I Am I Am I Am by Maggie O'Farrell

I Am I Am I Am by Maggie O'Farrell is definitely in my Top 10 2020 reads, so far. Subtitled "Seventeen Brushes With Death," it is a memoir that examines 16 times O'Farrell easily could have lost her life but survived or escaped danger. The final essay is about her daughter's extreme allergies and how the author cherishes every day with her, knowing that she could lose her daughter at any time.

Highly recommended - The writing in I Am I Am I Am is spectacular. Stunning prose, often unsettling but always written in a way that makes you feel the raw emotion of near drowning or the sharp fear of encountering dangerous men, the genuine grief of loss after a pregnancy disaster. Just an amazing work of art, really. I don't know about other readers, but O'Farrell had me thinking about my own frightening experiences for days. Also, the last line of the final essay choked me up.


©2020 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.

From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein

From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein is the memoir of a woman who worked as a stenographer in the White House from 2012 to 2017. Originally a teacher, the author was balancing 5 jobs when she saw a job listing on Craigslist and applied. It was not clear that the job was in the White House until she went for the interview.

As a stenographer, Dorey-Stein's job was to make sure there was audio recording of almost everything Obama said, then transcribe what she'd recorded. She was one of five stenographers in the White House. Obama was big on transparency and accuracy. It was important to him that everything be recorded so that if he was misquoted he could simply refer to the transcript or recording of anything he said. Dorey-Stein also briefly worked in the Trump Administration, but only for a couple months. Trump's team had the opposite approach, everything public on video, little else recorded at all.

Beginning with her search for the job and the interview that she at first blew off because she was running late at one of the jobs she already held, Dorey-Stein describes her time working in the White House and her life both in and out of the job -- the long hours, hurry-up-and-wait activity, the travel on Air Force One and a second plane carrying reporters and staff, her rare interactions with the President. But, much of the focus is on her private life, her partying and love life, the friendships she developed at work, and how her writing developed as she took notes on everything that she experienced and shared some of her writing with the people around her.

Recommended but not a favorite - If you're looking for a solid memoir of life in the White House that focuses on Obama, his personality, and what it was like working for him, you might be a little disappointed. From the Corner of the Oval is fascinating but fluffy. There are glimpses of Obama but they're brief. Dorey-Stein's job was "in the bubble" (the people who circled around and traveled with the President) but not within the President's inner circle. What you get is an understanding of the hectic life people within the White House lead, how working there dominates your life, and how the people working for Obama felt about him (they admired and adored him; he was highly respected). Mostly, though, the book is about Beck.

There are some frustrations in reading her story. She spent a great deal of time partying with her co-workers, drinking heavily, gushing about her boyfriend, and sleeping with someone else. Her boyfriends are practically archetypes -- the boyfriend who's perfect except for the fact that he isn't present when she really needs him; the lothario who has a long-term girlfriend but flirts widely and sleeps around then typically ignores women after sleeping with them; the man found at an online dating site when desperation took over. I found myself frequently putting the book down, particularly during scenes in which Dorey-Stein was either drunk or sleeping with the lothario, yet again, and blaming it on her weakness. I was often frustrated with the author, her lack of control over her drinking, her inability to stop sleeping with a man who was clearly never going to choose her over the long-term girlfriend. But, I enjoyed reading about the hectic lifestyle, learning a little about the intensity of life in the White House and the President's schedule. From the Corner of the Oval is definitely fun for that peek into the White House. And now I want to read further, preferably a book or two by people who were in the inner circle during the Obama years.

©2018 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.

Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees: A Narrative of Indian Captivity by Sarah F. Wakefield

Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees by Sarah F. Wakefield is the memoir of a woman who was held captive during the Dakota War of 1862, a war between Native Americans and the whites occupying their former lands. Author Sarah Wakefield describes how she was captured and imprisoned after describing the lead-up to the war. She talks about why she chose to wear native clothing during her captivity and behaved the way she did (acting as if the natives were her friends, working with them, speaking only positively about them), and defending the native man who kept her safe.

Wakefield wrote her narrative primarily to explain herself because she was criticized and ostracized for defending Chaska, the man who protected her and was arrested because he stayed behind when she and her children returned at the end of the war (he stayed with them to make sure they were safely delivered home). If only for the fact that Sarah Wakefield was rare in defending her captors, the narrative is interesting. She had a unique perspective, having lived near the natives for a time and already knowing their language. She was also well aware of what the natives had given up -- land and their ability to subsist on it -- and the fact that the government was very late delivering the promised food and money they were to receive in return for their land. She knew they were starving and angry; the uprising was not entirely unexpected.

Recommended - While the writing is a bit awkward, the book contains a lengthy introduction that's nicely explanatory and copious notes that also help clarify much of what the author talks about. I saved the introduction for last and I'm glad I read it that way because I preferred to read the author's explanation of events first, more detailed description later, although there's really only one possible spoiler if you don't want to know how things ended up in advance of reading the author's description. It's a sad story. I'd never read anything at all about the Dakota War, nor had I even heard of it, but I found it admirable that the author was willing to defend her captors in the face of the "Let's kill all the natives" frenzy that happened after the war ended.


©2018 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.

Goodbye, Sweet Girl by Kelly Sundberg

It started out well. He was kind, solicitous, emotional, affectionate. He seemed to love her like nobody else ever had. There were things about him that concerned her, like the way he let a friend behave around her, but nothing to indicate he would ever do her harm. She was pregnant and he was happy about it. So, they married.

And, then the abuse began. It began with something that sounds harmless enough. He threw a shoebox at her. A shoebox, empty, doesn't weigh much and can't do much damage, right? But, abuse escalates. The longer they stayed married, the worse the abuse became -- until she had to wear long sleeves to cover the bruises on her arms and couldn't explain the bruising on her face and the cut lip.

Goodbye, Sweet Girl is a memoir that begins with the moment Kelly Sundberg realized she had to get out of her abusive marriage to save herself and her son. It starts with a harrowing scene in which she managed to escape their apartment inside a college dormitory where they worked as the resident parents. Only the people who worked in the dorm were present, but it was the first time she'd thought only of saving herself long enough to give away the fact that she was being abused.

Sundberg returns to the beginning of her story to tell about how they met, the times when his behavior may have been a warning that she missed, how they married after she discovered she was pregnant and he became abusive shortly after their marriage, the abuse slowly escalating, the injuries becoming worse.

Recommended - Goodbye, Sweet Girl is a rough read but an important one because the author does a terrific job of showing how abuse can start out seeming like nothing at all. Throwing a shoebox? It sounds perfectly harmless, right? But, there's a pattern to abuse. It becomes more dangerous, harder to run away, more likely to end in death. That's exactly what happened to the author; it slowly escalated until the dorm incident (which got them thrown out of their apartment). Even as she was in the process of divorce, her father was skeptical and her employer tried to fire her. Why is it that women are punished for being abused? Fortunately, she stood up for herself and managed to keep from being fired while her husband remained employed.

Goodbye, Sweet Girl is very well written, incidentally. It's been a long time since I've read a memoir about domestic abuse but I don't recall the writing itself ever really standing out. Kelly Sundberg is an excellent writer.

©2018 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.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande and The Statue and the Fury by Jim Dees

I ordered a copy of Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande on a bit of a whim after reading Al Franken's repeated exhortations about what a great guy Gawande is in Al Franken, Giant of the Senate. I'd heard of it but I don't believe I read any reviews of Being Mortal before I ordered it. As it turned out, the book was perfect for the moment in which I read it.

Atul Gawande is a physician who has slowly come to the realization that we make a mess of end-of-life care and decision-making and shares what he has learned and experienced. He talks about the different ways of handling the care of elders in decline, including a variety of approaches from allowing the elderly to make their own decisions and lock their doors -- even if it means they're shortening their own lives by continuing to do such things as eat unhealthy foods -- to the opposite extreme of nursing home care in which the elderly are confined, and various experiments and options in between, such as a nursing home with pets for the seniors to care for.

Gawande also talks about how important it is for those who are aging and/or dying to be able to decide what is most important to them as they approach their dying days. Throughout the book, he gradually tells the story of his own father's years with a slow-growing cancer and both the mistakes and wise decisions that were made.

Highly recommended - Being Mortal is a book I think absolutely everyone should read at some point, whether one is reading from the perspective of a caregiver or that of an older person who wants to be informed about end-of-life decisions like choosing a place to live. We were in the process of losing a family member as I was reading the book and while I was not the caregiver in this particular case, it helped me in surprising ways and even was reassuring about how we handled my mother's death, almost 10 years ago. I'll probably end up rereading Being Mortal at least a couple times. Whether you have aging parents, a family member who is terminally ill, or just want to think about how to eventually handle major life decisions in the future, it's a book about something we'll all face and a valuable resource for helping one gain perspective about what the options are and the most important questions to ask.

The Statue and the Fury: A Year of Art, Race, Music, and Cocktails by Jim Dees is about a year of life in Oxford, Mississippi during a time when a surprisingly controversial decision about whether or not to erect a statue of William Faulkner and where to put it had the residents of Oxford up in arms. Author Jim Dees was working for the local newspaper, during the time in question, and he describes various other happenings in the town, which at the time was still quite small (it's had quite a population explosion, in the past decade or so) and has been the host and a musician for the local radio show, Thacker Mountain Radio, for some time.

I read The Statue and the Fury for book group discussion in February but then missed the discussion because of a heavy thunderstorm (I live 30 miles from where my group meets, now), unfortunately. Both of my sons have degrees from the University of Mississippi in Oxford and one is back there, working on a second degree. So, we're familiar with the city, the statue in question, the bookstore, the radio show, and some of the local personalities. However, there were occasions when the author described various people and I had to dash off to look them up. And, the flow of the book is pretty rocky. It actually took me quite a while to realize the book wasn't a series of columns but a reflection on a specific year. The lack of flow confused me into thinking it was more of a collection of writings than a recollection of a specific time period.

Having said that, anyone who is passionate about William Faulkner's books will probably enjoy a peek into the crazy controversy about whether or not to put up a statue, the huge flap about a tree that was surreptitiously cut down during a time when tree-chopping was a little out of control, and the memories of Faulkner shared by various friends, relatives, and acquaintances of his. I particularly enjoyed finally finding out why there are two spellings of Faulkner (Falkner is the original spelling; Will or Bill, as he was known, added the "u") on the signs in Oxford. I particularly recommend The Statue and the Fury to Faulkner fans, Mississippians, and those who have lived in Oxford or visited the town. It's a bit disjointed -- not the best writing -- but a few of those small-town stories are worth the price of the book.

©2018 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.

You'll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein

I don't particularly like writing negative reviews, so I'll keep this one as short as I can and be sure to tell you what I liked about it . . . which wasn't much, but you know. I try.

You'll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein was recommended to me when I asked for feminist title suggestions on Twitter. I looked it up and found that the reviews were mostly positive and the blurb claimed it was funny. At the time, I was coming off two depressing books in a row, The Handmaid's Tale being one of them, so "funny" was definitely appealing. And, it did start out well. Klein described herself as someone who never quite grew out of the tomboy stage, coining the term "tom man" to describe a grown-up tomboy.

But, then the essays segued into what the author, a comedian, is apparently known for (I was unfamiliar with her): tales of her sex life. There is probably very little I like less than reading about someone's sex life and I have, in fact, skipped a lot of books that were described as humorous for just that reason (even though I enjoy humor). I don't even like fictional sex scenes unless, of course, what happens in the bedroom is relevant to the plot. I'm not a prude; it's just a personal preference. So, the fact that a good portion of You'll Grow Out of It is dedicated to stories about various boyfriends was a guarantee that I wasn't going to love the book. Had I known about Klein's style of comedy, I would have avoided it entirely.

Having said that, I thought the book had its moments. I enjoyed reading about Klein's search for her wedding dress. I think most married women can probably relate to that experience in some way. I also loved it that she compared that particular shopping experience to the feeling she gets when she tries to explain why she doesn't find Brad Pitt appealing - primarily because I don't find Brad Pitt appealing and nobody gets that. I also occasionally enjoyed her descriptive capacity. If she'd avoided using it on body parts, I would have appreciated it even more.

Neither recommended or not recommended - Not for me, but as I was reading You'll Grow Out of It, I thought of a couple friends who would probably enjoy it. If you dislike reading about someone else's sex life, avoid it. I also found the "not a girly girl and not attractive" theme somewhat disingenous. Klein had a lot of boyfriends, plenty of girlfriends to call or get drunk with when a relationship ended, and an affection for designer clothing. Those all sound pretty girly to me. Also, I looked her up. The wedding dress she said her friends turned their nose up at was gorgeous and so is she. Once you've seen what the author looks like, the whole concept of being not girly enough just seems ridiculous.

Again, I laughed a couple times and enjoyed her descriptive capacity to a certain extent. So, while this book is not for me, I would not tell people not to read it. I would say it depends entirely upon your taste in memoirs/essays. I would also definitely not classify this book as a feminist read at all because it doesn't deal with feminist issues, unless you consider "not looking girly enough" an issue. I do not. To me, feminism is about everyone, women included, having the same rights in work and in general daily living. While in some professions that may apply to such issues as dress code (forcing women to wear high heels, for example), that didn't appear to be the case.

©2017 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.

Survivors Club by Michael Bornstein and Debbie Bornstein Holinstat

First note: Survivors Club is written for middle readers. That makes it a quick read because of its length and the writing style, but it is a strenuous read because of the content.

Michael Bornstein, who wrote Survivors Club with the help of his daughter Debbie, is the little boy pictured on the cover, colorized and showing off the tattoo on his arm. As a survivor of Auschwitz, he never felt any need to share his story - better to move on with life than focus on the horrors of his past, he thought. Even when he was asked about the tattooed number on his arm, his answer was always a light-hearted brush-off and a change of subject.

Then, one day, Bornstein saw a photo of himself, the photo shown on the cover of his book, an outtake from a Soviet film, and he was shocked to find that it was being used as evidence that the Holocaust never occurred. Compelled to finally tell his story, he enlisted his daughter and they set to work researching the family's story. It's not always told from his viewpoint because Michael Bornstein was too young to remember much of what happened and conversations are fictionalized because the authors can only imagine what was said, but the two authors were able to piece together Bornstein's family's story and doing so helped him string his patchy memories together, as well.

After describing the reason he decided to share his story, the author returns to the beginning of his family's story, before Michael Bornstein was born, when the Polish town he lived in was being invaded. He tells about how his father buried valuables in the yard just before the Nazis arrived at their house to plunder it of valuables, how his mother kept her wedding ring under her tongue. He talks about the murders his parents witnessed and the slaughter of Jews on what became known as "Bloody Monday". And, that's just the beginning. The situation declined, over the years. First, they were allowed outside the fence-free ghetto, then they were confined within it, and gradually people were sent to concentration camps. While most of the town's residents eventually ended up being marched straight to the gas chambers, his father was one of the Judenrat (the council representing the Jewish community) and he was able to keep many of his family and friends safe for years. He even managed to help hundreds escape, although eventually his his luck ran out and he was no longer able to negotiate with the German he'd been persuading and sometimes bribing for years.

I've been reading WWII and Holocaust books all my life, but this is actually the first time I've read anything that describes the perspective of someone who worked in the Judenrat. They're often looked upon as traitors because they had to make the decisions about who was sent away. The difficulty of that job really hits home toward the end, when Bornstein's father had to make the decision to put his in-laws on the list of people who couldn't remain in his small town. By this point, only a limited number who were allowed to stay behind to perform physical labor. The rest were shipped away, most to be marched straight to their deaths after a torturous train ride.

Highly recommended - Excellent writing - clear, harrowing, and riveting. I lost count of the number of times I was moved to tears. Although some of the Bornstein family died during WWII, Michael Bornstein's father was able to save many of his family members, thanks to his position in the Judenrat, and the authors are well aware of their family's good fortune.

©2017 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 Year My Mother Came Back by Alice Eve Cohen

The Year My Mother Came Back by Alice Eve Cohen
Copyright 2015 
Algonquin Books - Memoir
288 pp.

Quick synopsis:

A memoir detailing the year the author, dealing with life-threatening illness and her daughter's upcoming surgery, reflected on her childhood and was visited by her deceased mother.

My thoughts, in brief:

I didn't realize this book was (at least partially) a book about a person dealing with cancer until I was thoroughly immersed. Those of you who have read this blog for any length of time know I avoid books in which main characters battle cancer because it's something I can no longer bear to think about. I used to read "courageous stories of people fighting the deadly illness" all the time but have found them unbearable since my mother's death from cancer. Alice Cohen's writing, though, is charming enough that I opted to keep reading in spite of my own discomfort. And, it's not just about her illness; it's also about her childhood and how her mother dealt with the same illness, as well as the  challenge her daughter was going through as she had leg-lengthening surgery.

The one thing that perplexed me about The Year My Mother Came Back was the visitation. Was Cohen visited by her mother's ghost, experiencing delusions or did she deliberately conjur her mother up and imagine conversations with her because she needed someone to help her walk through the challenges of this emotional year? I don't know; and, at one point the author admits she isn't sure, herself -- which struck me as a bit weird. I really wanted to know what the deal was. And, yet, the book was one that swept me away. I especially enjoyed reading about her childhood, her angst over the damage she was certain she inflicted on her daughter, and the overall focus on family.

Recommended - Really a lovely little book about dealing with health challenges that focuses on the author's memories of family, for better or worse. I found the book uncomfortable at times, but there was so much to like about The Year My Mother Came Back that the moment I considered setting the book aside because the author talked about her cancer was brief. My desire to find out how things turned out won the day.

©2015 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.

Find the Good by Heather Lende

The capacity for love in a human heart is not limited by its size. Rather than divide the heart's chambers into smaller rooms as the family grows, love multiplies them. 

~ p. 37

I believe gratitude comes from a place in your soul that knows the story could have ended differently, and often does, and I also know that gratitude is at the heart of finding the good in this world.

~ p. 62

Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons from a Small-Town Obituary Writer by Heather Lende appeared on my doorstep on Friday and since I loved the other two books Lende wrote, I sat down to read it the moment I opened the package. Don't you love that lovely lemon cover?

Find the Good follows the same pattern as Lende's other books, this time with a focus on seeking out the good things in life. Heather Lende has been an obituary writer in small-town Haines, Alaska for many years and most of her stories revolve around the people she writes about -- discovering the good things in their lives worth mentioning when she writes their obituaries and applying what she's learned about how they lived to her own life. She's so hyper-involved in her community that I always feel a little adrift when I close one of her books. I don't live in a place where "Outsiders" (as we're known) are particularly welcome. But, at the same time I feel inspired to keep trying to find my place.

The only two negatives about the book are the fact that it's so short (which is also a plus if you're just looking for a quick read about looking for the positive in life) and the fact that it's so heavily focused on people who died. I always end up wondering how it's possible that there's anyone left at all in Haines when I close one of Lende's books. But, as I said, I love her writing. She zones in on love, family, spirituality, living your days in the best way possible. She reminds me a bit of Anne Lamott.

Recommended - I laughed, I cried, I will read anything Heather Lende writes.

Other books by Lende (links to past blog posts):

If You Lived Here I'd Know Your Name 
Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs (page down for one-paragraph review)

Many thanks to Algonquin Books for sending me a copy of this little gem!

©2015 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.

Catch-up #3: Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming, The Giver (review and F2F report) by Lois Lowry

I am seriously going to have to start jumping on the reviews the moment I finish a book. Not My Father's Son is excellent, really one of the best memoirs I've read in the last few years -- and I love memoirs. But, I waited too long and I'm feeling like I can't do it justice. I'll do my best, though.

Not My Father's Son tells the unfolding story of events that took place a few years ago when Alan Cumming agreed to have his family history revealed in a reality show, the UK's "Who Do You Think You Are?"

The story pivots between "Then" and "Now", sometimes with specific dates added. The past that he refers to as "Then" describes childhood abuse at the hands of his father. "Now" refers to a time when he was preparing to appear on "Who Do You Think You Are?", a show in which a famous personality's family history is revealed. Cumming describes how he dealt with what he discovered about his immediate family and his family's history. The genealogical preference for investigation was his. What did Cumming want to know about his family? He chose his maternal grandfather's last years. Why did his mother's dad leave the family for Malaya? How did his early death occur? Did he commit suicide, die accidentally, or was he murdered?

Trigger warning: If you have difficulty reading about childhood abuse, you might want to skip this one.

Cumming's story is an extremely emotional journey. The reality show triggered memories that he, his brother and his mother had suppressed. As a child, his father abused them all. He had a ready excuse: Alan was not his son. But, if that was the case, why did he also terrorize his biological child, in addition to the wife he thought faithless and the son he refused to think of as his own?

As Cummings sought to both reveal the truth about his parentage and keep his own unknown story from being publicly revealed before he had firm answers, he was also gradually learning about his grandfather's death. Both a story of family events and how mental health has been treated, past and present, Alan Cummings' memoir reveals a man of surprising strength, joy, and love, especially given his painful childhood. You can't help but emerge from the book admiring its author, his mother, and his brother. They may have been treated badly but their unbending love for each other and Cumming's mother's amazing support throughout their ordeal is a wonder.

Highly recommended - Very skillfully crafted and moving.

I received a copy of Not My Father's Son from Dey Street Books (an imprint of HarperCollins) in return for an impartial review. It was released last week. Choosing a maximum of 2 or 3 books a month is going well, so far. I'm definitely glad I requested Not My Father's Son.


********SPOILER WARNING********

I've already read The Giver before and this time I want to talk about the ending. So skip my review if you don't want to know what happens.

The Giver by Lois Lowry was a book I reread for book group discussion; the meeting was held last night. 

The Giver is the story of Jonas, a boy chosen by the elders in his utopian, literally black-and-white world to hold the memories of the past for the people of his village. The old Giver is exhausted from holding the memories and the physical and mental pain that accompanies them. But, he's erred in the way he attempted to pass on the memories to a new Giver, in the past. So, he tries to be gentle when passing on memories of life and death, color and temperature, war and love -- all the things that have been eliminated in a structured, precise world where marital partners, children and careers are chosen based on personal attributes but deviation from societally-imposed strictures is deadly. In spite of gentle adjustment to the memories, Jonas still thinks things need to change and a baby whose imminent "release" (a euphemism for death) shocks Jonas will be the catalyst for change.

The Giver has what some people read as an open ending. Did Jonas really escape with baby Gabriel and find a place where Christmas is celebrated with color and cheer or did he fall into unconsciousness and dream of a place he wished to find? Apparently, the question of what really happened is answered in a sequel; there are 3 companion novels and I can't recall which one answers the question. I couldn't find our old copy of The Giver, so I bought the "quartet". I'll get to the other books, eventually. I had my own opinion of what happened.

The good and the bad:

I think everyone in my F2F group felt the same about the science fiction aspect of The Giver. There's no explanation as to how and why memories are held by a single person, how the people are restricted from seeing color, how their world is climate-controlled. So, I think everyone felt like there were aspects of the book that were difficult to buy into. What we loved about The Giver was the fact that it opens up so many different avenues for discussion. Jonas's father is a "carer" who works with children because he's a natural nurturer but his mother is a judge, for example, which brings up the issue of how gender plays into our expectations of character and career aspirations. The fact that nobody can see color led us to discussion about how color blindness allows for racial equality. The lack of pain leads to questions about whether or not pain is essential to growth. We also talked about how rigid structure didn't allow for creativity or individuality.

Highly recommended - No wonder they teach this book in schools.  At any rate, not everyone loved the story (I loved it every bit as much as I did the first time) but the conversation was lively and fresh. I haven't made it to very many meetings, this year, but our discussion of The Giver was one of the best I've experienced in recent memory so I definitely recommend it for group discussion.

Some of our group members have seen the recent movie release of The Giver, so we also discussed the differences a bit. I have not, but hope to view it in the future.

I call Jonas's world "utopian" early in this review but that's a question I neglected to ask group members. Is the story really utopian if people are being put to death for minor aberrations from the norm or is the village a dystopian world because many are unaware of its realities? Thoughts are welcome.

©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.

50 Children by Steven Pressman, The Accidental Caregiver by Gregor Collins and Children's Wartime Diaries, ed. by Laurel Holliday

I've decided to combine 50 Children and The Accidental Caregiver with Children's Wartime Diaries in one post because they have WWII as an element in common. 50 Children: One Ordinary American Couple's Extraordinary Rescue Mission into the Heart of Nazi Germany by Steven Pressman is about the rescue of 50 Jewish children from Vienna, Austria after the Anschluss (the peaceful but harrowing occupation of Austria by Nazis).  The Accidental Caregiver is a memoir about an actor who became one of several caregivers to an elderly Jewish woman who escaped Vienna, also after the Anschluss.  So, they have escape from the Nazis in common. The third book is mostly about children who were not so fortunate. Although they have the war in common, they're entirely different books.  I just thought it was very cool when I realized Maria Altmann, the elderly woman, was also a Viennese Jew, after reading 50 Children and then it occurred to me that this would be a perfect time to mention Children's Wartime Diaries. I love it when there's an unexpected tie between reads.

50 Children (an ARC received from HarperCollins) is one of the best-written and most surprisingly gripping books set during WWII that I've read in a while. 

Gil and Eleanor Kraus were living a fairly quiet life in Philadelphia, Gil as a lawyer involved in charitable organizations, his wife a socialite who adored their two children. When Gil was approached by the head of a Philadelphia Jewish organization with the request to head up an effort to rescue 50 children from Nazi Germany, he said "yes" without even giving it any thought. Eleanor was heavily involved as she had to persuade a number of people to divulge deeply personal information necessary for the affidavits needed to prove that there were people able and willing to care for the children when they arrived in the U.S.  

After the Anschluss, it became clear that children in Austria were at even greater risk so the origin changed but not the mission. 

Gil, being a lawyer, realized that the only way the rescue could possibly occur during a time when immigration was strictly limited would be to stick to the letter of the law. Consequently, there's a great deal about the red tape, the detailed paperwork and the people Eleanor and Gil Kraus had to deal with. So, I was a bit surprised that I never found 50 Children dull.  Instead, I really found it quite gripping and beautiful but a little sad -- sad because not every child who applied for a spot could be taken, sad because the heads of other Jewish organizations who had failed to do similar were envious enough to speak out against them, sad because you can't read about those left behind without knowing the fate of the majority. 

But, how beautiful the stories of the children themselves, told toward the end of the book, about how much fun they had during their summer together at a camp building and how lovely the reflections of the rescued children, now grown, still living.  And, how amazing that 3 Jewish adults (they were accompanied by a pediatrician, who actually fell in love in Berlin . . . that's a great story, as well) were willing to risk their own lives, going into Nazi-occupied nations to interview children and parents, dealing with paperwork and interviews to obtain visas, and then accompanying the children from Vienna to Berlin and onward to the U.S.

There is a photograph at the head of each chapter and my favorite is a photo of Gil Kraus reading to 4 of the children, with the following quote:

While the number 50 is but a small drop among the hundreds of thousands of lives yet to be saved, still in all each life is worth a world unto itself.  ~ Gil Kraus

Highly recommended - I get a little soppy just thinking about this book. It is a heroic tale, brilliantly researched and told in compelling narrative that makes the story feel quite tense, even though you clearly go into the reading knowing the outcome. 

The Accidental Caregiver: How I Met, Loved, and Lost Legendary Holocaust Refugee Maria Altmann by Gregor Collins is not merely about an escape from Austria, although Maria Altmann's escape story is told. Rather, it's about how Gregor, an actor, became one of Maria Altmann's caregivers, his time working with her, and his journey abroad after her death. 

When I was updating my progress reading The Accidental Caregiver -- a rare e-book purchase whose reading took me a few days because my iPad is crashing frequently -- I glanced across a few of the reviews at Goodreads and found that some people considered the author egotistical. I didn't feel that way at all, although there are moments that Maria humorously whips her head to the side to indicate that she wants to see Gregor's handsome profile.  Even when those moments happen, they're about Maria rather than the author.  At least, that's how I saw it.  

Maria Altmann was in her 90s when Gregor Collins became one of her caregivers.  She was quite a feisty, vigorous woman but during the 3 years Gregor worked for her she went into a sharp decline and passed away. The author had dated a number of shallow women who confused him; he wasn't even sure what he was looking for in a woman.  But he fell in love immediately with Maria's fearless, happy-go-lucky, sometimes raunchy and definitely life-affirming ways.  Sometimes Maria could be a bit shocking but it's the fact that Gregor and Maria both felt an immediate rapport that makes the book such a joy.  

Highly Recommended - I loved The Accidental Caregiver enough that I deliberately dragged out the reading a bit (aided by regular iPad crashes) and found both author and subject charming in their own ways. There are some misused words but I loved the light writing style and, no, I didn't feel like the author was uncomfortably self-centered. I gave it a 4.5/5 at Goodreads -- not much taken off for minor editing problems. The Accidental Caregiver is, after all, a memoir so it's not just about Maria Altmann but about the author's feelings about her as the author cared for her and then (briefly) his couch-surfing journey around Europe.  Loved it and wish I had the chance to know Maria. The book is currently being made into a film, which I hope will be widely released so I'll have the opportunity to see it.


Children's Wartime Diaries: Secret Writings from the Holocaust and WWII, ed. by Laurel Holliday, is a book I've meant to mention and which ties in to the other two books pretty well.  It's a set of diaries (some complete, others partial) written by children during the Holocaust.  I have the full versions of some of them on my shelves. 

I read Children's Wartime Diaries a couple months ago.  The surprising thing about the writings in Children's Wartime Diaries is that most of them (with only a couple exceptions) are every bit as well-written as Anne Frank's diary.  Some are even more jaw-dropping. Such skilled writing from children so young!  Many of the children died, their writings retrieved later by a friend or relative, so it's a heartbreaking read and the cruelty they experienced is . . . well, it leaves me speechless just to think about what some of them endured. Two diaries written by British youngsters lend a little levity to the book (those two are both on my shelves in complete form) although they do eventually begin to feel the full impact of war on their own home turf. 

Again, highly recommended - Surprisingly mature writing in most cases but definitely a rough read because of the horrors experienced by the children who wrote the entries in this book. I cried a lot while reading Children's Wartime Diaries but at the same time I was mesmerized by some of the writing. There were only a couple excerpts that were simplistic enough to feel as if they matched the age of the writers. If you were captivated by Anne Frank's diary, you really must try to find a copy of Children's Wartime Diaries.  I bought my copy secondhand and I'm pretty sure it's no longer in print, but there were plenty available. Prepare to have your heart broken if you do chase down a copy.


©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.

Before I Die by Candy Chang

Still backtracking to catch up on October and November books.  Before I Die by Candy Chang is a small, coffee-table type book about the author's idea to create a wall covered with the unfinished sentence, "Before I die I want to ______," stenciled repeatedly to enable people to fill in their answers.

The first place a "Before I Die" wall was created was on the side of an abandoned house in New Orleans.  It took some special planning and permission and there were a few hang-ups, but eventually Chang managed to paint the wall. The reaction was surprising. People stopped to think, wrote their answers and talked to each other.  There were problems, of course -- chalk stolen, bad language that had to be cleaned off, walls that became so full they had to be hosed down to give even more people an opportunity to write on them.  But, that first wall was a successful, thought-provoking venture and soon similar walls went up in other cities and gradually the idea spread around the world.  

Before I Die tells about the walls, where they were built, the people who made them, and the sentiments written on the walls. There are photos of people writing on walls and the people involved, as well as some little boxes with quotes from the walls. 

I really enjoyed Before I Die, although there were two things I thought were mildly lacking. I would have liked to see larger, unblocked photos of the walls so that one could sit and read a wall without bodies marring the view (although it is definitely fun to see photos of people writing) and without straining the eyeballs.  Some of the photos are a bit hard to read. You can see some photos of the walls a bit better via a Google image search of Before I Die, though. The other thing I would have liked is to know more about the author's personal story.  I didn't quite understand what loss set the project in motion. I actually reread Chang's intro a couple of times, trying to figure that out, and came out of it thinking the author lost her mother.  I'm not entirely certain, though.

One thing I particularly loved about Before I Die was the fact that as I was reading I realized there were a lot of life wishes that other people wrote on those walls which I've already experienced. What a tremendously uplifting realization. Some of the sentiments are not bucket list wishes, though, but simple things. You can see a few of those in the photo above:  "Inspire someone," and "Hug my boyfriend," for example.

As I was reading Before I Die, I mentally categorized.  You can't help but notice a lot of repetition from one wall to the next and the author actually did some analysis/sorting of similar thoughts.  Math freaks get their charts and graphs!  Cool!  

Recommended - I don't own a coffee table (never have, actually) so I have no place to set out a coffee table book but I do think the book is thought-provoking enough that it would make a fun book to set out in the hope of stimulating conversation.

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

Minis! Lucy by Ellen Feldman, How to Live with a Neurotic Cat by S. Baker and Letter from New York by Helene Hanff

One of my goals for 2013 (which I haven't bothered to write about -- just don't feel like writing down my goals, this year) is to attempt to keep my reviews short so I won't spend so much time online. Boy, did I fail on that count with House of Earth!  But, I feel a little more comfortable with brevity when I read off my own shelves, for some reason, so the following are mini reviews of books from my own shelves.

Lucy by Ellen Feldman is a fictionalized account of the love affair between Lucy Mercer and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  I must have had my head in the mud because I'd never heard of Lucy Mercer till recently but I love reading about Roosevelt and my interest was piqued when my friend Paula read Lucy.  She very kindly sent me her copy (so it wasn't on my shelf for long).  

I was terribly impressed with Lucy.  It's told from Lucy's point of view and is quite believable for historical fiction about real-life characters in my opinion, possibly at least in part because the author took her time describing how the relationship developed.  But, the writing also was very well done.  I've read two books by Ellen Feldman, now, and I found Lucy much more sharply drawn, the characters very well-rounded.  There were only a couple moments when I thought she drove home a point a little too fiercely and pulled me out of the story.

The author's note describes her use of letters and other documents and all indications lead to the thought that she did a rocking fine job of research.  Highly recommended.  Lucy was published in 2003 by W. W. Norton & Co. 

How to Live with a Neurotic Cat by Stephen Baker is supposed to be humorous, but it didn't play on my own cats' idiosyncracies. I think we can all agree that they're pretty unusual animals.  They're extremely active, even though they're now 4 and 3 years old, and they come running when I call them by name (unless they're deep in the midst of a nap).  They have been trained to use cardboard and carpet-covered cat scratching surfaces, so they don't rip into the furniture.  And, in the book there was absolutely nothing about cats knocking things off dressers.  Isabel is big into "Knock It Off the Dresser," (usually around 4:00 AM) "Knock it Into the Bathtub" and other similar games.  

I read How to Live with a Neurotic Cat because it's been on my shelves for eons and it's short.  I figured it would be a good book to read quickly and donate.  A friend of mine who has more cats than I do loved How to Live with a Neurotic Cat.  I gave it 2 stars and had to quickly gobble down another short book to cleanse my palette, I disliked it so much.  But, like I said, I think that's got something to do with the fact that my cats are so unique. They're really both more dog than cat, in many ways.  

I love this review of How to Live with a Neurotic Cat at Cinamaetcetera. I think it's a little more fair than what I have to say about the book, a 1985 publication of Gramercy Books (a Random House imprint).  Heh, told you it's been around a while, although I think mine was a reprint and didn't linger that long.

I got my copy of Letter from New York by Helene Hanff after reading 84, Charing Cross Road.  It took a while to acquire this book and another title of hers, since I opted to get them via Paperback Swap, and then probably at least 2-3 years for me to get around to reading Letter from New York.

As you can see from the subtitle at the bottom, "Letter from New York" was a radio spot on the BBC Woman's Hour Broadcasts during which Helene spoke about life in New York.  I think it was broadcast monthly, although I neglected to take notes.  Letter from New York is a collection of all of the writings she could find from her days in radio.  A few went missing.

I absolutely loved this book.  Her writings were just stories from everyday life and, as such, painted an intriguing capsule portrait of life in New York City in the 1970s.  Over the 6 years of her writings, things changed.  A garden that was abandoned for lack of funds was brought back to life by volunteer effort, Christmas concerts that had been free for decades began to cost money, dogs died and new ones were adopted.  Helene Hanff was dog crazy and I absolutely love her stories about the dogs in her building.  Letter from New York is, like her better-known 84, Charing Cross Road, the kind of book that you close thinking, "I'll want to return to this world, some time in the future." 

Highly recommended.  A pleasant afternoon or evening read, quick enough to zip through but enjoyable enough to savor.

And, since I've admitted I'm old because I very well could have bought that neurotic cat book in 1985, although I'm almost positive I didn't, a peek into ancient history . . . 

That's a photo I found tucked into my baby book, during the holiday break.  I am on the right, kissing big sis goodbye on her first day of "big girl school".  I don't have to confess the year, but you can probably figure it out or at least come close.  I was 4 years old; she was 6.  It always irritated her that I was never that far behind her in height.  And, of course, I had great hair.  Haha.  

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

The Longest Way Home by Andrew McCarthy

The Longest Way Home: One Man's Quest for the Courage to Settle Down
By Andrew McCarthy
Copyright 2012
Free Press - Travel Memoir
273 pp.


A few more vestiges of Iquitos's glory days line Prospero Street, but there is little else to point toward any immediate appeal.  Despite this, the hanging heat and dense folds of humidity, there's a shaggy-dog charm to Iquitos.  There is nothing here that is remotely reminiscent of my life back home--none of the threadbare shops, or primitive advertising, or restaurants have a familiar or even recognizable feeling about them.  Such an alien sensation is increasingly rare in a world heading toward homogenization.  The only thing familiar in this environment is me; consequently, I am acutely aware of my own thoughts, which in moments like this run toward a feeling of possibility.  I wish I were staying in town for longer, possibly much longer.

~ p. 71 of The Longest Way Home ("The Amazon" chapter)

I almost passed up the opportunity to read and review The Longest Way Home, but I kept returning to the email about it, reading the description until I wore myself down with longing . . . thank goodness.  The best of any memoirs are written with a blend of wide-eyed wonder and humility, with stories about interaction between traveler and locals as well as description that makes the reader want to jump up and start packing.  Andrew McCarthy's memoir is all that and much more. 

From the publisher's description:

"Unable to commit to his fiancee of nearly four years--and with no clear understanding of what's holding him back--Andrew McCarthy finds himself at a crossroads, plagued by doubts that have clung to him for a lifetime.  Something in his character has kept him always at a distance, preventing him from giving himself wholeheartedly to the woman he loves and from becoming the father that he knows his children deserve.  So before he loses everything he cares about, Andrew sets out to look for answers.

Hobbling up the treacherous slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, dodging gregarious passengers aboard an Amazonian riverboat, and trudging through dense Costa Rican rain forests--Andrew takes us on exotic trips to some of the world's most beautiful places, but his real journey is one of the spirit."

I'm not going to copy the entire jacket description . . . 

. . . but, in a nutshell, The Longest Way Home is the story of how one man chose to seek the answer to why he was having difficulty committing and attempt to conquer his fears by escaping to his favorite comfort zone: travel.  Probably the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of traveling in order to develop courage is, "Isn't that called running away from your problems?" But, the author makes a strong case for travel as a way to get in touch with one's feelings.

Later, I sit by the estancia in the afternoon sun, and take pictures down by the river, and watch birds picking at the grass.  I can imagine myself staying here for a long time, alone and content, at the end of the world.  

I have found several places in my travels where I've experienced a similar sensation--the bare and rocky Burren in the rural west of Ireland, on a remote northern coast of Brazil, in central Wyoming, and at an unlikely spot in Hawaii.  Places where I felt received by the land, where my perception of the world and of my place in it fell into sync.  I recognize that sense of belonging instantly.  

~p. 59  (the "Patagonia" chapter)

Why I loved The Longest Way Home:

Andrew McCarthy's writing is strong, evocative and emotional. But, I think part of the reason I truly loved his book is the fact that not only was I entertained but I also deeply related on more that one level. I understand that feeling of connecting to the land and the people of another place more than one's own home, for one thing.

And, I just happened to be married to a fellow who has a very similar personality to that of the author: introverted and solitary, more at home traveling than sitting still, heedless of potential danger in a way that allows him to experience new places fully, driven and successful.  McCarthy explains how he can be both a solitary person and completely devoted to family -- something that's really tough to get across to friends to whom I explain the frustrations of being an extrovert married to a man of few words and with practically no need for human contact.

Apart from all that, I simply loved experiencing new places through Andrew McCarthy's eyes.  While he isn't a person who thrives in a group situation, that doesn't mean he's socially inept -- just more of a one-on-one/small group person. He often connects with people in unexpected, sometimes uplifting, often surprising ways.  Even when he describes being irritated with someone, his reasons tend toward the rational rather than the self-indulgent.

As I was reading The Longest Way Home, I enjoyed my armchair travels so much that as I settled in to read, each night, I told my husband, "I'm in Patagonia, right now," or "I'm off to the Amazon, next," etc.  Each time I opened the book, I knew I was going to be happily immersed.  And, that's really saying something.  Since our move, I've been so weary at the end of the day that it's a rare book that captures me.  I've only managed to read 3 books, so far, in November [muffled scream].

The bottom line:

Excellent travel writing with a nice, personal theme, Highly Recommended.  I absolutely loved The Longest Way Home.  A likable author, funny and tolerant fiancee and two sweet children make the author's story of putting his past into perspective and facing his fear of commitment one that makes the reader feel truly invested in a happy ending.  Admittedly, I was a little teary when I closed the book. The places he visited were often off the beaten path -- not the touristy parts of Costa Rica, for example. Andrew McCarthy now holds the distinction of being the first travel writer to successfully convince me that Patagonia is worth looking into.  I've always thought of Patagonia as a place for single guys in North Face jackets and Teva shoes -- you know, Ivy League college guys looking for adventure. Somehow, he managed to make Patagonia sound accessible.

Side note:  

Some may know Andrew McCarthy as the "Brat Pack" heartthrob of Eighties fame who appeared in Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo's Fire and Weekend at Bernie's.  He is still acting and does talk about his career; it's a part of his life story and relevant to the book.  So, if you're a fan, you might be interested in the book for that reason alone.  But, more importantly, he knows both how to tell a story and how to write.  Don't be put off if you tend to avoid books by actors.

About that connection to the land:

One of the places I feel almost bizarrely at home is the site of an iron-age fortress called Barbary Castle in Wiltshire, UK.  I love everything about it: the earthworks that still clearly outline the fortress, the incredible 360-degree view, the sheep, the brisk wind -- even the cranky farmer who made us wait for him to feed his geese before springing us when we got locked into the parking lot.  Is there a place you feel at home away from home?

Some interesting links:

Usually, I'm not fond of book trailers but I do love the book trailer for The Longest Way Home.

And, I enjoyed this interview:  Alec Baldwin interviewing Andrew McCarthy on Here's the Thing.

In other news:

Fiona Friday #Fail.  Can I just claim another busy weekend?  Here's a very belated photo of Isabel playing with the drawstring of my new fleece pajamas (which I purchased because our heater has been out for nearly a week -- not all that big a problem here, although pajamas made of blanket material are definitely helpful on the coldest nights).

Sorry about the unfinished version of this review that I accidentally posted.  One of my twitter friends suggested I just call it a "preview".  :)

Absolutely no books at all entered my house for another week . . . and then today three of them walked in the door:

Aesop's Fables, illustrated by Charles Santore - a surprise from Sterling Kids
Surviving Paradise by Peter Rudiak-Gould - from Paperback Swap
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White - from Paperback Swap


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

The Paper Garden by Molly Peacock

The Paper Garden: An Artist Begins Her Life's Work at 72 by Molly Peacock

Copyright 2010

Bloomsbury - History/Biography/Memoir/Art

397 pp., incl. extensive bibliography and index

The subtitle and the gorgeous cover of the hardback copy of The Paper Garden (a poppy) drew me to this book. An artist who began her life's work at 72? One can always stand to read about something as hopeful as a dramatically late start in life. The Paper Garden had already been on my wish list for a year when I was contacted by TLC Tours. Would I like to review it? Why, yes, I certainly would.

As it turns out, The Paper Garden is not just about the paper artist, Mary Delany, and the artist didn't begin crafting and art in general at 72, but created her own method of paper collage at that age. The Paper Garden tells Mary Delany's entire life story but focuses on Delany's early artwork, her gardening, her two marriages and the long stretch of independence between those marriages and how they the combination of creativity and experience led to the making of her collages. Mixed in with Mary's story is a bit of memoir about the author, a poet who has drawn some parallels with her own life.

What I loved about The Paper Garden:

I adored the detail of Mary's life. She was truly an amazing woman; full of life, a woman of many lasting friendships, creative and intelligent, always busy, curious, engaged and engaging. While a major part of her broad creative work involves the fact that she was well-placed and suitably comfortable in life to have plenty of leisure time, I think I can safely say that Mary Delany used her time better than most. I enjoyed reading about her because she was a fascinating person and her master work, the flowers, capped off a vigorous, creative life. She was truly an amazing woman.

I've borrowed an image of one of the flower collages (a passionflower, which just happens to be one of my favorites of those few images in The Paper Garden) from the British Museum's website:

The detail is astounding. She cut all the tiny petals and curlicues after dyeing her paper and dissecting the flowers for accuracy of representation. And, then she added painted touches to shade and sometimes a real leaf of other part from the actual flower. Not only that, but she managed to amass a whopping 985 of these works of art before loss of vision halted her.

Besides the fact that Delany's life and the historical context were engrossing, I loved the fact that the author was passionate about her interest in Delany's life and work. She did a tremendous job of research, including numerous interviews, and her eye for detail, while overwhelming at times, made for a well-rounded picture of a talented, strong, admirable woman of the 18th century.

What I disliked about The Paper Garden:

I was expecting a biography, not the memoir bits, and I can't say I loved reading about the author's life. There were some minor parallels, but for the most part I found Molly Peacock's life story interesting but less entertaining than that of Mary Delany and not particularly relevant.

But, what I really found appalling and the reason this book will come with a family warning was the sexualization of the flower descriptions -- as in "disgusting". I considered stopping at page 6, when I came to the first passage that I found offensive enough that you'll have to highlight to see two of the words:

They all come out of darkness, intense and vaginal, bright on their black backgrounds as if, had she possessed one, she had shined a flashlight on nine hundred and eighty-five flowers' c***s.

--from p. 6 of The Paper Garden

At one point, I was so irritated by the sexual references (flowers to body parts) that I handed the book to my husband and pointed out a passage to see if he felt the same. "You read vulgar stuff," he said. Exactly. I see flowers as objects of beauty for their color, delicacy and contrasts, not for their reproductive bits and pieces (I always felt that way about Georgia O'Keefe's paintings, as well -- they're gorgeous representations of life to me, nothing more). Fortunately, as the author and subject aged, the sexual references tapered off and the cringe moments ceased. The Paper Garden intrigued me enough that I've ordered a copy of Mrs. Delany, Her Life and Her Flowers by Ruth Hayden, a book that is frequently mentioned in The Paper Garden.

Recommendation:

4/5 - A thoroughly-researched, passionate account of the life and work of Mary Delany, sharply detailed and poetic but marred by the authors insistent sexuality (with special emphasis on female body parts). In spite of the bits I considered unnecessary and offensive, I found the book so engrossing that I just ignored the parts I disliked and plowed on. Still, the book deserves a family warning.

I do love flowers, don't you?

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

Mini Reviews: Paris in Love by Eloisa James and More Like Her by Liza Palmer

I don't have a great deal to say about either of these books, although I enjoyed them both for very different reasons. So . . . mini review time!

More Like Her by Liza Palmer is a very strange book. A glance at the cover screams "chick lit" and it does read like chick lit, stylistically. But, the prologue is actually a 911 call made during a school shooting. So, as you begin the reading of this remarkably chick-littish book about friendship between women and love angst, you know there will be a dramatic turning point and the story will be about friends helping each other survive post-traumatic stress, not just about everyday life and love.

The first 100 pages or so of More Like Her are about the friendship between three women and the slight envy they have for Emma Dunham. All work at the same exclusive private school where Emma has become the new headmistress. Frances has recently been dumped by her boyfriend, Jill is happily married and determined to find someone perfect for Frannie, and Lisa has been too career-focused to devote much time or thought to men. When a team of architects from Tennessee arrive to work on the school's expansion project, Lisa falls spectacularly in love with one of the architects and Frances falls for, and is dangled by, another. All three couples are present at the shooting.

Thanks to the prologue and the fact that I loved the friendship between the women, I read More Like Her rabidly. It was one of those rare books that I finished in a day. While I did tire of the sex talk and the heroine's angst (and found it a bit of a stretch that there was more than one architect always on-site at the school's expansion project), the dialogue is tremendously fun. Once the women have survived the shooting, the way Frannie keeps reliving things in her head . . . well, let's just say it's a good idea to keep the tissue box handy. And, yet there is always plenty of levity to break the mood between darker scenes. More Like Her may be a little strange because it's such an odd blend of love, friendship and tragedy but it's definitely a compelling and deeply emotional read and recommended. The storyline is a bit transparent/predictable, especially at the end, but that didn't bother me. I'm just not certain who to recommend it to -- probably lovers of women's fiction because it's the growing friendship between three women that is most appealing about the book.

Paris in Love by Eloisa James is a memoir by romance novelist James about her family's year in Paris. After recovering from breast cancer, James (whose real name is Mary Bly) went on a mad purging frenzy, throwing out and selling things she would not have parted with, pre-cancer. With a new determination to fulfill her dreams she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor and moved her family to Paris.

Paris in Love is not told in the typical memoir format but in anecdotes and essays. Many of her anecdotes were Facebook posts, so they're very brief but incredibly entertaining little vignettes about such topics as her children (particularly in regard to their adjustment from American schooling to an Italian school in France), experimentation in the kitchen, visits to museums, a family trip to London, restaurant and other food experiences, and her mother-in-law's hilarious reports about the health of their obese dog (who lived with her in Florence, Italy).

I marked up Paris in Love with about a million Post-its. When I went back to see if there was anything quotable, I found that I did mark a few entertaining tales. But, mostly, I marked the anecdotes that mentioned interesting things to see and do in Paris. At the end of the book, there is a section entitled, "My Very Unofficial Guide to a Few Places in Paris," which details some of James/Bly's favorite museums, places to shop, restaurants, etc. So, I probably could have dispensed with most of the Post-its, but that brings home the point that the book is worth a read if you happen to be planning a trip to Paris. I'm not, although just in case . . . I'm hanging onto my ARC.

My favorite anecdotes were the stories about the author's children and the dog. They truly made me laugh out loud. I recommend Paris in Love to memoir lovers and people who love reading about Paris or who dream of one day visiting. Because the book is written as a series of anecdotes with a few essays tossed in, it's a good book to keep with you when you know you'll only be able to read in quick bites (short train hops, sitting in line to pick up children from school, etc.).

Since there's red in both book covers, today you get a rose:

Tomorrow, who knows?

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