill Conner Browne

Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie

Arthur & George - Julian Barnes

American Bloomsbury - Susan Cheever

4 out of 6 were on my wish list, including that replacement book. I took that nifty wide-angle photo with my Christmas gift from Huzzybuns:

I'm just thanking the Lord that my fingernails were clean. Haha. Anyway . . . you know I have a pretty nice SLR, right? Well, when we were in Costa Rica, I had to keep that sucker bagged during car rides and I felt like I was missing out on some exciting photo opportunities. I did take a few photos from inside taxis and they were really interesting, but we were jostled around so much (one time, I was stuck in a loose jump seat without a working safety belt and felt obligated to hang on for dear life) that I feared for the health of my camera along with my own fragile bones and tucked it away most of the time.

Since then, I've been begging the huz for a nice little portable camera but I wanted one with a Zeiss lens because the nicer the lens, the better the photos. The number of pixels can be totally misleading. He got me just what I wanted and all of our Christmas pics were taken with my new little toy. Such fun!

This is one of my favorite photos - a shot of eldest son reflected in a Nashville puddle:

We chose to go to Tennessee instead of Oklahoma because when we asked Kiddo what he wanted to do over Christmas break, he surprised us with a very firm plan. "I'm going to Space Camp." Well, okay, we said. We signed him up and decided that we couldn't go two directions (Oklahoma is our home state) and then it turned out that Oklahoma was CLOSED on Christmas Eve, anyway, so we all said, "Yeah. Good decision." We did a lot of driving, though. First was the trip up to Nashville. Then, we dropped the kiddo off at Space Camp in Huntsville:

After dropping off the kiddo, we headed to Birmingham for the night and then drove on home to Mississippi. Blind Kitty had spent 5 days boarded at the vet, by that point, and was a total, whiny mess. So, we took turns cuddling her for two days and then had to board her, again, so we could dash back to Huntsville to pick up our youngest. Like most of our trips, we spent a lot of time shopping for food because the closest Whole Foods is a 3 1/2-hour drive and the closest Trader Joe's is in Nashville. I think we went to at least 3 Whole Foods stores. We made lots of bookstore stops, too, of course!

Husband returns to work, tomorrow, and son goes back to school Thursday. I think I can safely say I'll be glad to have a little alone time by Thursday, but we had a great vacation -- especially the kiddo. Space Camp sounds like all kinds of awesome wrapped up in a rocket and lit with a match. I hope to get back to blog-hopping by the end of the week, catch up on a few reviews, write a December Reads in Review post and talk about plans for 2010, soon. I've actually read a bunch of your posts but I had a cat on my lap and a little netbook thing balanced alternately on my chest or the arm of a chair (and without a mouse), which made it pretty much impossible to comment. I'm really enjoying the end-of-year wrap-ups, though, and hope to chat with my book friends soon!

Oh, and I've updated my sidebar, so you can see what I'm reading, again --------->

Happy 2010!

A newer, fresher Bookfool for a brand new year. At least, that's the objective.

Books Read in 2009

I'll do a separate "Reading Year in Review" post, in which I talk about favorites and such. This is mainly for record-keeping. In 2009, I read a grand total of 202 books - by far the most books I've ever read during the time I've kept track.

January
1. 84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff
2. I Choose to be Happy - Missy Jenkins
3. We're in This Boat Together - Camille F. Bishop, Ph.D.
4. A Civil General - Stinebeck and Gill
5. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - Kate DiCamillo
6. Flight, Vol. 1 (graphic novel) - various/anthology
7. Daylight Runner - Oisin McGann
8. Austenland - Shannon Hale
9. Alpine Americas - Olaf Soot & Don Mellor
10. Recovering Me, Discovering Joy - Vivian Eisenecher
11. Never Say Diet - Chantel Hobbs
12. Grace for the Afflicted - Matthew S. Stanford
13. Katie & Kimble - Linda Thieman
14. Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall - Bill Willingham
15. American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang
16. Written in Blood - Sheila Lowe
17. The Feast of Love - Charles Baxter
18. No Experts Needed - Louise Lewis
19. The Porcupine Year - Louise Ercrich

February
20. A Lovely Little War - Angus M. Lorenzen
21. Lessons from San Quentin - Bill Dallas
22. When God & Grief Meet - Lynn Eib
23. Houston, We Have a Problema - Gwendolyn Zepeda
24. The Giggler Treatment - Roddy Doyle
25. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Winifred Watson
26. For Women Only - Shaunti Feldhahn
27. The Book of Unholy Mischief - Elle Newmark
28. Out of Time - Paul McCusker
29. For Men Only - Shaunti & Jeff Feldhahn
30. Surviving Financial Meltdown - Ron Blue & Jeremy White
31. Hate that Cat - Sharon Creech
32. A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick
33. I Do Again - C & J Scruggs
34. Word Gets Around - Lisa Wingate

March
35. Haunted Encounters: Ghost Stories from Around the World (anthology) - various
36. Zig-Zagging: Loving Madly, Losing Badly - Tom Wilson
37. It's a Green Thing - Melody Carlson
38. Throw Out 50 Things - Gail Blanke
39. The Musician's Daughter - Susanne Dunlap
40. Sometimes My Heart Pushes My Ribs - Ellen Kennedy
41. As Shadows Fade - Colleen Gleason
42. Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home - Thelma Meyers
43. Ghost Cats of the South - Randy Russell
44. Images of Madison County - Stephen Kirkpatrick
45. An Offer You Can't Refuse - Jill Mansell
46. Love Begins in Winter - Simon Van Booy
47. 10 Things I Hate About Christianity - Jason T. Berggren
48. Yesterday's Embers - Deborah Raney
49. Agent to the Stars - John Scalzi
50. Who by Fire - Diana Spechler
51. The Ever-After Bird - Ann Rinaldi
52. The Girl She Used to Be - David Cristofano
53. Otto Grows Down - Michael Sussman, illus. by Scott Magoon
54. Monkey, Monkey, Monkey - Cathy MacLennan

April
55. SLOB - Ellen Potter
56. The King with Horse's Ears - Batt Burns
57. How I Got to be Whoever it is I Am - Charles Grodin
58. Go Back and Be Happy - Julie Papievas
59. Real Solutions for Busy Moms - Kathy Ireland
60. Spiced - Dalia Jurgensen
61. The Lost Hours - Karen White
62. So Not Happening - Jenny B. Jones
63. . So Long Status Quo - Suzy Flory
64. The Blood of Lambs - Kamal Saleem
65. Living Fossils: The Grand Experiment, Vol. 2 - Dr. Carl Verner
66. Fire Me - Libby Malin
67. Stop the Traffik - Steve Chalke

May 2009
68. The House in Grosvenor Square - Linore Rose Burkard
69. The Wonder Singer - George Rabasa
70. I Am the Central Park Jogger - Trisha Melli
71. No Touch Monkey - Ayun Halliday
72. Memory's Gate - Paul McCusker
73. I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti - Giulia Melucci
74. A Girl's Guide to Modern European Philosophy - Charlotte Greif
75. On the Run - Bill Myers
76. Love Begins in Winter (reread) - Simon Van Booy
77. The Dead and the Gone - Susan Beth Pfeffer
78. A Lucky Child - Thomas Buergenthal
79. The Non-Runners' Marathron Guide for Women - Dawn Dais
80. Gossamer - Lois Lowry
81. Evolution: The Grand Experiment - Dr. Carl Werner
82. The Nonesuch - Georgette Heyer
83. Olivia Kidney - Ellen Potter
84. Holly's Inbox - Holly Denham
85. Last Night in Montreal - Emily St. John Mandel

June
86. If your kid eats this book everything will still be okay - Dr. Laura Zibners
87. Crazy for the Storm - Norman Ollestad
88. Don't Call Me a Crook - Bob Moore
89. The Lone Ranger & Tonto Fistfight in Heaven - Sherman Alexie
90. Nothing but Trouble - Susan May Warren
91. The King's Legacy - Jim Stovall
92. Scared - Tom Davis
93. In the Sanctuary of Outcasts - Neil White
94. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Katherine Howe
95. Rubber Side Down: The Biker Poet Anthology, ed. by Jose Gouveia
96. The Unit - Ninni Holmqvist
97. The Corinthian - Georgette Heyer
98. Wicked Lovely - Melissa Marr
99. A Summer Affair - Elin Hilderbrand

July
100. Cousin Kate - Georgette Heyer
101. Valley of the Shadow - Tom Pawlik
102. The Castaways - Elin Hilderbrand
103. During My Nervous Breakdown I Want to Have a Biographer Present - Brandon S. Gorrell
104. Through the Fire - Shawn Grady
105. Shimmer - Eric Barnes
106. The Power of Praying for Your Adult Children - Stormie O'Martian
107. Overheard in New York - Morgan Friedman & Michael Malice
108. The Sword and the Flute - Mike Hamel
109. The Myrtles Plantation - Frances Kermeen
110. The Mysterious Benedict Society - Trenton Lee Stewart
111. The Imposter's Daughter - Laurie Sandell
112. God*Stories - Andrew Wilson
113. The Plight of the Darcy Brothers - Marsha Altman
114. Sweetwater Run - Jan Watson
115. Offworld - Robin Parrish

August
116. The Missionary - Carmichael & Lambert
117. Ex Libris - Anne Fadiman
118. Paper Towns - John Green
119. June Bug - Chris Fabry
120. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (promo book)
121. Evernight - Claudia Gray
122. The Daddy Longlegs Blues - Mike Ornstein, illus. by Lisa Kopelke
123. All the World - Liz Garton Scanlon; illus. by Marla Frazee
124. Chicken Dance - Tammi Sauer; illus. by Dan Santat
125. Mr. Darcy, Vampyre - Amanda Grange
126. Hugh & Bess - Susan Higginbotham
127. The Woodstock Story Book - Linanne Sackett and Barry Levine
128. TSI: The Gabon Virus - Paul McCusker
129. The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
130. Christianish - Mark Steele
131. New Tricks - David Rosenfelt
132. Don't Shoot! We're Republicans! - Jack Owens
133. Darling Jim - Christian Moerk
134. Secret Society - Tom Dolby
135. Godmother - Carolyn Turgeon
136. The Eternal Smile - Gene Luen Yang
137. Enthusiasm - Polly Shulman
138. Visions of America - Joseph Sohm

September
139. Vanishing - Candida Lawrence
140. The Greatest Knight - Elizabeth Chadwick
141. Abide with Me - John H. Parker
142. Bundle of Trouble - Diana Orgain
143. House of Dark Shadows - Robert Liparulo
144. Sometimes We're Always Real Same-Same - Mattox Roesch
145. 31 Hours - Masha Hamilton
146. The Treasures of Venice - Loucinda McGary
147. Pale Phoenix - Kathryn Reiss

October
148. The Unlikely Disciple - Kevin Roose
149. Breaking the Bank - Yona Zeldis McDonough
150. To Serve Them All My Days - R. F. Delderfield
151. Day by Day Armageddon - J. L. Bourne
152. Crossing Myself - Greg Garrett
153. The Maze Runner - James Dashner
154. Cheating Death - Sanjay Gupta
155. Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
156. Not Becoming My Mother - Ruth Reichl
157. The Sneeze - Anton Chekov
158. Bone, Vol. 1: Out from Boneville - Jeff Smith
159. Bone, Vol. 2: The Great Cow Race - Jeff Smith
160. Bone, Vol. 3: Eyes of the Storm - Jeff Smith
161. Psmith in the City - P. G. Wodehouse
162. Cross My Heart & Hope to Spy - Ally Carter
163. No Idea - Greg Garrett
164. Bone, Vol. 4: Dragonslayer - Jeff Smith
165. Christian the Lion - Anthony Bourke and John Rendall
166. The Bible Salesman - Clyde Edgerton
167. Constance & Tiny - Pierre Le Gall
168. Constance & the Great Escape - Pierre Le Gall

November
169. Pretties - Scott Westerfeld
170. A Climate for Change - Hayhoe & Farley
171. Found - Margaret Peterson Haddix
172. $20 Per Gallon - Christopher Steiner
173. Among the Hidden - Margaret Peterson Haddix
174. The Church of Facebook - Jesse Rice
175. Bone, Vol. 5: Rock Jaw, Master of the Eastern Border - Jeff Smith
176. The Blue Umbrella - Mike Mason
177. Into the Wild - Sarah Beth Durst
178. Against Medical Advice - Patterson & Friedman
179. The Foundling - Georgette Heyer
180. How to Lower your Cholesterol with French Gourmet Cooking - Chef Alain Braux
181. The Wizard of Oz (condensed) - L. Frank Baum; illus. by Charles Santore
182. Letters to Darcy - Tracy Ramos
183. How to Roast a Lamb - Michael Psilakis
184. Logan's Run - William F. Nolan & Geo. Clayton Johnson

December
185. Tickle Tut's Toes - Julie Appel & Amy Guglielmo
186. Catch Picasso's Rooster - Julie Appel & Amy Guglielmo
187. One Simple Act - Debbie Macomber
188. Specials - Scott Westerfeld
189. The Christmas Secret - Donna Van Liere
190. Life After Genius - M. Ann Jacoby
191. Schooled - Gordon Korman
192. Mass Casualties - Spc. Michael Anthony
193. Terror in the Towers - Adrian Kerson
194. Beyond the Night - Joss Ware
195. The Reptile Room - Lemony Snicket
196. The Sum of His Syndromes - K. B. Dixon
197. Among the Hidden - Margaret Peterson Haddix
198. A Circle of Souls - Preetham Grandhi
199. Those Christmas Angels - Debbie Macomber
200. How I Live Now - Meg Rosoff
201. Spellbinder - Helen Stringer
202. Look Who's Laughing Now (collection) - selected by Ann Spangler

Whew! I'll come back and add links if I ever have the strength. What a year!