Monday Malarkey - Your weekly dosage of malarkey

I'm just going to dive right into the weekly post, today, as last week was pretty much "more of the same" -- a little reading, a lot of time spent working on organizing our home library, quite a bit of reviewing but mostly in "mini" form. 

Recent arrivals:

• The Fever by Megan Abbott - sent by a friend
• Dinosaur Farm by Frann Preston-Gannon - from Sterling Kids for review (there will be a giveaway of this one in September)
• The January Dancer by Michael Flynn [not pictured] - via Paperback Swap. I think I put this on my wish list for Kiddo, possibly on the recommendation of a sci-fi-loving friend. It looks like his sort of book (and I'm interested, as well).

Last week's posts:

• Dinosaur Opposites, Dinosaur Colors, Dinosaur Shapes and Dinosaur Numbers by Paul Stickland - Reviews of 4 children's books (preschool)
• Minis: My Custom Van by Michael Ian Black, Atlas (Poems) by Katrina Vandenberg, Rescue by Anita Shreve (mini reviews)
• Run, Don't Walk by Adele Levine, The Color of Fire by Ann Rinaldi, My Drunk Kitchen by Hannah Hart - (more mini reviews)
• Fiona Friday: Daydreaming (cat photo)

Last week's reads:

• Dinosaur Farm by Frann Preston-Gannon
• The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar
• Paramédico by Benjamin Gilmour

Set aside:

• Dockers' Stories from the Second World War by Henry T. Bradford - I'll give this a second go, eventually, although I was not impressed with what little I read and the print is painfully small.

Currently reading:

Spillover by David Quammen - It's been a few days since I picked up Spillover, but I'll return to it tonight.  Paramédico was such an interesting book, particularly from a cultural perspective, that I was blasting right through it and actually decided to stop to finish The Story Hour then return to Paramédico the next day, just to drag out the fun.

Reading plans:

I thought I was completely finished with book tours but then I got a message from TLC Tours saying I have an upcoming tour date for Season of the Dragonflies by Sarah Creech, so I'll be reading that and my F2F book group's August selection, The Black Flower by Howard Bahr, this week.

Movies/TV:

This is a repeat since we've seen The Day of the Doctor twice, already, but we were in the mood for something reliable and Dr. Who is a bit of a comfort show. We streamed it, even though we own a copy. Next time I'll pop in the DVD. I could have used subtitles. Sometimes Matt Smith and David Tennant rattle off their lines a bit too fast for me.

The Escape Artist is a 3-part series that we began watching just because it stars David Tennant. Tennant plays a junior barrister, Will Burton, who has never lost a case. He is chosen to defend a man who is clearly guilty and confesses that he doesn't even like people. "I'm not a nice person," he tells Burton. 

The rest is spoiler territory but I will tell you that the first episode is so suspenseful that neither of us could bear to finish it on the night we streamed it. I was certain it was going to end badly. The next day, I decided to go ahead and finish the first episode. Huz refused to watch it with me and went to another room. Sure enough, it ended with a second horrific murder -- even worse than anticipated. We won't be watching the other two episodes.  The Escape Artist is as much horror as suspense; now that I know how gruesome it can get, I'm not interested in continuing.


That's about all the malarkey I've got, at the moment. I meant to make an announcement, last week, but didn't get around to typing it up. It's nothing major so I'll get to it when I get to it.

Happy New Week!

©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.

Fiona Friday - Daydreaming

©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.

More minis - Run, Don't Walk by A. Levine, The Color of Fire by A. Rinaldi, My Drunk Kitchen by Hannah Hart

In my continuing quest to catch up with myself, I give you a second round of mini reviews. One was sent by a friend, one unearthed during the library organization and one received from the publisher.

Run, Don't Walk by Adele Levine, P.T.  - published in May, Run, Don't Walk is the memoir of a physical therapist who worked at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center, now closed and combined with a naval medical facility. 

As a therapist at Walter Reed, Levine worked with military amputees, helping them adjust to life without one or more limbs and learn how to live with prosthetics.

I've seen photos of famous people visiting soldiers at Walter Reed and the equipment is well described so I had no trouble visualizing the work amputees do to recover, but there were a few things that did surprise me, chiefly the fact that the amputees' therapy room was designed like a fishbowl, so that people could walk past and peer inside. Celebrities came through specifically for the photo-opportunities (although one, in particular, was admired for not arriving with photographers).

Run, Don't Walk is fascinating, educational and will definitely make you admire the determination, humor and courage of amputees and the people who work with them. It's not just about the author and her job, it's about the individuals and their struggles, how humor and friendship heal, the kindness shown by those in the world outside the hospital in unexpected ways and how Walter Reed has been abused by people who aren't really in need of therapy, as well.

Highly recommended - A well-written memoir that will touch your heart and soul. The copy I read was an ARC sent by a friend.

The Color of Fire by Ann Rinaldi is a book that I happened across while sorting books, over the weekend. I've read other books by Rinaldi (A Break with Charity is the only one I can recall, off the top of my head) and knew they're quick reads so I flopped down on the library floor, began to read The Color of Fire without bothering to read the description and found that the story was about a historical event I'd never heard of. 

The Color of Fire takes place in 1741 and begins with a series of fires. Phoebe is a house slave who knows she has an easy life. Her master and mistress are kind to her and the other slaves and servants. Cuffee also works for the Philipse family. But, when he's seen running from the scene of a fire clearly set by arsonists, he's arrested. Mr. Philipse stands up for him but when he's accused a second time, there's nothing Philipse can do to help. A mob mentality has taken over the town and they're out for blood.

Based on a true story, the tale of how frightened slaves --many of whom were innocent but caught in a chain in which the promise of release persuaded individuals to name other alleged conspirators -- led to nearly two dozen deaths by hanging and burning at the stake. 

Recommended - A horrifying fictionalized account of how group frenzy much like that of the Salem Witch Trials led to the death of both innocent and guilty without regard to evidence or facts.  The Color of Fire has received some scathing reviews at Goodreads and most common complaint seems to be a distaste for the ending. I liked the ending. While I thought the book was predictable, I actually felt a little more comfortable having a good idea how it would end, even if the real-life outcome was appalling and gruesome. 

My Drunk Kitchen by Hannah Hart is a book I received from Harper !t for review and I'll just confess up front that I'm sticking this one in last place to bury it a bit. 

Hannah Hart is a YouTube sensation who began her "My Drunk Kitchen" videos on a night when she was bored. She had moved to New York City and was missing her friends back in California. It's a fake cooking show and I had never seen it but I figured there would be something of interest in it. Maybe a simple recipe or two that you could cook while drinking heavily? I don't drink -- I'm just a disinterested cook, so the easier, the better.

Unfortunately, all I got out of this book was a bit of goofy wisdom that I didn't need. The photos are smashing; I definitely give the book kudos for gorgeous presentation. And, I laughed at the "fortune" in Hart's version of fortune cookies (fortunes stuffed into croissants). To see if I was missing some crucial factor that made My Drunk Kitchen funny instead of just -- with apologies to the author, this is just how I feel -- a pointless waste of lovely, high-quality paper, I looked up her YouTube videos. Sigh. Not for me. I'm just the wrong audience.

I am doubly baffled by the fact that John Green wrote the foreword and Neil Gaiman blurbed it, both very positively. I just don't get the humor in this book.

Not for me, but check out Hannah Hart's "My Drunk Kitchen" videos at YouTube. If you think she's entertaining, definitely grab a copy. It's getting terrific ratings and clearly I'm not the right audience. The photography is stunning and there are bits of useful wisdom, I suppose -- nothing new to a world-weary middle-aged woman, but My Drunk Kitchen is uplifting in an offbeat way. Also, my 22-year-old thought her suggestion to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cut them into 9 squares and stick toothpicks in each square was a fabulous party suggestion! Umm . . . maybe we need some mother-son cooking lessons?

One odd note:  Hannah Hart has a tiny freckle on the tip of her nose that is visible in photos throughout the book but which was edited out of the cover photo. I found that mildly offensive. So she has a prominent (albeit faint) freckle? Leave it be. My opinion. Hart is very, very photogenic, freckle and 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.

Minis - My Custom Van by Michael Ian Black, Atlas (poems) by Katrina Vandenberg, Rescue by Anita Shreve

This is quite a varied set of books. None of them were sent to me for review. One was a gift, one purchased and I won My Custom Van in a Twitter giveaway.

I had no idea who Michael Ian Black even was, when I won My Custom Van -- I just quickly looked him up and thought, "Yeah, I could stand a laugh," and signed up for the drawing. 

Five years passed before I got around to reading My Custom Van and I have mixed feelings about it, but I knew I was going to at least like it when I read the "Foreword by Abraham Lincoln." Essays include "One Day, I'm Going to Open a Scented Candle Shoppe,"which reads like a short story with a surprise twist ending and, "Hey, David Sedaris -- Why Don't You Just Go Ahead and Suck It?", an essay that is surprisingly complimentary to its subject. "Taco Party" reads like a story written by a high school kid trying to show off his coolness by peppering the description of his upcoming party with foul language. My favorite line: "You can't f***ing swim in guacamole!"  

Like a lot of comedians, he can end up in bad language, sex-laden, yucky territory and that makes it easier for me to foist upon the son who asked for it in 2009. It just feels like it's meant for the younger crowd. I did, however, accidentally laugh a few times, so . . . Recommended for those who don't mind off-color humor.

Atlas (Poems) by Katrina Vandenberg was a Christmas gift from my wonderful blog buddy Chris and reading about how to read poetry must have helped because the first time I picked it up, I couldn't get into it. The second time, I absolutely loved it. 

Vandenberg was in a long-term relationship with a man who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion during the days before blood was screened for HIV. He was a hemophiliac. She was a Fulbright fellow in the Netherlands. These two major events -- the loss of a partner to AIDS and time spent in Netherlands -- informed her poetry with images of blood and tulips. 

There were a few poems that made little question marks hang over my head, but for the most part I found Vandenberg's poetry lucid and raw, about love, pain and beauty. I had to look up at least one Dutch painting she mentioned (always fun to have an excuse to go a-googling) and appreciated the learning experience. I will definitely be watching for more by Vandenberg. Recommended to poetry lovers. 

Rescue by Anita Shreve was, like the two books above, a book that I happened across while working on organizing my personal library. I had just finished reading The Paramedics within a week of finding Rescue and it seemed a fitting follow-up, a contemporary fiction read about a paramedic, the love of his life, and the daughter he fears he may lose to her mother's addiction.

When Peter pulled Sheila from the wreckage of a car, he could smell the alcohol, so he knew it was crazy (and, definitely unethical) to get involved with her. But, there was something about her that drew him back, again and again, till they ended up married with a baby. 

In the present day, his daughter Rowan is floundering. She's always been happy and well-adjusted but now she's acting out. The knowledge that her mother was an alcoholic leads her to numb her own fears by drinking heavily, herself. Can Peter reach Rowan before it's too late?

I read a few reviews of Rescue because I was curious what people thought about the paramedic action scenes. The book is Peter's story, about how he loved and lost his wife and has carefully raised his daughter but then realizes he is losing her, too. Because Peter is the hero, there are quite a few scenes from his working life. I loved that. Having just read a history of early EMS, I enjoyed reading updated scenes to see how things have changed. But, many readers had a problem with the abundant use of rescue scenes. They were in it for the usual Shreve fare and found his work uninteresting. My only problem with Rescue was the fact that I thought there were a few too many life-threatening accidents involving his family and Sheila was an unlikable character. Otherwise, I found the book entertaining.

Recommended if you like reading EMS action scenes with a touch of family angst. Atypical for Shreve but well-researched. I didn't like Sheila but I did admire Peter as a human, if not his choice in women, and I cared about Rowan. 

©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.

Dinosaur Opposites, Dinosaur Colors, Dinosaur Shapes and Dinosaur Numbers by Paul Stickland

Dinosaur Opposites, Dinosaur Colors, Dinosaur Shapes and Dinosaur Numbers
Written and Illustrated by Paul Stickland
Copyright 2010
Source: Sterling Children's Books

Dinosaur Opposites, Dinosaur Colors, Dinosaur Shapes and Dinosaur Numbers are slender books with gorgeous illustrations for preschoolers. I have mixed opinions of the books, which is a little surprising when you consider the fact that they're all by the same author.

Dinosaur Colors is a book that contains a single word -- the color -- per two-page spread.

I love the fact that the dinosaurs are not exclusively one color because, as you see in the spread of the color "blue" above, there is a little green goo dripping off one dinosaur's back and the other dinosaur's belly is pink. The fact that the word "blue" is written in the correct color makes it perfectly clear which color is the focus of each page spread, but then you can point at the other colors and say, "What color is his tummy?" or "See the tree? It's a different color, isn't it? Do you know what color?" So, there's plenty of room for interaction.

The same is true for Dinosaur Shapes. There is a highlighted shape for each two-page spread but a bit of crossover with a bold color to identify and then one or more shapes to find on the opposite page, where the dinosaurs are doing something: standing on squares, bouncing with a triangle in hand, holding up a rectangle.

The dinosaur holding a triangle also has triangular-shaped stripes on his back and sharp, triangular teeth to point out to a little one while the page spread about circles contains a spotted dinosaur.

Dinosaur Numbers is much the same as Dinosaur Shapes with a large number on the left-hand page and dinosaurs on the right. Note that there are two dinosaurs to go with the number two, but three bones so you have an opportunity to count something different and talk about the fact that the number of dinosaurs and the number of bones is not the same, the number two is red, and the two dinosaurs are not the same color:

I think Dinosaur Numbers, Dinosaur Colors and Dinosaur Shapes are all excellent. The concepts are clear and there's plenty to talk about beyond the the subject matter. So there's a surprising amount of learning material within each book. And, you can see the dinosaur pictures are absolutely adorable.

Unfortunately, Dinosaur Opposites is a completely different story. I neglected to take an interior photo and now my photo-editing software is freaking out on me, again. So, you'll just have to trust me when I say the illustrations in Dinosaur Opposites are mystifying rather than precise in their representation of concepts. The page spread that shows "fast" and "slow", for example, shows two different types of dinosaurs running. The slow dinosaur is a bulky triceratops and the fast dinosaurs (there are three of the same type) are leaner. But, all are running and it's not particularly clear who is running faster. In fact, the "slow" dinosaur is in the lead.

Three recommended, one not recommended - It feels a little odd to say three out of four books in the same series are recommended and one not, but I think Dinosaur Numbers, Dinosaur Colors and Dinosaur Shapes are all excellent little books for preschoolers, yet Dinosaur Opposites is simply too vague. Having said that, I will backtrack on myself and note that "lumpy" versus "spiky" is pretty clear and Kiddo says "good" and "bad" is works for him because one dinosaur looks like he wants to eat the other and the "good" dinosaur has an, "Oh, sh*t" look on his face. I'd advise flipping through Dinosaur Opposites (or searching for interior photos online) before buying, but the rest are terrific little books with charming illustrations and plenty to talk about beyond the subject matter.

©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 - Of Dinosaurs and Curious People and Flaming Colors

Today's subject line refers to last week's reading material.  Read on and you'll find that I clearly had more fun reading than writing, last week, but there were mitigating circumstances, like that forgotten anniversary (which ended up with a nice anniversary dinner), the Kiddo's continuing presence (he's getting sick of us, but he's still here) and then we had a weekend of storms that kept me off the computer -- noisy, cat-frightening, electricity-killing storms.  And, now my printer is not working. There's always something not working. What's up with that? Is it modern life in a nutshell, the concept that "something must not work at all times"?

Since it was storming, I spent a lot of time working on the library, this weekend. For a brief moment in time, the library floor was visible (so I took a picture). But, then I emptied about 8 more boxes of books and the floor has disappeared. It is, in fact, quite hazardous. I discovered that it's time to quit shelving books when you trip on the floor piles. After I failed to heed the first warning that I was worn out, I bashed my face on a cabinet door and then ran into a door frame. That was enough to send me skittering off to bed.

Recent arrivals:

• Traditional Foods of Britain: An Inventory by Laura Mason with Catherine Brown - Purchased secondhand online
• Storm Surge by Adam Sobel - From Harper for review
• Village of Secrets by Caroline Moorehead - from Harper for review
• King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild - Sent by very generous friend who went out and bought a copy for me after I expressed interest during a Facebook conversation.
• The Darkest Hour by Tony Schumacher - from William Morrow for review

Last week's posts . . . last week was a blogging dud:

• This is the Water by Yannick Murphy (a DNF post)
• Things I forgot to remember and a few days off (a post about forgetting my anniversary, among other things)

Last week's reads (most of the dinosaur books were rereads because I didn't add them to my calendar, the first time - always a mistake):

• My Custom Van by Michael Ian Black
• Dinosaur Numbers by Paul Stickland
• Dinosaur Colors by Paul Stickland
• Dinosaur Opposites by Paul Stickland
• Dinosaur Shapes by Paul Stickland
• Why Did T-Rex Have Short Arms? and other questions about dinosaurs by Melissa Stewart
• The Future for Curious People by Gregory Sherl
• The Color of Fire by Ann Rinaldi

Set aside:

Whispers of Love (in Blessed Assurance, a 3-book collection) by Lyn Cote - 35 pages in, nothing seemed to be happening. The storyline still sounds interesting but I think I'll pass this one on to my romance-crazy best friend, since I'm in the process of culling the books.

Currently reading:

• The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar
• Spillover by David Quammen
• That book about dockers' stories (not impressed, so far -- it may end up being a DNF if something wonderful doesn't happen, soon)

Movies (the first one is the shocker):

Something you should know about me to understand why it's shocking that I watched The Lego Movie: I hate cartoon movies with a passion. That excludes favorite childhood movies, of course (they were better, back then, if you ask me). Point being, I just don't watch them. If the guys put on a cartoon movie, I leave the room. I figured The Lego Movie was basically going to be a cartoon movie in style, meaning the basic stupidity of storyline. Honestly, I just can't stomach those gushy, romantic-but-with-a-strong-heroine movies of recent years. 

The guys would not relent. They didn't drag me to the living room but they were pretty stubborn. They paused the movie at the opening credits and waited till I showed up. They made snacks and wouldn't let me share until I sat down on the sofa. Evil tactics work! I was hungry. Five minutes in and I was hooked. What a clever, hilarious movie. I loved it. 

The next day, I tried to get the guys to watch a movie of my choosing. I failed dismally. If only I'd thought to feed them. My choice was Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the 1956 version. I wasn't alive in 1956, in case you're wondering. I'm not that old. Of the many versions of the Jack Finney classic, the 1956 version is my personal favorite but, to be honest, I don't even remember any of the others, except . . . wasn't Leonard Nimoy in one of them? I'll have to look. 

I've only read Invasion of the Body Snatchers once, but I do recall the ending and it's quite different from the ending of the movie. However, I do think the ending to this particular movie is a good one -- chilling, yet hopeful.  

The cats and I enjoyed it. Periodically, one of my humans would walk through the room. The husband said, "That's the best version," and walked on. Kiddo made some sort of grunting noise when I tried to lure him and hid in his room. He's not a fan of black-and-white movies so it would have been a hard sell. Next time, there will be food. And, now I want to reread the book, of course.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan has always been one of my least favorite of the old Star Trek movies, but Kiddo is persuasive (and there was probably some sort of snack involved, again -- I don't recall). I told Kiddo I've never liked The Wrath of Khan. He said he didn't care; my presence was required or some such nonsense.

Oddly, I ended up loving it. I particularly hate the part when Chekov screams piteously as Khan drops that nasty, scorpion-like creature into his ear and I mentioned that to Kiddo. He handed me one of the zappers. I was prepared to mute that bit and then I started daydreaming and the next thing I knew we'd passed it without any audible wails. I think Kiddo must have fast-forwarded past the scene. It helped. I enjoyed the movie as I never have. 

We didn't watch the Director's Cut. That's just the best image I could find, at left.

Next up will be dinosaur books. This is a weather-dependent statement. I've started but not finished the posts and hoped to get them all wrapped up and pre-posted, this weekend. Best-laid plans and all that. There will also be an Important Announcement, this week. And, then we'll see what happens. Storms are predicted for the entire week and weather being the fickle thing that it is, I can't say whether or not it will wreck the blogging week. The plants are certainly appreciating the rain, though, and it makes for good reading weather. I'm happy. Are you happy? The Pope wants you to be happy and so do I. 

©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.

Things I forgot to remember and a few days off

Yes, folks, it's true. I've been married so long that I forgot my anniversary was this week. With that and the fact that Kiddo is about to head home this weekend in mind, I've decided to take a few days off. When I return, there will be dinosaur books to talk about!  I planned to post about the dinosaur books last weekend, then this week, then Tuesday was busy and . . . oh, yeah, Wednesday a tour post was due (at least I didn't forget that for long -- calendars are very helpful things). I've warned husband that after I've taken a day or two or three off, I'm going to have to dive in and tackle some of those reviews. He shrugged. That was the correct response, in case you're wondering. 

This will not be a lengthy break, just a few days off to be present with family. Back soon!

©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.

This is the Water by Yannick Murphy (DNF)

This is the Water by Yannick Murphy
Copyright 2014
Harper Perennial - General fiction
Source: Harper Collins for TLC Book Tours

This is the water, lapping the edge of the pool, coming up in small waves as children race through it.  This is the swim mom named Dinah wearing the team shirt with a whale logo on it, yelling at her daughter Jessie to swim faster. This is Jessie who cannot hear Dinah because Jessie is in the water. Jessie is singing a song to herself. She is singing, "This old man, he played one. He played knick knack on his thumb." Dinah is red in the face, standing in the stands. Dinah moves her hand in the air as if to help hurry her daughter along. Behind the starting blocks the water comes up over the edge of the pool and splashes the parents who are timing on deck.

~p. 1 of This is the Water (first paragraph)

This is the Water was a DNF (Did Not Finish) read, unfortunately. The Call by Yannick Murphy was actually one of my absolute favorite books of the year in 2011, so I had high hopes.

This is the Water is a book with characters involved in a private swim team. One of the swimmers is murdered, one of the parents thinks her husband is having an affair, another finds herself attracted to someone else's husband. This is the Water interested me primarily because I loved The Call so much, but I also was a swim mom for many years and in spite of some painful politics that made a mess of things for a time, I still miss that world. I thought it would be fun to immerse myself in the reading of a book that described an activity I really loved being involved in. I didn't particularly care about the murder aspect, just the world of swimming.

Unfortunately, it was the author's choice to write This is the Water in 2nd person present that drove me away. I made it 65 pages. Had the book been told in 3rd person or even 1st person, either past or present, I think it would have worked fine for me.  I was interested in the characters and what was going to happen to them. The fact of the matter is that the storytelling was simply too clunky and exhausting. Every time I put the book down, I found myself sighing with relief. The final time I set it down, I realized that I could happily walk away from the story without ever picking it up again. It was simply too draining. So, I stopped. I usually go by the 50-page rule but, again, I did think the characters and the idea were good ones. It was just not a manner of storytelling that I could bear, although I can appreciate the idea -- the experimentation and creativity of trying a new style.

If you like the writing in that first paragraph (from the published print version) and don't find the repetition as tiring as I did, I definitely recommend that you go for it. I skimmed the reviews at Goodreads and found that I'm in the minority; This is the Water is getting pretty high ratings. And, although this particular book did not work for me, I will definitely read Yannick Murphy's work, again.

©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 - The usual stuff, without photo due to hinky computer

I've got the laptop on my lap so I'm not totally without options, here, but the laptop is new and has no photo software, so no photo of a pretty book stack, today. We had a busy weekend which included a long-winded, noisy lightning storm or I might have pre-posted a thing or two before the desktop flipped out. No such luck. My sidebar is also well and truly outdated. I'll work on that as soon as I'm able.

Recent Arrivals (currently supporting my laptop -- excuse me while I dive below to look at titles):

• Burn by Julianna Baggott - sent by friend
• Shopping for Porcupine by Seth Kantner - via Paperback Swap
• My Drunk Kitchen by Hannah Hart - from Harper !t
• Food in England by Dorothy Hartley - purchased secondhand
• Monster Party by Annie Bach, and
• Calvin, Look Out! by Berne and Bendis - both unsolicited from Sterling Children's Books
• Spillover by David Quammen - purchased

I also received a small pile of WWII books that I purchased but they've already been shelved (this weekend was another big "work on the library" weekend).


Last week's posts:

• Mini reviews: The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by J. Dicker, Parsons Green by Fiona Bagley, Goodnight June by S. Jio
• The Paramedics by James O. Page (review)
• Landing Gear by Kate Pullinger (review)
• The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno and a Fiona Friday photo (review and cat photo)

Last week's reads: 

• Run, Don't Walk by Adele Levine, P. T.
• Monster Party by Annie Bach
• Calvin, Look Out! by Jennifer Berne and Keith Bendis
• My Drunk Kitchen by Hannah Hart
• If You Ask Me by Betty White

Currently reading:

• Spillover by David Quammen
• My Custom Van by Michael Ian Black
• Whispers of Love by Lyn Cote

Set aside:

• Sextant by David Barrie - I intend to return to Sextant but after misplacing it for nearly a week, I decided I'll just retire it for the moment and reread the first chapters when I pick it back up.
• This is the Water by Yannick Murphy - DNF for good. This is a tour book so I'll post about it on Wednesday.

There are some unusual titles in my current and recent reads, all of which I can chalk up to the library organization. As I've cleaned and purged, a few have caught my eye and I stopped to read a few pages then kept right on reading. It's one of the hazards of organizing a library. The Betty White book, If You Ask Me, was a gift from my son in 2011.  I remember putting it on my master bedroom shelf, thinking I'd slide it in between ARCs when I had a minute. And, then, of course 3 years passed. As it turned out, the book is a quick read with random thoughts about White's career, her passion for animals and ecology, being old, life in general. It took an hour or two to read, max. I could have slipped it in easily at any time. Live and learn.

My Custom Van by Michael Ian Black has a similar story but it was a Twitter win. When I received the book, my eldest came for a visit and told me he's a fan, so he'd like to have it when I finished, then it stayed on the shelf and eventually ended up boxed for 2 years following our move. I'm about halfway (would have finished last night, had I not stopped to read the Betty White book) and will send it on, this week, if my son still wants it. When I flipped to the copyright date, I was more than a little stunned. 2008.  2008??!!!  It could have been released later because it's a paperback that might have had a hardback release, first, but still . . . at least 5 years have passed since the book arrived. I feel stunningly ephemeral, after thinking about that. Seriously, 2008???!!!! How did that much time pass so quickly?

The Lyn Cote book was another personal library find. It's actually one of 3 in collection called Blessed Assurance. I have no idea where I got Blessed Assurance but I began reading Whispers of Love and didn't want to put it down or it would have gone into the donation bag.

Spillover is a book about how most illnesses are transferred from animal to human, including the search for the origin of ebola and past outbreaks (very timely). From reading Spillover, I'm already under the impression that the anti-vaccine movement is a lot more of a danger to us than ebola, for several reasons I won't go into. The current ebola outbreak will render parts of Spillover outdated, but the history obviously remains valid.  It's a fascinating read.

TV and movies:

Kiddo has been home for a week and he has this tendency to take over the TV. Fortunately, he does turn to MeTV when Adam-12 comes on and he usually sticks around for Emergency!  Since I watch Emergency! while exercising, there've been times he and I have hollered through the walls ("The key word is camping -- they need to look for a tick!") or heard each other laughing while we're watching on the two TVs in adjoining rooms. No movies. Maybe next week.

That's about all the malarkey I've got, for now.  Happy Monday!

©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.

The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno and a Fiona Friday photo

The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno
Copyright 2014
Harper Teen - YA
Source: HarperCollins

The people we love get under our skin and crawl through our veins and find their way into our heart.  They choke up our blood flow and mess up our breathing and tangle themselves through our bodies like wire. Like razors, like fire.

~p. 142 of The Half Life of Molly Pierce, Advance Reader Copy (some changes may have been made to the final print version)

As The Half Life of Molly Pierce opens, teenage Molly is just emerging from a blackout while driving her car. She sees a young man on a motorcycle in her rearview mirror, feels like she ought to know who he is, watches as he's hit by a car and holds onto his broken body as he's taken to the hospital. But, who is he and why does she feel a connection to him? And, how does he know her name?

It's not a spoiler to say that Molly suffers from dissociative identity disorder (which used to be known as multiple personality disorder or split personality). But, Molly doesn't know that. All she knows is that she has strange blackouts, has seen a psychiatrist since she made an offhand remark about not always wanting to live, and that she's beginning to have flashes of memories that feel out of place. Nobody is willing to tell her what they know about what's going on. 

Molly's alternate personality is Mabel. Mabel is letting Molly slowly piece together her memories. But, as Molly puts together the puzzle of what's happened during her blackouts, she must also deal with the fact that Mabel was in love and now Molly is left grieving for what she once had and has lost.

I loved The Half Life of Molly Pierce partly because I've never read a work of fiction with a heroine suffering from this particular mental illness. It made for interesting reading, rather like a mystery but one that addresses some serious mental health issues in a digestible manner. I don't read a great deal of Young Adult fiction but when I do I'm reminded that YA novels often do a tremendous job of tackling serious issues and making the reader think without bogging one down in too much superfluous detail. That's definitely the case with The Half Life of Molly Pierce.

The only thing I didn't like about The Half Life of Molly Pierce was the ending. While I didn't love how the story ended, I have a feeling I know why the author made that choice. I would have personally chosen the more dramatic (and, therefore, more entertaining) option, but it still worked for me. I'll hide how the book ends because it's a spoiler.  Highlight if you're curious but convinced you won't read the book right away . . . or if you're not afraid of spoilers . . . or if you're not planning to read the book. Whatever.

Multiple personality disorder is a condition that is generally caused by a serious trauma and I expected the author to reveal the trauma Molly went through to cause her to dissociate. Molly was not a typical patient, though, so what you might expect to be a big reveal is, instead, a big let-down. 

Highly recommended - While the ending was disappointing, I thought The Half Life of Molly Pierce was well-written, compelling and the author did an excellent job of tackling a mental health issue that I haven't read about in quite some time in a palatable way, so I still highly recommend it.

And, in kitty news:

I've been working on cleaning, purging and organizing my library-slash-office for over a week, now and naturally the kitties have spent a great deal of time hanging out with me. There has been much feline cuteness.

©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.

Landing Gear by Kate Pullinger

Landing Gear by Kate Pullinger
Copyright 2014
Touchstone - general fiction
Source: Simon & Schuster

Michael nodded. "But what if the planes never flew again? What if crossing the Atlantic suddenly became much more difficult? What if choosing London really did mean choosing it, once and for all?"

~p. 77

Harriet was sure that she herself was alive. The kitchen floor was still dirty--what more proof did she need?

~p. 134

Harriet had spent a large part of the past two years online--doing what, she was never quite sure, given the way time contracted on the internet.  She monitored news stories and had become fascinated with the way that certain stories started as tiny specks but then became huge sandstorms, like the way a young man immolating himself in Tunisia became the Arab Spring. 

~p. 155

Landing Gear is about a woman who wants more out of life, the husband she and her son seldom see because of his working hours, the teenage son who is ignored so thoroughly that he's falling deep into marijuana use and how their lives change when a Pakistani man, Yacub, falls from the landing gear of an airplane onto the hood of the mother Harriet's car.

There are several inciting incidents in Landing Gear and it bounces around in time a bit, so it can be confusing. But, one of those events is the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, the Icelandic volcano that shut down air travel in Europe for 6 days in 2010. Another is Yakub's search for a job with decent pay. There is a young lady named Emily who is searching for her mother, Harriet's desperate ploy to improve her career, teenage Jack's search for friendship and meaning, Michael's confusion when he's stuck in New York and decides he will be more comfortable waiting out the travel delays in his native Canada.

All these threads eventually come together to lead to the creation of a wacky new family in which everyone is happier than they were before they went through the hardship that forced them together. This is actually one of my favorite types of books. I love stories in which a unique set of characters end up forming an unorthodox family unit. In this case, there is actually a core family to which other characters are eventually added, which is a little different than the typical "lonely people thrown into circumstances that unite them in a common bond" but it doesn't matter. What matters is that there is a set of characters who are all struggling and in some way their acquaintance makes life better for each of them.

The biggest problem I had with the book is the fact that the author begins the book by describing Yacub's fall from the sky and then backtracks to describe how the characters arrived at those various turning points that threw them together. It's massively confusing, at first. I kept flipping back and forth, trying to figure out when each of the events occurred. I loved the inciting events, though, because they were so unique. This is the first time I've read a book that described what it was like when the planes stopped flying in England and how it felt to be stranded due to a volcanic eruption. And, then there's the fact that much of the book takes place in London -- my favorite city and definitely one of my favorite book settings.

Highly recommended with a timeline confusion-factor warning - Quirky characters, unique events and a fun setting made this book a delight.  I was confused by the order of events in the same way the bouncing around in The Time Traveler's Wife baffled me. But, it's notable that you can be thrown for a loop by some aspect of a book like its timeline and still love a story. That's how I felt about The Time Traveler's Wife and it's also how I felt about Landing Gear. It was difficult figuring out the timeline but once I understood how everything fell together, I absolutely loved the story. I particularly recommend the book to readers who like a story about the creation of an unconventional family unit and to those who love a London setting.

©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.

The Paramedics by James O. Page

The Paramedics by James O. Page
Copyright 1979 
Backdraft Publications 
Source: Author

This is probably the weirdest way I've ever read a book and the story behind it is rather an interesting one. The short version: someone put me in touch with the author, who loaned me one of the 6 remaining copies of The Paramedics from his personal shelves and gave me permission to photocopy it for my own use. I returned the original to the author and put the copied pages in sheet protectors then snapped them into a three-ring binder. 

Jim Page died in 2004 so it's been quite some time since my first reading (and I'm pretty sure I didn't finish reading The Paramedics, the first time) but I was reminded of the book because my exercise time falls during reruns of Emergency! on MeTV and the author was a consultant for the TV show.

The Paramedics is a history of Emergency Medical Services in the U.S. The portions dedicated to the current state of emergency medicine in the field are well and truly outdated, of course, but the book is still of interest to anyone curious about how paramedics came into being. I first read The Paramedics in the late 90s and didn't remember a thing, so I found it surprising in many ways.

Emergency medicine in the field (meaning, emergency response for needs of regular citizens, as opposed to the field medicine of military practice during war) really began as a response to the need for quicker cardiac care when cardiologists discovered that minutes could mean the difference between life and death for heart attack victims. Treatment expanded from cardiac care to other emergency needs, like trauma, as it became apparent that trauma was another area in which time saved lives. But, EMS was very much a regional thing -- both in method and level of training -- that varied dramatically from one place to another; and, it took quite some time before the creation of national standards.

I found a few facts particularly fascinating. One is that most of the early paramedics were firefighters but in at least one case it was policemen who were the first EMS trainees and sometimes private ambulance attendants received training while cities or counties lagged behind. I also found it fascinating that some private ambulance services (previously burly men in white coats who merely loaded and carried patients to the hospital for a fee, like a cab service for the infirm) fought tooth and nail to prevent EMS becoming a branch of their local fire services because they feared a major loss of business. Eventually, it became apparent that private ambulance services could actually profit from switching to non-emergency transport, which was and still is needed.

It was also interesting to find that the same problems that plague paramedics today (burnout, back injuries, abuse of the system by citizens who hoped for a free bus ride, so to speak) were a problem nearly from the beginning of EMS.

There is a bit of background information about Emergency! in The Paramedics but the focus is on real-life events. I actually have a booklet that Jim Page wrote about the show, specifically, but I have no idea what's become of that.

Recommended but almost impossible to find - A fascinating look at how Emergency Medical Services originated. The Paramedics used to be in hot demand amongst EMS professionals (I don't know whether or not that's still the case) but it's long since gone out of print and it is nearly impossible to locate a copy.

I noticed there's one rating at Amazon. The reader says he bought his copy for $99 and sold it for $249. Whoa. And, his opinion was, "It was too much like it was screaming 'look at us'."  The Paramedics was written when the whole concept of EMS was still a very new and shiny thing so I didn't really have any problem with that undercurrent of pride, although I do agree that Page was not a brilliant writer. He was solid enough, in my opinion, and the fact that he was present at the beginning gives the book a nice, personal touch. Also, where else are you going to find photos of paramedics wearing bushy mustaches and plaid pants?

©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.

Mini reviews - The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by J. Dicker, Parson's Green by F. Bagley, Goodnight June by S. Jio

None of the following books were sent to me by publishers and none left a lasting impression, so I'm going to just give them quickie reviews.

The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker is a chunkster at 656 pages and I do believe it could have easily been edited down to a much more reasonable length but I still found it engrossing enough to finish within just a couple days. 

Harry Quebert is a famous novelist whose protégé, Marcus, has himself become a bestselling novelist. The deadline for Marcus's second book is looming and Marcus hasn't written a word, so he goes to visit Harry, hoping for inspiration. While visiting, Marcus becomes involved in a murder investigation. Decades in the past young Nola, the love of Harry's life, disappeared and now her body has been found with evidence that incriminates Harry. Marcus believes Harry is innocent and sets out to solve the mystery.

I found the fact that both writers became fabulously wealthy very difficult to buy into and grew weary of Harry and Nola gushing about their love for each other. But I was captivated enough to ignore the book's flaws, whip through the reading and give it a 4-star rating, if for no other reason than the fact that I dislike mysteries, in general, so I figure if a mystery can hold my attention for over 600 pages, it ought to get an above-average rating. For the most part, the French author's understanding of Americans is pretty impressive, as well. The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair is an award winner in the author's home country. Recommended, but you'll probably either love it or hate it.

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Parsons Green by Fiona Bagley was this month's selection for my F2F book group. Cricket McLean and her mother, Claudia, have always been able to see ghosts. Claudia is a travel writer and when she decides to spend a summer helping out in a friend's bookstore in Savannah, Georgia, she is not surprised to find that her rental house is haunted. But, at least the ghosts are friendly.

Cricket doesn't want to spend all her time in the bookstore, so she goes out in search of a job and finds a position working as a tour guide in a local mansion called Chartwell House. There, a baby was murdered, the baby's mother found guilty and hanged for her crime. But, was she truly guilty? As Cricket explores the house and its history, she is able to see scenes that lead her to believe that there are dark forces at work and she must solve the mystery to put at least one ghost to rest.

I thought Parsons Green was a pretty good story, apart from the fact that a few too many people believed in or saw ghosts. My biggest problem with it was the common self-published-book problem: Parsons Green is desperately in need of a professional editing job. Had the book been much longer, I probably wouldn't have made it all the way through the reading, but it's short and the story is compelling. Recommended with a warning that the sheer quantity of errors is exhausting.

Goodnight June is the first book I've read by Sarah Jio, although I've been hearing gushy praise of her books for several years.

June is a cut-throat New York banker whose job is to take over small businesses that are struggling and sell off their assets. June moved to New York from Seattle and has not returned home for several years. She has few friends, no romantic prospects, and she works long hours. June is so stressed that as Goodnight June opens, she's in the hospital to get her blood pressure under control.  She's only in her 30's.

When June finds out her Aunt Ruby has died and left June her beloved bookstore, June travels to Seattle intending to simply sell the store and rush back home. But, she meets a handsome restaurateur, finds a set of letters connecting the bookstore and her aunt to Margaret Wise Brown's book, Goodnight Moon, and decides she must stay to save the bookstore. The store is failing and June finds herself in the same position as the business owners whose livelihoods she has heartlessly ripped away.

Goodnight June is fluffy, sentimental, beachy reading. It was the right book for the moment -- I was swept away, at first, and I enjoyed the fact that it was a quick read. But, it's more than a little far-fetched and the many strands had a "way too convenient" aspect that pulled me out of the reading. In spite of the fact that I had trouble buying into the storyline, I finished Goodnight June, so I gave it an average rating. Recommended for a fluff break with a warning that the story is extremely far-fetched.

If you've already read Goodnight June, you might be interested to know that Margaret Wise Brown's New York writing cottage, Cobble Court, is under threat and may be torn down to make space for condominiums.

©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 - Same old jazz

Oh, looky there, another week has passed. That just keeps happening. You already know we had some rough days, last week, if you saw my Fiona Friday post. Otherwise, the week was not half bad. We're really enjoying having only one house upon which to focus our cleaning and gardening efforts.  I've spent much of my week working on organizing the library and culling books that no longer interest me while Huzzybuns has been working hard at tidying the yard.  Somewhere in there, Kiddo announced that he's officially completed his university graduation requirements, went on a job interview in Memphis, got a ticket for looking down at his GPS while sitting at a red light and then showed up on our doorstep.  

A few books arrived but it was a light mail week.

Recent Arrivals:

• Titanic Survivor by Violet Jessop - via Paperback Swap
• Prototype by M. D. Waters - sent by friend
• The Here and Now by Ann Brashares - sent by friend

Last week's posts:

• I'm Not Cute by Jonathan Allen (children's book review)
• Dr. Who: Tales of Trenzalore by Richards, Mann, Finch and Morris (book review)
• Fiona Friday on the Wrong Day - Bad week for kitty (cat photo)

Just three posts. So, not a wonderful blogging week. Not a particularly good reading week, either, but mostly because I was either falling asleep or worrying about the cat. I spent a lot of time checking on the cat and giving her extra cuddles while she was feeling bad. 

Last week's reads:

• Atlas: Poems by Katrina Vandenberg
• The Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland
• Rescue by Anita Shreve

Currently reading:

• Sextant by David Barrie - I set Sextant aside to focus on The Transcriptionist, which is short but took me about 4 days to read because I kept falling asleep reading (again). Hopefully, I'll make some decent progress on Sextant, soon. I'm only on the 4th chapter.
• This is the Water by Yannick Murphy - One chapter in and finding the writing style bizarre. I absolutely loved The Call by this author so I'm going to stick it out, for now.
• Run, Don't Walk: The Curious and Chaotic Life of a Physical Therapist Inside Walter Reed Army Medical Center by Adele Levine 

TV/Movies:

We're just a few episodes away from finishing Christopher Eccleston's season of Dr. Who and began watching the second season of Whitechapel, which is every bit as gruesome as the description led us to believe.  And, yet, we really enjoy it.  One episode was all we could handle, the first night. It really did make us cringe, a few times, but the interaction between DI Chandler and the other detectives is very well-written. I actually found myself sitting on the edge of my seat, literally.  

I don't know what exactly keeps my husband watching, since he's gotten an even lower amount of tolerance for bloody or cruel scenes. The combination of mystery and comic relief, perhaps? Maybe just the fact that you have to think? It's certainly well done, like most BBC productions. But for me, in addition to the well-balanced mystery and comedy, the truth of the matter is that I return because of this face:

I admit to being captivated by the cut of Penry-Jones' clothing, as well.  That jacket with the red silk lining!  And, Rupert Penry-Jones plays a man who has OCD, which I can appreciate. If I could have my way, everything we own would be set at right angles. 

That's about all the news. I'll try to blast through more reviews, this week. Falling behind really gets on my nerves.  What are you reading?

©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.

Fiona Friday on the Wrong Day - Bad week for kitty

Poor Miss Fi was given a shot she's not supposed to get ever because of a known allergic reaction, plus an extra injection she didn't need because she doesn't go outside.  She had a rotten couple of days. Fiona is a high-energy kitty but she was just flat miserable and slept for the better part of two days, her neck badly swollen from the unnecessary injection, in spite of a shot of benadryl that was given to her when I realized what happened.  I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was when she finally returned to her normal, bouncy self and resumed following me from room to room. It was a scary 48 hours.

©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.