Fiona Friday - Basket cases

You've already seen Izzy waking up in her bin. This week, I managed to catch both kitties in their current beds - Izzy in her bin of winter clothing and Fiona in a laundry basket with a blanket on top of a pillow. It's a little weird but they're happy. We've emptied an amazing number of those huge bins, over the Christmas break, during our attic cleaning. So there's no hurry to get that bin away from Isabel. And, I pretty much never use the laundry basket. I should probably give away the laundry basket, actually. Later, though . . . when a cat isn't using it as her hangout.

©2016 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.

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

If you watch The Daily Show, these days, you've probably seen Trevor Noah talk about the fact that his birth during apartheid was a crime. His mother was a black South African, his father a white Swiss/German. As a mixed-race person, he was an outcast in every group - even the coloreds, who were mixed race but generally stuck together. Being mixed race with a black mother was different than having two colored parents; for years, Trevor could not be seen with either his mother or his father without potentially risking a beating or arrest of his mother.

Born a Crime is really a book about race, how a small percentage of people can use hatred and division to rule a larger number of people, and what it was like for Noah to grow up on the fringe, not quite fitting into any group at all. It's not about how he became a comedian who traveled the world and eventually settled in the U.S.  In fact, I hope he'll eventually write that book, as well.

Trevor Noah is a sharp guy, very articulate, and the book is well-written, illuminating, sometimes a bit shocking, and occasionally funny. You can't help but admire his mother's strength of character and the fact that Noah not only survived his crazy childhood but also came out of it with such a tremendous sense of humor and the ability to view his experiences as lessons to build on, rather than enduring pain. I admired him before; I'm in awe of him, now.

Highly recommended - Excellent writing and timely, as Born a Crime shines a light on racial division and how people can be subjugated merely by turning against each other.


©2016 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

Recent arrivals:

• Metaphors Be With You by Dr. Mardy Grothe,
• Searching for John Hughes by Jason Diamond,
• The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda,
• The Wars of the Roosevelts by William J. Mann, and
• Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White by Michael Tisserand - all from HarperCollins for review
• Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump - Purchased
• Leopard at the Door by Jennifer McVeigh - from Putman for review

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara
• Think Happy, Be Happy by Workman Publishing

Currently reading:

• Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump (the book upon which the movie The Hunt for the Wilderpeople is based - loved the movie, so I ordered the book).
• Rebirth by Kamal Ravikant - Haven't gotten much farther into this one but it's a light read so I'll probably quickly finish it up after I'm done with Wild Pork and Watercress.

Last week's posts:

• Fiona Friday: Ruffled (cat photo)

I've opted not to take my annual holiday break because I still have a lot of catching up to do, but we've been cleaning our attic and I couldn't possibly count the number of bins we've emptied or trips to the rescue mission Huzzybuns has driven. We even found something we brought from Oklahoma. That was, um, decades ago. I don't know how long it's going to take to finish up the job, so I can't predict whether or not I'll manage to post, again, before the end of the year. We shall see. If I can squeeze in a review or two, I will. 

In other news:

Nobody climbed the tree, this year, although the kitties did pull a few ornaments off the tree (which may be a little bit crooked, at this point, from some of the yanking) and Fiona had a particularly great time batting at ornaments. No problem; we actually hang a few that are unbreakable near the bottom of the tree for the kitties to knock down. I confess it was a little disappointing not having to pull Isabel out of the tree. We've definitely gotten a lot of laughs out of her climbing, in the past.

I had such a pleasant Christmas with family that I forgot to post happy Christmukkah wishes to all who are celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah. And, today I must say Happy Kwanzaa, as well, although Kwanzaa is a holiday I don't know enough about. Better read up.


©2016 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 - Ruffled

We've been purging, this week, and this is what you get when you leave a bin full of winter clothing open - a new cat bed. Isabel is looking a little ruffled because she'd just awakened from a nice nap on that green fleece. She had to give herself a few minutes to fully wake up before jumping out of her new bed.

©2016 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

Recent arrivals:

• The Midnight Cool by Lydia Peelle - from HarperCollins for review

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Under the Influence by Joyce Maynard
• The View from Flyover Country: Essays by Sarah Kendzior (e-book)

Currently reading:

• Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara - I didn't find my missing classic (It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis) so I decided to go ahead and start another classic, using the very scientific process of choosing a book based on "whatever happens to be closest to the bed". So far, so good. Just pray I don't misplace it. 
• Rebirth by Kamal Ravikant

Last week's posts:

• Your Alien Returns by Tammi Sauer and Goro Fujita with a Fiona Friday pic (book review and cat photo)
• Sydney Bridge Upside Down by David Ballantyne (book review)
• Under the Influence by Joyce Maynard (book review)

In other news:

The end-of-year scramble to finish all my reviews has begun and I even wrote on the weekend, something I seldom do, these days (Huzzybuns dislikes it when I play on the computer while he's around). I have stopped doing an end of year wrap-up, in recent years, but I'm hoping to manage one, this year. No guarantees. My reading goals for the year were 100 books total and 1 classic per month. Providing I finish Appointment in Samarra in time, I will have completed both, soon. Wahoo for that! Some of my other goals went splat. I haven't given much thought to goals for 2017, but I do want to continue with the reading of a classic per month because that's something I've enjoyed.


©2016 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.

Under the Influence by Joyce Maynard

I'm curious whether or not other people do this. When I start a book, I generally go into it blind. I will have read the synopsis when I bought or requested a book, of course, but then I avoid the description on the book cover or the cover flap deliberately because I've had quite a few books spoiled by cover descriptions that gave away too much of the plot, over the years. Once I get started and have developed a first impression, I will dash off to Goodreads to see what the overall rating is. I might read a review or two out of curiosity, but I usually don't (just in case - not a fan of spoilers unless something I really, really don't want to happen has been foreshadowed).

I'd probably read 50 pages of Under the Influence when I checked the Goodreads rating; and, I did so because I was finding the book duller than I anticipated. The ratings were much higher than I expected and that helped me get through the book. It continued to drag but picked up a bit in the last 1/3 or so.

Helen made a huge mistake. When she met her husband, he was charming and kind. But, over time, his temper began to show and eventually she began to drink after putting little Ollie to bed. After their divorce, she would drain an entire bottle without thought. But, then, one night Helen was faced with an emergency after she'd already drained a bottle.

Under the Influence begins with Helen looking back on the friendship that developed after she lost custody of her son and is told entirely as a reflection of what happened, years back, when she had limited visitation rights and was befriended by a fabulously wealthy couple while working for a caterer. Ava and Swift Havilland took Helen under their wing and put her to work photographing their possessions, capturing photos of their adopted dogs, running errands. For the first time in her life, Helen felt like she was cared for. But, there were hints that something may have been off. And, then came the tragedy.

Recommended but not a favorite - The slow pace and some detail that I found tiresome made Under the Influence drag a bit, but in the end the author redeemed herself by writing a pretty bang-up ending. I don't consider Under the Influence a favorite but I liked it. And, I do feel like it was worth sticking it out till the end. Having said that, I should add that I really was never tempted to stop reading; I just didn't care for the slow pace.

©2016 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.

Sydney Bridge Upside Down by David Ballantyne

There was an old man who lived on the edge of the world and he had a horse called Sydney Bridge Upside Down. He was a scar-faced old man and his horse was a slow-moving bag of bones, and I start with this man and his horse because they were there for all the terrible happenings up the coast that summer, always somewhere around.

So begins Sydney Bridge Upside Down, a New Zealand classic. When the book opens, there are two boys playing near a cliff. Neighbors in a tiny hamlet that used to be a bustling village, the boys argue and then wrestle and one goes over the cliff. You don't find out for quite a while that the one who went off the cliff was uninjured. Now and then, he'll bring it up and nobody is particularly interested. That is a vague hint at the oddities to come.

It's summer and the boys are out of school. Robert, the narrator and one of the boys, spends much of his time doing chores for his one-legged father, playing with his brother and best friend. They climb on the remains of a former slaughterhouse, play on the shore and in a nearby cave, and run around the house naked. Sometimes, Robert thinks about his absent mother and the teacher, both of whom have gone into the city. When an older female cousin comes for a visit, the boys are dazzled by her beauty and puzzled by her behavior. Robert feels like he must protect her from the older men who show interest in her.

Sydney Bridge Upside Down seems very much like a "boys being boys" type of book, a snapshot of one summer in their lives, at first. But, then the first death occurs and the book takes a sinister turn. You know who saw the person alive, last, but was the death an accident? If not, it's clear who is responsible. And, then there's a second death under similar circumstances. This time, a strange dream-like sequence bleeds with guilt.

Recommended - Sydney Bridge Upside Down is very dark. What at first appears to be the story of three innocent young boys having fun takes an odd turn when the beautiful cousin shows up and becomes ominous when the first person dies. From there on, it becomes a bit of a horror, but one so carefully crafted that you aren't entirely certain if your suspicions are true. In the end, all is revealed. While I'm not a huge fan of novels that fall on the darker end of the spectrum, it was obvious why Sydney Bridge Upside Down is a classic, from the beginning. There's an authenticity to the writing that is impressive. Truly a fascinating tale. I love the author's miminalist style; he does an exceptional job of telling you just enough to keep the story intriguing.

©2016 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.

Your Alien Returns by Tammi Sauer and Goro Fujita with a Fiona Friday pic

I reviewed Your Alien by Tammi Sauer and Goro Fujita in October of 2015 and I absolutely loved it. Who could resist that adorable alien?

In Your Alien, a little green alien comes to earth and has a good time with the little boy pictured on the cover, above, but then the alien begins to miss his family and the boy helps him send a signal to the alien's parents so he can return home. In Your Alien Returns, the alien arrives on Earth to invite his Earthling pal for a play date on his home planet.

The nameless little boy (referred to as "you") asks his parents for permission and goes on the ride of his life to another planet, where he is greeted by the alien's family, offered some snacks -- declining those that stare back -- and the two share toys. They build a fort, go for a ride around the neighborhood, and meet the alien's friends:

Seeing all of them will make you feel a little alienated.

That line made me smile (and this is how I'm sneaking in my Fiona Friday photo). The little boy is completely surrounded by aliens in a variety of colors but all in similar shapes to the boy's alien friend. A few things go wrong but nothing major. Blowing bubbles will make things better. Some of the aliens float around in the bubbles. Then, it's time to go home.

You and your alien will know this won't be good-bye but see you later. 

The book ends with the little boy telling his parents all about his day, and then a final goodbye gift from his alien friend.

Highly recommended - I'm a big fan of aliens and monsters in children's books, especially when the illustrations are well done. You can see from the photo of Fiona checking out Your Alien Returns that the illustrations are colorful, funky, and expressive. Again, the only thing I disliked was the chosen writing style with "you" as the subject. To be honest, that's not important to me, though, so much as the storyline and the illustrations. I absolutely loved this follow-up to one of last year's favorite children's books and can't wait to see what Tammi Sauer comes up with, next!

©2016 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

Happy Monday, book lovers! We are finally getting into the Christmas spirit in Bookfooleryville. 

Recent Arrivals:

• Rebirth by Kamal Ravikant - from Hatchette for review 
• In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen - from Lake Union for review
• Geekerella by Ashley Poston - from Quirk Books for review

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Sydney Bridge Upside Down by David Ballantyne
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

I did end up setting aside Ava's Man by Rick Bragg in favor of Born a Crime and that was a good decision. Born a Crime grabbed me immediately and I could hardly stand to put it down. It is utterly fascinating, the memory of how Noah fit into his home in South Africa, which was divided by race. Sydney Bridge Upside Down turned out to be a lot darker than I anticipated. What begins as a story that appears to be about boys being boys takes a remarkably sinister turn when you find out that the main character has a much more wicked streak than you can credit to typical childhood disobedience.


Currently reading: 

• The View from Flyover Country: Essays by Sarah Kendzior (available in ebook only)
• It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis

I've also just begun a nonfiction title but I'm only a few pages in and don't want to mention it till I'm sure it's going to stick.


Last week's posts:

• News of the World by Paulette Jiles (book review)
• Fiona Friday - Cat Crazies Collage (cat pics)

Last week started out fine and then I just wasn't feeling it, so I said to myself something on the order of "Screw it. I'll get back to the blog when I feel like it," and actually was totally off the computer at least one day, maybe two.


In other news:

I think we're probably the last people I know to get around to putting up outdoor lights (Huzzybuns and Kiddo) and a tree (not yet decorated). I haven't changed out the mantel, yet; it's still decked out in the fall/Thanksgiving spirit, but I'll be working on that, today. The books above were set up on a table in our foyer, the first place to show signs that Christmas is coming. I'm kind of crazy about that Santa, who has had the place of honor on that table for about 3 years, now.

©2016 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 - Cat crazies collage

Izzy had a little episode of the cat crazies on Thursday. At left is a relatively calm moment and at right . . . I may have gotten a little too close. She did manage to catch the camera, a time or two. No humans were injured in the capturing of these photographs, thank goodness. Wild as she was, she's pretty careful with her claws around me. Gotta appreciate that.

©2016 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.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

News of the World by Paulette Jiles tells the story of Captain Kidd, a man who makes his living reading newspaper articles in post-Civil War Texas, and young Johanna, a girl who was kidnapped by Kiowa Indians and no longer recalls the languages or ways of white people. When Captain Kidd is offered a fifty-dollar gold piece to take Johanna to her relatives in San Antonio, he's in Northern Texas, near the Red River, the border between Texas and Indian Territory. He knows the journey will be long, arduous, and dangerous, but there's more adventure ahead of him than he imagines.

News of the World is a fairly short gulp of a book at 209 pages but it's the perfect length for the story. When Kidd meets Johanna, she's terrified and only speaks Kiowa. He's 70 years old, the father of two grown daughters who live far away, a widower. He understands young girls and is patient with Johanna. And, this is what truly makes the book. Not only is it packed with plenty of action but also a book with characters and a relationship that are utterly heartwarming. As Kidd and Johanna deal with the dangers of a lawless land, they slowly learn how to communicate with each other, trust is built, and by the time they reach San Antonio, you don't want their relationship to end.

Highly recommended - I absolutely loved News of the World and adored the characters. Excellent writing, often so lyrical that I found myself rereading sentences for the sheer joy of their beauty, perfectly paced, with wonderful characters. I loved the blend of history, action, and the building relationship. Without spoiling the ending, I will say that I found the way the book ended immensely satisfying. And, I can see why News of the World was a National Book Award finalist. Definitely a book I'll hang onto to reread, a story worth revisiting.


©2016 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

This is a terrible picture because I used the phone camera and the lighting is kind of pitiful (thanks to a dark, rainy day), so apologies for the poor quality.

Recent arrivals:

• Under the Influence by Joyce Maynard and 
• Yesternight by Cat Winters - both from William Morrow for review
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah - purchased

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
• The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff

Currently reading:

• Sydney Bridge Upside Down by David Ballantyne - This is one of the books I brought home from Australia, a modern classic by an author from New Zealand. I'm nearly finished and have found it fascinating and somewhat sinister. I like the spareness of Ballantyne's writing.
• Ava's Man by Rick Bragg - I read 30 pages of Ava's Man and have not felt like picking it up, since. It's a quick read and yet . . . maybe just not for me or bad timing. It's the story of Bragg's grandfather, a man he never met but who was so beloved that relatives were rendered mute or brought to tears by his memory for years. I can't quite put a finger on what it is that I disliked about the book. Maybe it's just not right for the moment? I could finish it easily but I don't want to end up hating it, so I think I may set it aside and start on Born a Crime, tonight, instead. 

Last week's posts:

• My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (book review)
• Setting Free the Kites by Alex George (book review)
• November Reads in Review, 2016 (One month's reads in brief, plus a cat photo)

In other news:

Well, so much for the hope that I'd manage to post more reviews over the weekend, but I'm happy that I managed to knock out two reviews and a month in review, last week. I did start a third review but didn't finish it. You know how that goes.

I haven't chosen my classic of the month, yet. Although Sydney Bridge Upside Down is considered a modern classic Down Under, it's not one that's been sitting on my shelf for a long time and I prefer to use my goal to read a classic per month as a way to get to those titles that have been patiently awaiting their time. My classic-a-month self-challenge has been a raging success, by the way. I'm so happy about it that I'm planning to continue it in 2017. There just doesn't seem to be any end to the number of classics I haven't gotten around to reading.


©2016 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.

November Reads in Review, 2016

I don't want to stop forward momentum, here, so there will be a cat photo at the end of this post to fulfill your Friday cat requirements but I want to go ahead and get a book post finished (and, hopefully, I'll get a couple book reviews written over the weekend). Links to the few reviews I've written are provided, where applicable.

November 

93. Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly - When 13-year-old Lucinda disappears, the mother of her best friend feels responsible. The child was supposed to have been spending the night at her house, after all. Lucinda is not the first child to disappear; a rapist is on the loose. Will Lucinda be found in time to save her or is it too late? The pages flew and the suspense was excellent, although I did unravel a couple plot points before they were revealed. The author occasionally wrote from the POV of the rapist and those bits were extremely disturbing.

94. The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty - My classic choice of the month, the story of a woman dealing with the death of her beloved father, a selfish and emotional second wife, and the conflicting emotions that come with grief. I particularly thought the scenes that took place with neighbors and friends were a bang-on viewpoint of life in the Deep South.

95. The Paris Review, Issue 218 - The only thing I read, this month, that deserved less than 4 stars. I bought this issue of The Paris Review for the change of pace and I enjoyed some of it, particularly the short story by Ann Beattie and some of the poetry. But, at least one poem was utterly baffling and both of the interviews were, frankly, dull as paste. I ended up skipping most of the second interview. Notably, this issue got terrible reviews at Goodreads. So, it wasn't just me.

96. News of the World by Paulette Jiles - Captain Kidd makes his living reading newspaper articles aloud to audiences in post-Civil War Texas. Young Johanna lived with Kiowa Indians after her family was killed and no longer understands the ways of white people. When Kidd is offered a fifty dollar gold piece to deliver Johanna to her relatives in San Antonio, he's in for more adventures than he anticipated. Absolutely marvelous storytelling.

97. Your Alien Returns by Tammy Sauer and Goro Fujita - The follow-up to Your Alien, this children's picture book brings the alien back to Earth, where he invites his human friend for a visit to his own planet. The rest of the book is a rollicking adventure on another planet. Loads more fun with the cutest alien, ever.

98. Leveling the Playing Field: The Democratization of Technology by Rod Scher - Starting with the invention of fire, the author describes various inventions and how they have gone from being expensive or otherwise difficult to acquire to common and affordable (or democratized). Much more fascinating than expected, very readable, and the author has a terrific sense of humor.

99. Setting Free the Kites by Alex George - The story of a friendship between two middle school boys in Maine and the experiences that bond them, for better or worse. Utterly captivating.

100. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell - The first in a trilogy of books about young Gerry Durrell's family and their time living in Corfu. I bought the trilogy because I was enjoying the PBS series, The Durrells in Corfu, not realizing that My Family and Other Animals was considered a classic. A friend said it was required reading during his schooling in Derby, England. Definitely the kind of book that should be required - exceptionally well-written, humorous, an entertaining learning experience. If American kids read more books like this and fewer of the depressing variety, I'm certain our schools would spawn more readers.

Only 8 books read but I considered November a fantastic reading month because the quality of the books I read was high. Favorites were News of the World, Your Alien Returns, Setting Free the Kites, and My Family and Other Animals. I liked all of the rest of my reading. The only exception was The Paris Review, which did contain some good reading material (and I enjoyed the paintings) but overall was subpar.

Incidentally, the bookmark barely visible in My Family and Other Animals shows where that first book in the trilogy ends and the next book begins.

And, now, for something completely feline:

Cuddle Season has opened! Fiona and Isabel have been snuggling for a couple weeks, now. Always my favorite time of year.

©2016 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.