Monday Malarkey - Back to blogging and an apology cat

Hello, I'm back! Did you miss me? There's a little camera shake in this photo but I like the angle so I'm going to leave this shot here rather than switching to the clear shot from a boring angle:

Recent arrivals (top to bottom):

• The World According to Bob by James Bowen - purchased
• Mendocino Fire by Elizabeth Tallent,
• Forgotten by Linda Hervieux, and
• All the Stars in the Heavens by Adriana Trigiani - all from HarperCollins for review
• Elwood Bigfoot: Wanted: Birdie Friends! by Jill Esbaum and Nate Wragg - from Sterling Children's Books for review

The World According to Bob was sort of a whim but kind of not. I've been considering it for quite some time. As it turned out, I bought the wrong book. I meant to get the first book about Bob, the cat who saved a homeless man from a self-destructive spiral. I'm reading The World According to Bob now, though, and I don't think order really matters, at least to me. I knew the backstory, already. I've read about James Bowen and viewed a video of him with Bob. I will probably go ahead and buy the first book soon, though.

I'm not a Trigiani fan and didn't actually request All the Stars in the Heavens, but I may go ahead and read it, since I enjoyed The Shoemaker's Wife. We shall see. I'm guessing HarperCollins ran out of the book I requested and tossed the Trigiani in, instead, although I've occasionally just gotten titles I thought they sent by mistake. Hard to say what happened at the envelope-stuffing end.


Posts since last Malarkey:

• What the cat saw and a break to heal - I did get some routine maintenance done (clearing out the email in-box -- which has emails dating as far back as 2008!), but most of the week I avoided the computer. Not a bad thing, really.

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Your Alien by Tammi Sauer and Goro Fujita
• Sloth Slept On by Frann Preston-Gannon
• Zack Delacruz: Me and My Big Mouth by Jeff Anderson
• Elwood Bigfood: Wanted: Birdie Friends! by Jill Esbaum and Nate Wragg
• Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie by Lauren Redniss

I've temporarily set aside The Dust that Falls from Dreams because I didn't manage to read any more of it, this week, and I want to start over from the beginning. But, when I picked it up to restart I was not in the right mood and it's a bit of a chunkster at over 500 densely-packed pages. I'm going to need to be invested in that book when I start. What I read I loved, so I'm sure I'll return to it soon.

Since it was a low-concentration week (partly because I had trouble sleeping with a brace on my wrist), I opted to read mostly children's books and a graphic biography. I found Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie particularly difficult to set down . . . so I didn't. I finished it in one sitting and ended up reading later than I should have. I have no regrets.


Currently reading:

• The World According to Bob by James Bowen

I've dipped into my book of letters written to Eleanor Roosevelt during the Great Depression, occasionally, but that's best taken in small doses. I also finished reading the "book of my heart" (written in the late 90s or early 00s -- I probably mentioned that, last week), which started out good but went downhill. I can see why I abandoned it in spite of knowing how it was going to end, but the distance of years definitely helps. There's one character that will have to be cut entirely -- she totally bogged down the story -- and I presume I didn't realize that, at the time. At any rate, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed reading my own writing and how much has changed since I wrote the book. At the time, landlines were still common, rollerblading was still a fad, though fading, and my characters mostly listened to music on CD.


Because there was no Fiona Friday, I offer you an apology cat photo:

I thought it was pretty funny the way Isabel cuddled up to this garden glove, which Fiona likely knocked off the nearby table.


In other news:


Taking off a week has naturally thrown me further behind on reviews. I'm fascinated to find how little this bothers me. Since I changed my approach toward blogging, early this year, and did that catch-up post that filled in where I'd skipped reviews, I feel much more relaxed about blogging. Plus, many of the books I've read recently are children's books and I'm planning to do a Children's Day, soon. That always allows me to knock out a bunch of books in a single day (and it's also very, very fun).

But, I do hope this will be a good blogging week.

I don't sign up for challenges, anymore, but I'm excited to find that Andi and Heather are hosting the RIP challenge at The Estella Society, this year:

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril X

I'll be reading along casually, since I like ushering in the fall with a few creepy/atmospheric reads. Are you joining the RIP X challenge?


©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.

What the cat saw and a break to heal

This was a cute moment. Can you see what Izzy spotted?

It is harder to type than I expected and I'm supposed to wear this little brace thingie on my wrist/hand for about 10-14 days, so I'm going to step away from the computer until it at least stops throbbing. As I mentioned, I have some routine maintenance to do, anyway (and I think I can do most of it one-handed). I'll be back in a week, maybe two! Till then, Happy Reading!

©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.

Monday Malarkey - Of sloths and aliens and things in plastic bins

I'm slowly but surely realizing that on Mondays I'm reminded of what a crap blogger I've become. Yet another week of meh posting, meh reading. But I got some great book mail!

New arrivals:

• Your Alien by Tammy Sauer and Goro Fujita
• Sloth Slept On by Frann Preston-Gannon, and
• Zack Delacruz: Me and My Big Mouth by Jeff Anderson - all from Sterling Children's Books for review.

• Dragonmede by Rona Randall - a pretty exciting-looking gothic library-sale find.
• Poldark by Winston Graham - won in the recent Sourcebooks Poldark giveaway.

I'm thrilled with everything that arrived. As to the library find, I chose Dragonmede thinking it would make a nice, atmospheric autumn read to usher in the cool weather. What little I read when I flipped through the book was definitely intriguing.



Posts since last Malarkey:

• Pamela by Samuel Richardson (review)
• Fiona Friday - Because cats are just toddlers in fur (cat photo)

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (for F2F book group discussion)
• Harriet Wolf's Seventh Book of Wonders by Julianna Baggott

The discussion of Salvage the Bones was pretty lively. I don't think anyone loved the book (one person liked it; the rest of us liked the writing, although not necessarily the story) but the fact that it was set in Mississippi with Hurricane Katrina as a backdrop meant it hit close to home in some way for all of us.


Currently reading:

I just started reading The Dust that Falls from Dreams by Louis de Bernieres, 2 days ago. I was sleepy, at the time, and only managed to read 15 pages. Then, yesterday (still working on going through various bins and boxes) I found a binder that contained what I would refer to as the "book of my heart" - an almost-finished novel that I wrote in the late 90s/early 00s. At the time, I knew the ending but didn't manage to finish the book before I abruptly stopped writing fiction. I put it away -- and always considered it unmarketable, even had I finished -- but after I began reading and found that I didn't want to put the book down, I realized that I was finding words and entire scenes I would cut but plenty I'd keep. The fact that the book appears to be something I can work with actually shocked me.

Huzzybuns is encouraging me to type my old novel back into the computer (it was written about 3 computers ago) and make changes as I go. I've really struggled to get back into the swing of writing, this year, because I'm so badly out of practice but . . . yes, I think that's something I can do. If I disappear for a while, you'll know why. I'm really pretty excited about the idea of updating the book. It's unintentionally startling in some ways. Everyone still had a landline when I wrote the story, for example. So, it almost feels like sort of a "historical document", even though it's no older than about 15-16 years.

Here's another thing I keep finding in plastic bins:

In other news:

Because I've accepted a number of children's books for review, recently (more are coming), I've decided to bring back "Children's Day" - a day when I post several reviews of children's books on a single day. I always enjoyed doing Children's Days because they're a great excuse to pile up children's books, flop on the bed and have fun digging in.

I will be taking a week off for routine computer maintenance, soon (cleaning the email in- and outboxes, etc.) but I'm just going to do that when the mood strikes me. If I don't manage a Monday Malarkey post, next week, that's one possible reason why. I also have a cyst that suddenly popped up on the back of my hand, a couple weeks ago, and I'm having that drained because that sucker hurts . . . and it looks ridiculous, like someone injected a marble under my skin. Weird. I don't know if the splint I have to wear will get in the way of typing or not, but if it does I'll have no choice but to disappear for a week or so. We'll see. I don't anticipate it being a problem but you never know. I've never had this done before.

Happy Everything!

©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.

Fiona Friday - Because cats are just toddlers in fur

When the cats tired of their ribbons and balls, this week, I spun a top for them. They were seriously fascinated.

©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.

Pamela by Samuel Richardson

Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson
My book: Copyright 1958, W. W. Norton & Co. - Fiction
Originally published in 1740
533 pp. 

Pamela has a terrible rating at Goodreads (but some pretty humorous reviews) and for good reason. It's difficult to get through, not only because it's extremely repetitive, but also because it's so horrifying to read about how women were treated and believed they should behave. You have to be in the right mood and very, very patient to read the story but it was worth sticking out.

Pamela is only 15 and a startling beauty who works as a maid at a large estate. Her mistress has just recently died and her new master, the deceased lady's son, is a cad. Struck by her beauty, he decides he wants to have his way with her. But Pamela has been taught that she must protect her virtue at all costs. The master is determined and whenever he can get her alone, he molests her but is unable to get very far. Pamela is so frightened that she enlists the help of some of the other servants and decides she must return home to her parents. The housekeeper kindly shares Pamela's bed to protect her (although even she says the master can't help himself and it's clearly Pamela's fault he can't control his impulses because she's so pretty), another tries to smuggle letters to her parents when the master finds out about her prolific writing and insists on reading everything she writes.

After pretending to dismiss her to return to her parents, Pamela's new master instead sweeps her off to another of his homes, where he continues to try to take advantage of her. Here, the housekeeper is not so kind. Pamela continues to write letters to her parents, tries to get the local curate to help her escape, prays that her purity will survive and -- if not -- better to die a virgin than have her purity destroyed. Truly, it's a soap opera and a bit tedious, at that, but I found Pamela fascinating for its perspective on the time period. How far we've come! In the end, the author describes each character's actions as a lesson in morality. Meekness, purity, obedience to the menfolk and generosity are among what was expected of women. Poor Pamela was also frequently lectured on what was expected of her after marriage, including the importance of continuing to dress nicely for the entire marriage lest her husband's eyes stray.

Today we'd call the lord of the house an ass. He admits to Pamela that he was a spoiled man, accustomed to having his way and only softened and convinced that marriage was worth considering by Pamela's continued refusal to give in to him, her piety, her simpering obedience (argh, painful to read) and kindness to all. Of course, the modern reader may find herself, as I did, talking to the book. I kept telling Pamela she was crazy, for one thing, because she waffled about everything. No, of course you shouldn't convince yourself you've fallen in love with a guy who held you captive and molested you, stupid girl, I told the book. She married him, anyway. You can't call Pamela the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Wordy and monotonous as Pamela could be, it was entertaining. It's also memorable. Even when I set the book aside for several weeks, I was able to return to it as if I'd only set it down the day before.

Recommended to a limited audience - I'd particularly recommend Pamela to those who enjoy classics and especially during a time when you're in a tolerant mood, looking for a bigger novel that you can enjoy for the sake of observation about the time period. Pamela is an epistolary novel. Apart from the moral lessons at the end, the book consists entirely of letters written by Pamela to her parents. Here's how Richardson set off the moral section at the end:

The reader will here indulge us in a few brief observations, which naturally result from the story and characters; and which will serve as so many applications of its most material incidents to the minds of YOUTH of BOTH SEXES. 

Among my favorite bits from that section:

From the same good example, let children see what a blessing awaits their duty to their parents, though ever so low in the world; and that the only disgrace is to be dishonest; but none at all to be poor. 

Side note:

When I looked up the original publication date during the reading, I came across a blog where Pamela was described as "The Twilight of its time." Unfortunately, I didn't bookmark the site but I found it fascinating that the book was so popular that there was Pamela merchandise. Who'd have thought that kind of marketing went back so far in time? Fascinating.

©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.

Monday Malarkey

There's very little to say, this week. Last week was a quiet week at home and the weekend was all about reloading the master bedroom closet. Kiddo returned from Memphis and will be bringing more of his possessions home soon, so it's become a critical task making room for All That Stuff. Fortunately, it's going very, very well.

Recent arrivals:

• The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje - via Paperback Swap

Yep, only one book arrived, again. I would say I may finally be improving but I happen to know that a book I pre-ordered is due to arrive, tomorrow. And, I may have said "yes" to reviewing a few more children's books. Confession: I adore children's books. They're the reading equivalent of adult coloring or playing with Lego blocks when there are no children around. 

Posts since last Malarkey:

• On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt (review)
• The Flying Circus by Susan Crandall (review)
• This Old Van by K. Norman and C. Conahan and a Fiona Friday pic (review and cat photo)

Books finished since last malarkey:

• The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray by Robert Schnackenberg
• Tenth of December by George Saunders 

Both of these books were such fun. I have to return Tenth of December to the library, this week, and it's one of those rare books that inspired me (as in, made stories of my own swirl in my head) so it pains me to return the book but I can always check it out again, later.


Currently reading:

• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

I have bookmarks in other books but need to finish Salvage the Bones by Wednesday for F2F discussion, so for the moment that's all I'm reading.


In other news:

The chair I used to photograph The Cat's Table, above, is the chair I bought specifically to paint but it's been far too hot to do anything outdoors; and, as it turned out, Isabel loves my desk chair. I hate kicking her out of the chair when she's happily napping. So, I turned the old desk chair over to the cat and brought the elderly chair I intend to paint into the library (where my computer currently resides). The older chair is a little creaky but I figure we've made a decent compromise, for now. In fact, I'm rethinking my original paint palette. If I'm going to end up using the chair I plan to paint, I might as well paint it to coordinate with the library colors, right? Thanks, Izzy. Very helpful.

Positive thinking!

I may be having a major reading slump, this year, but there's always a plus side. I'm not falling behind on reviews at the rate I typically do. So, wahoo for that!!!

Also, I hear fall is coming, yay! Kiddo is no longer in school but Eldest has one more year to go at Rutgers  (on his second and third masters degrees) and then we may actually have a brief lull during which there are no students in the family. It won't last, I'm sure. This family seems to be addicted to college education.

Gotta run. Happy Monday to all!


©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.

This Old Van by Kim Norman and Carolyn Conahan and a Fiona Friday pic

This Old Van by Kim Norman, Illustrated by Carolyn Conahan
Copyright 2015
Sterling Children's Books - Picture Book/Counting (Ages 4 - 7)
30 pp.


This old van, she passed TWO,
friendly flaggers wave her through.

With a click clack rattle rack,
tooting at the crew,
this old van says,
"GOOD-BYE, TWO!"


Before I said "yes" to reviewing This Old Van, I already knew I couldn't pass up a book starring a van covered in the old "flower power" and peace-sign design. My hippie soul adores such things (I am, in fact, wearing a peace sign T-shirt as I type). And, I did indeed love the illustrations starring a couple of aging hippies and this crazy van racing across the countryside every bit as much as I expected. But, the bonus is in the rhythm. You can tell from the excerpt above (if you know the song) that the rhythm of the verses in This Old Van is the same as that of the song "This Old Man."

So, I actually sang the entire book to the cats. No, nobody has come to haul me to a room with mattress wallpaper, yet. And, in fact, the cats seemed to enjoy it but not as much as I'm sure my granddaughter will when I send it to her.

Highly recommended - A wildly fun counting book that has friendly, upbeat illustrations with plenty of detail to study, a super rhythm that allows you to sing the book to an old-fashioned tune, and unique things to count. On the page with two friendly flaggers, for example, there are also two dogs, two birds in hard hats, two bulldozers, two goats, two signs warning about falling rocks and two unexpected animals in hard hats. Loads of fun for kids and adults. Grandparents who remember the 60s will appreciate that crazy van.

It's Friday but I wanted to squeeze in a review so you get a combination post, today, including a combination of cats for Fiona Friday. I always love those moments when I find the two kitties squashed up next to each other.  It happened two or three times, this week, and I managed to catch the kitties between grooming and playing with their ribbon, on one occasion. It's possible somebody wiggled her fingers to get them to stop looking down.

Happy Friday!

©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.

The Flying Circus by Susan Crandall

The Flying Circus by Susan Crandall
Copyright 2015
Gallery Books - Adventure/Romance
357 pp. 

Gil is a barnstormer with a death wish, Cora a fearless young lady who doesn't miss the life of privilege she used to have, and Henry is running from the law. When their lives intersect and they become a team with Cora promoting Gil's sky acrobatics and performing stunts, Henry working as the team's mechanic and learning to fly, what will happen?

I bought my copy of The Flying Circus on a whim after hearing an author I follow call it "adventurous". It is definitely an adventurous tale and there are plenty of surprising plot twists, in spite of the fact that the overall plot is predictable. The Flying Circus is, first and foremost, a love story. Henry is besotted by Cora from the first day. But, Gil is also attracted to her. Cora, for her part, is most taken by Gil but Gil has a secret that may change everything. Meanwhile, seeing her obvious preference for Gil, Henry tries to overcome his longing for Cora without much success.

There are plenty of questions that the author drags out in order to keep the pages turning. What is Gil's big secret? Why is he suicidal? Is it just because of his experience in the Great War or is there something more going on? Who will Cora choose? Did Henry really kill a girl or was he set up?

Recommended, particularly to romance readers - Although there's plenty of adventure, because the romance aspect of The Flying Circus is so prominent I think people who bristle at romantic plotlines might find The Flying Circus a little tedious. I can't say whether it was the story or just the fact that I was having a lousy reading month that made it drag on for me, but it was neither a quick nor gripping read for me. At the time, nothing was really clicking, though. I hesitate to say anything negative about the book. I liked the characters, rooted for all of them, found their storylines predictable but still wanted to see them through. However, I do prefer adventure to romance and The Flying Circus was not a personal favorite because of the dominance of the romantic storyline and the predictability factor. Still, it was a pretty good read and definitely one I think romance readers will enjoy.


©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.

On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt

Isabel very kindly censored the title of this book but Ullshit is just not as interesting a title as On Bullshit, is it? So, the post is not censored, although you have to appreciate the pretty view.

On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt is a tiny book (undersized and only 67 pages long) that explores the way we deceive other people and, sometimes in the process, ourselves.

My husband handed me his copy of On Bullshit when I was having a particularly frustrating day. Friends who are aligned with the political party I consider to be the more deceptive of the two were repeating misinformation and they absolutely, utterly believed everything they were saying, even though a few quick searches online easily proved all of that information false. I said, "I don't understand how they can fall for the spin," and my husband said, "Here, read this. It'll explain everything."

Sure enough, there is one particularly telling passage that fit the concept of baloney in politics. Unfortunately, it was about 8 - 10 pages' worth and you need to read the entire passage in order to grasp the concept of how even those who are doing the "bullshitting" are able to convince themselves that they are telling the truth. So, I'm not going to pull a quote out of this particular book. But, I do think it's worth reading if you're feeling overwhelmed by the fact that people around you are not only spouting nonsense but believe what they're saying.

Recommended with a note of caution - I found this particular book very helpful during a day of angst but it should be noted that if there's a large word available, Frankfurt has found it. So, the book is a little on the ponderous side. As I was reading, I realized it's a book that you need to read repeatedly in order to fully understand it. But, I enjoyed it and it eased my mind a bit. And, then I deactivated my Facebook account a few weeks later, anyway, because it really doesn't help knowing why people believe the bullshit. It still gets on your nerves.

©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.

Monday Malarkey - Road trip version

Not a whole heck of a lot of bookishness has happened since my Whoopsie-daisy Wednesday substituted for a belated Monday Malarkey, last week. So, this Monday Malarkey post will be interpersed with road trip images from this weekend's visit to Memphis to visit Kiddo, who is temporarily living in Tennessee. I bought the happy Buddha, above, at the Memphis Zoo. Husband calls him, "Nixon Buddha," and followed up that designation with the words, "I am not a crook."

Arrivals since Wednesday:

• Flight from Berlin by David John - via Paperback Swap

Yep, that's it. Just one. We didn't go to any bookstores in Memphis because this trip (in spite of the heat) was all about getting out to check out the area in which Kiddo is staying and trying out some local food.


Posts since Whoospie-daisy Wednesday:

• Fiona Friday - This one, please (cat photo)

Just one post, as well, thanks to Husband's week off. We spent the bulk of the week emptying a large walk-in closet, going through boxes and bins, tossing things out, reorganizing, generally making a pretty significant mess in the living room but with an admirable end result. Hopefully, this will be a decent blogging week. I just never know.

We interrupt this post for a photo of peppers from the Farmer's Market in Memphis:

Books finished since Wednesday:

• Nothin' - Bummer. On the plus side, it's been less than a week and I'm definitely going to finish a book, today.

Currently reading:

The same books I was reading on Wednesday, except I've added one more:

• The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray: A Critical Opinion of the World's Finest Actor by Robert Schnakenberg

I don't think Bill Murray would like me (apart from the fact that I never, ever approach famous people I see in public), if only because I don't drink enough. But, I'm having a blast reading about him and had no idea how many actors there are from the Murray family. I was familiar with most of them as individuals but had no idea they were related to Bill.

Ever feel like you're being watched?

Just thought I'd ask. Sometimes I wake up in the hazy morning light (hazy because my eyes don't focus when I wake up) and find that I am, indeed, being very carefully observed:

This week's rough plan:

• Recover from having husband at home for a full week.
• Read, read, read, and read some more.
• Write questions for Anthony Breznican (yes, I still haven't written questions for that elusive Q/A).
• Write a million posts . . . or, at least, a few.
• Write, write, write, and write some more (fiction).

Closing comment by Husband:

After three very Southern and very meaty meals in Memphis, Husband said, "You ate catfish, fried chicken, and sausage, this weekend. You have changed." I'm not a big meat eater or fan of Southern food, you see. But, apparently I'm more open to new food experiences than I was in the past.

I still love my veggies, though.

In other news:

Andi gave me permission to share a photo of the two of us in front of my living room bookshelves. I confess I hate photos of myself (this photo, unfortunately blurry, convinced me it was time to hack off the hair) but we had such a great time I figured I should share the joy. Andi and I were all matchy-matchy in navy and white stripes. Funny! We had a blast and I'm hoping she'll drop through again, some time in the future.

©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.

Fiona Friday - This one, please

Isabel either desperately wants to read Kate Atkinson's latest or she really would like me to read it. Either way, she gave pulling A God in Ruins off the shelf her best effort.

©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.

Whoopsie-daisy Wednesday

Because Monday and Tuesday posts just didn't work out, today we get Whoopsie-daisy Wednesday. It's weird, but I'm okay with weird. I embrace the weird.

Arrivals since last week (top to bottom):

• The Gratitude Diaries by Janice Kaplan - from a friend who knows I'm an ungrateful *itch. Just kidding. But, it's definitely from a friend. 
• The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray by Robert Schnakenberg - from Quirk Books for review. So excited about this one that I celebrated by watching What About Bob?
• Neverwhere: Author's Preferred Text by Neil Gaiman - Purchased. Apparently, I lied about reading an older edition; I couldn't find it and Husband said, "Go ahead and buy a new copy if you need to." Of course, I found my tattered secondhand paperback about 2 days after this bad boy arrived. Maybe I'll read both. Who knows? I've been in a rereading mood, this year, but I have to find out if I like it before I determine whether or not it's worth rereading.
• This Old Van by K. Norman and C. Conahan - from Sterling Children's Books for review
• Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie, a Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss - from HarperCollins for review
• Goodnight Songs: A Celebration of the Seasons by Margaret Wise Brown (with music CD) - from Sterling Children's Books for review
• (Not pictured) Faces in the Water by Janet Frame - purchased
• (Not pictured) Horrible Histories: Blood-Curdling Box of Books - boxed set of Horrible Histories books by Terry Deary and Martin Brown

Clearly, I've decided to take on a few review books, recently -- and had a bit too much fun buying. I have no regrets. Everything I've read for review, so far, has been great. I'm being tremendously picky. And, fortunately, I donated two bags and a box of books to the library yesterday, otherwise I might be tempted to feel guilty. But, I don't.

I also checked out a couple books from the library:

• Tenth of December by George Saunders
• Power Forward by Reggie Love

Posts since last week's Malarkey:

• Mini reviews: Possibly a failed attempt at randomness (brief reviews of When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka, Life in a Box is a Pretty Life by Dawn Lundy Martin, and Julia's Cats by Barey and Burson)
• Fiona Friday - Window gazing (cat photo) 

Not a big blogging week (but I'm happy with what I managed) and I may not post anymore this week, since Huzzybuns is taking most of the week off and expects me to devote every spare moment to his whims.

Books finished since last week's Malarkey:

• This Old Van by Kim Norman and Carolyn Conahan
• Pamela by Samuel Richardson - I finished Pamela! I finished Pamela!!!!
• Goodnight Songs: A Celebration of the Seasons by Margaret Wise Brown
• The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon
• Horrible Histories: Savage Stone Age by Terry Deary and Martin Brown

Currently reading:

• The Tree by John Fowles
• Power Forward by Reggie Love
• Dear Mrs. Roosevelt: Letters from Children of the Great Depression, ed. by Robert Cohen

The Tree is an ARC from 2010 that didn't click at the time but which I'm enjoying, now. I'm not sure where I read about Power Forward but I checked it out mostly out of curiosity as to what someone who worked closely with President Obama has to say about him. And, Dear Mrs. Roosevelt is a total downer. I read 60-something pages the first night I opened the book then ended up setting it aside for about 2 weeks.  It's difficult reading about despair at any time but child after child after child asking for "just a little money" to help pay for food, bills, a dress, shoes, a doctor's bill . . . it wrings you out. Eleanor Roosevelt did give a lot of money to various charities and projects but you know going in that there's no way she could respond personally to all the requests in the book, much less send money (although she did have a secretary in charge of sending replies to every one of those children). 

In other news:

I got to meet Andi of Estella's Revenge and her husband, this weekend! So exciting! They dropped by my house on their way to Gulf Shores. We had a grand time chatting, laughed a lot, ate some creepy food (crawfish . . . I still don't touch that stuff, although I can at least bear to look at it, now) and I showed off my ridiculously wonderful home library. Totally delightful. I neglected to ask Andi if it would be okay to publish a photo so I'll leave that out but Andi and David are adorable, trust me.

Husband should be home any minute now, so I'd better wrap this up. Happy middle of the week!


©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.

Fiona Friday - Window gazing

©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.

Mini reviews - Possibly a failed attempt at randomness

I haven't felt like writing blog posts, this week, and sometimes that means I should walk away but sometimes it means I need to stop allowing myself to feel confined by what I usually do. So, I attempted to make this post structureless. I'm not sure I succeeded but at least it helped me knock out a few more reviews, if only for the sake of personal record-keeping.

The recent read that I think I've found most difficult to even begin writing about (apart from a couple of books I loved so much I feared I couldn't do them justice) is Life in a Box is a Pretty Life by Dawn Lundy Martin, a book I read during the #flashreadathon in June. It's poetry but it's not necessarily for the everyday reader who has difficulty understanding poetry (me, for example, haha). It's complex, choppy, the kind of poetry that requires you to completely shut off expectation and stop trying to understand. I found it easier to "get" after I quit, metaphorically, squinting so hard at its ideas. I think the best way to describe the book would be to go back and look at what I said on Facebook, just after I finished reading:

Life in a Box is a Pretty Life was rough. I had to keep walking away from it after I began to "get" it (poetry - not the easiest) because it's about being black, being a woman, being victim-blamed, racially profiled or judged based on color or sexuality, etc. Apropos given recent headlining stories. I wouldn't say it's for everyone and I'm not even sure it was entirely for me but I got something out of it and at times it absolutely took my breath away. 

Bottom line - A hard read about rough topics but very timely. It does deserve a language warning as sometimes it's graphic.

When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka is not a book I ever anticipated having difficulty writing about, but it's one that I pulled off my personal shelves so I just didn't feel obligated to say anything, at least at first. I keep a running draft of books completed and when I post about them I add a link to what I've written and then I have a post of "books read" for the year, complete with links, ready to go at the end of the year. The items on that list that don't contain a link bug the hell out of me. Weird, but true.

The topic of When the Emperor was Divine (a novel) is one I've read about before and would like to read more about: Japanese internment during WWII. There's a museum that's dedicated to an internment camp in Arkansas, not all that far from us -- maybe two hours' drive, I'd guess, possibly a bit longer. No physical remnants of that camp now exist. I can't recall which camp the family in When the Emperor was Divine was taken to, but that doesn't matter. From other reading, I know that the sites of those camps were chosen specifically for the fact that they were terrible -- too hot, too cold, too dry . . . places you wouldn't choose to live. That alone is enough to tell you the experience could not have been a comfortable one. And, yet, I've read real-life stories that convince me the culture of Japanese Americans sustained them in a way that not every culture might have.

The title alone gives hints that change has occurred in a family's beliefs in When the Emperor was Divine. But, it's less about the specific culture (although that's a factor) than a story of a family's horror at being shunned, having to quickly dispose of pets and possessions, knowing they were to be forcibly taken from their home but not where and, of course, deeply dismayed at a life they never would have chosen. It's also about a torn family, what it was like living in camp without the husband and father, the head of the family having been taken away before the rest of the family was forced to move. It's well-written and plausible but the one thing I thought the book lacked was a view of the positives. As I said above, I've read some remarkable stories of courage, creativity and determination, much of which rested in the culture itself. I'd have liked to see a few glimpses of beauty within the text. But, I did think the book was a good one, reflective and with a tone that is sad, but for good reason.

Julia's Cats by P. Barey and T. Burson is one I've mentioned but not elaborated upon and that's because I closed it thinking there wasn't much to say. That doesn't mean I didn't think it was a good read; I did enjoy it. I have to admit I am fascinated with Julia Child but haven't bothered to learn much about her. In Julia's Cats, the authors have placed her love of felines and the tales of the cats in her life within the context of her cooking life. So, it serves as a casual biography of her marriage and her life in the kitchen, both before and after she was professionally trained and became a well-known personality.

I enjoyed the reading but the one thing I felt lacking in Julia's Cats was a satisfactory wrap-up to the lives of each feline. Because of her lifestyle, her travel, and the sheer number of places she called home, her cat ownership was equally transitory. Some cats were "rehomed" when she moved and some were shared with neighbors or friends. All had similar names, so it also became difficult to distinguish between one cat or another -- definitely not the fault of the authors. Because they were often left behind as Julia moved into a new phase of life or someone else took over the care of a cat, you seldom know what became of any one particular animal. One of the nicest things about the book is that there are photographs. I didn't realize Child's husband was a photographer. The photos are, for the most part, fabulous and the book is entertaining. Here's a peek inside:

And something definitively random to end the post . . . books and Minions!

©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.

Monday Malarkey - No more predictions

This week I've come to the conclusion that I should never, ever attempt to predict what may or may not arrive in my mailbox and/or announce what I intend to read since -- let's face it -- I am wholly unpredictable, even to myself. I say that both because I accepted a couple books after months of ignoring review offers and thanks to the fact that I read absolutely nothing I said I intended to read, last week. Best laid plans and all that.

Recent arrivals (as shown above):

• Color of the Sea by John Hamamura - purchased secondhand 
• Partials by Dan Wells - via Paperback Swap
• The Dust That Falls from Dreams by Louis de Bernieres - from Knopf for review
• The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon - from Random House for review

And another:

A friend who has recently joined in on the adult coloring craze sent me this wonderful Cool Cats coloring book! How awesome is that? I can't wait to play with it.

Posts since last week's malarkey:

• Brutal Youth by Anthony Breznican (review)
• Fiona Friday (cat photo)
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (review)

Books finished since last week:

• On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt
• The Flying Circus by Susan Crandall

Husband recommended that I read On Bullshit when I complained that I simply can't understand how people can fall for the false information that is being spun as reality by certain politicians and it did, in fact, soothe me a bit. At the very least, it explains how a politician can appear to believe the baloney he proclaims to be truth. But, while you're reading the book, you have to question whether the text is an experiment in bullshit, itself. It's a fascinating read.

The Flying Circus is a book that I bought on the recommendation of an author I follow on Facebook. She described the book as "adventurous" and I enjoyed it but found it a little too light on dialogue and heavy on narrative. It has a dominant romantic element that was, I thought, a little tedious 'though ultimately satisfying, and I found several plot points predictable. But, The Flying Circus definitely does have plenty of surprising twists.

Currently reading:

Nothing. But, I'm sure that will change. I'm just not going to make any assumptions about whether I'll resume reading one of the books with a bookmark in it or try something new.

In other news:

I worked on tidying some of the many possessions our youngest son has brought home to store during the time he's taking a course in Memphis while Kiddo and Huzzybuns did the final bit of packing and scrubbing of his college apartment, this weekend. So, not an overly exciting weekend but we all got a lot accomplished. It feels a little strange not to have a child living in Oxford, anymore.

I've been more than a little obsessed with Poldark and The Crimson Field, two BBC productions set back-to-back on PBS, Sunday evenings. I haven't missed a single episode of either and didn't realize last night's episode of The Crimson Field was the finale till it ended without a preview of "next week's episode". Darn. I'm sad to see that end. I'm in the mood to binge-watch a series but haven't settled on anything, yet. Sounds like I have no idea what I'm going to do this week, doesn't it? Maybe it's time to de-gloss that chair I bought last week and start painting.

Happy Monday!

©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.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Copyright 2014
Scribner - Historical Fiction/WWII
531 pp.

Once, when she was eight or nine, her father took her to the Pantheon in Paris to describe Foucault's pendulum. Its bob, he said, was a golden sphere shaped like a child's top. It swung from a wire that was sixty -seven meters long; because its trajectory changed over time, he explained, it proved beyond all doubt that the earth rotated. But what Marie-Laure remembered, standing at the rail as it whistled past, was her father saying that Foucault's pendulum would never stop. It would keep swinging, she understood, after she and her father left the Pantheon, after she had fallen asleep that night. After she had forgotten about it, and lived her entire life, and died.

Now it is as if she can hear the pendulum in the air in front of her: that huge golden bob, as wide across as a barrel, swinging on and on, never stopping. Grooving and regrooving its inhuman truth into the floor.

~fr. p. 207 of All the Light We Cannot See

In All the Light We Cannot See, Marie-Laure is a young French girl who has lost her vision. Her father is the master of locks at Paris's Museum of Natural History and a fine craftsman. To help Marie-Laure gain a little independence, he has created a painstakingly detailed model of their Paris neighborhood so that she can familiarize herself with the area's features from the safety of their home.

Werner and his sister live in an orphanage in a German mining town. When he discovers a broken radio and is able to fix it, his eyes are opened to the wonders of science and engineering. He quickly teaches himself about wiring, currents, radio tubes . . . everything he needs to know in order to build and repair radios. The last thing he wants is to end up crushed in a mine like his father.

As Hitler comes to power and war breaks out, Werner ends up in a barbaric school where he is educated and desensitized to cruelty while Marie-Laure and her father are forced to escape to her uncle's home in a walled seaside village after the Germans invade Paris. Both experience the horror and deprivation of war but Werner is only peripherally aware of how hardened he is becoming while Marie-Laure becomes stronger and braver when war challenges her household to endanger their lives for the sake of others.

Eventually, Marie-Laure and Werner cross paths but there's a long and winding set of paths before they finally, briefly intertwine. I admit to being surprised that the encounter between Marie-Laure and Werner was so minimal but it worked because the storytelling is so intricately and beautifully crafted that I actually found myself deliberately dragging out the reading of All the Light We Cannot See for the sake of simply enjoying Doerr's writing.

I was, I confess, disapointed with the ending. At over 500 pages, I felt invested in the story and there were certain answers I desired to know but which were not revealed. After giving it some thought, I realized that the slow, fragmented feeling of the ending chapters does lend it a realistic air. Anyone who has read much about WWII knows that often the answers never came. Did someone live or die? What happened to valued possessions? But, in the end, the stunning writing convinced me that an imperfect ending was not enough to make it less than a 5-star read.

Highly recommended - The highest compliments I feel like I can give to a writer are love of and belief in the characters he created and having felt a "you were there" sensation. Both were true of All the Light We Cannot See. I particularly loved the idea of those elaborately detailed neighborhood models Marie-Laure's father built to help her learn her way around. I found myself thinking, "I would love to see and touch those models." I also adored Marie-Laure's entire family, rooted for Werner, whose humanity was buried yet still evident through the occasional thought he had about how disappointed his sister would be, and sometimes found myself rereading sentences for their rhythm and beauty. A truly spectacular work of writing.

©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.

Fiona Friday

Fiona was happy and relaxed but, as usual, not thrilled that the camera was pointing her direction.

©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.

Brutal Youth by Anthony Breznican

Brutal Youth by Anthony Breznican
Copyright 2014
Thomas Dunne Books/YA
413 pp.

Davidek began reading the paper every day, knowing there had to be an update, some follow-up, some explanation about what happened. But there was nothing, not even a week later. "I think I saw something about it on CNN," Bill Davidek said at dinner. "'Playground fight at local school,' right?" The old man scratched his beard with a self-satisfied smile.

"Come on, Dad! That guy jumped off the roof! He almost killed himself!" Davidek said, his cheeks stuffed with food. "He chopped off a dude's fingers!"

Davidek's mother clanged her fork and knife flat on the table. "For God's sake, we're eating fish sticks," she said.

~from pp. 27-27 of Brutal Youth

Brutal Youth is the story of Peter Davidek, Noah Stein, Lorelei Paskal, and a sizable cast of students attending a private Catholic school in Pennsylvania. An explosive prologue introduces the reader to the characters on Visitor's Day at St. Michael the Archangel High School, a day potential students are allowed to attend classes so they can get a feel for the school and its routine. Instead of a typical school day, though, Visitor's Day goes horribly wrong when a bullied student reaches his limit, becoming both violent and suicidal.

Davidek really doesn't want to attend St. Michael's, especially after such a harrowing Visitor's Day. He has plenty of friends at the public high school. But, in spite of his protests he ends up a student at the school and decides the best approach is to keep his head down and do what he's told. Stein, on the other hand, is an angry guy and not about to let anyone push him around. Lorelei is hoping for a fresh start after a misunderstanding at her old school left her friendless.

A love triangle, sanctioned bullying, a mixed bag of teachers both kind and cruel, and a priest who privately wants the school to close are among the elements in Brutal Youth, a novel worth talking about for the way it exposes the dark side of school life.

I think what I loved most about Brutal Youth was the dark humor (as evidenced in the excerpt, above) but I also cared about the characters. And, I think just about everyone can relate to the kind of behavior in the book -- either the bullying by fellow students, the surprisingly bad behavior of adults or the parental failures that make trouble at school doubly hard to handle. Breznican's writing is almost painfully astute.

I've read Brutal Youth twice, now.  The first time I read it, I checked out a library book and chatted with the author on Twitter while I was reading. Doing so gave me some really interesting insight -- some of it after the fact. On the first reading, I felt like the bullying was relentless and desired a happy ending or at least a light at the end of the tunnel. The second time, I was sent a copy by the author's publicist for a Q & A (which will come some time in the future) and had time to stop, mark passages, ponder the characters and their motivations a little more deeply, and really appreciate what the author was trying to accomplish. It helped that we'd discussed his goal. This is what the book looked like after the second reading:

I came out of the second reading with such an appreciation for Breznican's craftsmanship that I bumped up my Goodreads rating from 4 stars to 5.

And, I managed to talk my book group into reading Brutal Youth. I'm excited. There's so much to discuss.

Highly recommended - A sharply drawn story of friendship, bullying, and the failure of adults to act responsibly or serve as decent role models, both as parents and teachers. Exceptional characterization, dark humor, and an understanding of interaction at the high school level are the particular hallmarks of Breznican's writing. I can't wait to see what he comes up with, next. Warning: There are some particularly uncomfortable scenes of violence and humiliation. Brutal Youth is truly brutal; the title is fitting. But, it's a book that makes you think about what true friendship really involves and examine the concept of bullying. I'd go so far as to say it's an important book, one that should be read and discussed by students and adults alike.

©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.

Monday Malarkey

I don't have any good book stack photos, this week, so you get cat:

I'm amazed that Isabel found it tolerable lying in the sun. It's been so hot I can barely endure sitting near the window with the blinds drawn. Izzy was beneath my desk, incidentally, lying on an old foam exercise step.

This is my only arrival for the week:

In This Proud Land by Roy Emerson Stryker and Nancy Wood is a book of photos taken during the Great Depression. Apart from some introductory material and captions, there's very little text. I doubt I'll bother reviewing so here's a peek inside:

I altered the color a little so it looks fresh and new but this particular book is older and a little yellowed. I purchased it secondhand.

Oops, another used book just arrived in the mail so I have no photograph of it: Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans. I bought it because I loved Crooked Heart so much I wanted to read more by Evans. Their Finest Hour and a Half was longlisted for the Orange Prize, which comes as no surprise to me as Lissa Evans' writing is stellar. Like Crooked Heart, it is a WWII novel.

Posts since last week's malarkey:

• Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans (review)
• Fiona Friday - No photos, please (cat photo)

Not a big week for blogging.


Books finished last week:

• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 

My reading has clearly been pitiful, quantity-wise, although I've enjoyed what I've read, recently. I blame the heat and a little eyestrain. I've found that I'm having trouble focusing (in both attention and vision) when I sit down to read. As long as the heat persists and until I can make it to the eye doctor to get some reading glasses that work, I'm guessing my reading will continue to be slower than normal.

Currently reading:

Nothing. But, I'm planning to return to Dear Mrs. Roosevelt, the book of children's letters written during the Depression, now that I've finished All the Light We Cannot See. And, I may dip back into Pamela. I've also decided this is probably a good time to read some short stories, since it's taking me forever to get through anything (this being the second week in a row that I've only read one book), so I'm going to give Neil Gaiman's Trigger Warning a go.

In other news:

You've probably spotted the change to my header. I gave it a lot of thought and decided I wanted a sleek, minimalist, bookish look so I took some old books off the shelf and staged them in a way that I thought would fit my goal. I'm happy with the results. Although my subheading spills over the books a bit because I enlarged my font when I changed the template, after removing the word "family" I think it looks better. I took "family" out of the subheading because I really don't tell family stories or post family photos, anymore, at the guys' request.

My blog plan for the week includes writing reviews of Brutal Youth and All the Light We Cannot See and coming up with a list of interview questions for my Q/A with Anthony Breznican. If anyone has questions they'd like me to ask Anthony about Brutal Youth, please let me know. I'll be happy to add them to my list.

The only other news I have is about a side project I'm looking forward to starting. A local storekeeper who paints old furniture, frames and other decorative items has closed her shop and will instead have a small corner in a local antique store. So, she had a closeout sale, last week, and I bought a chair to paint:

I've been having a great time gathering design ideas. Even though I haven't even de-glossed the chair to prepare to paint it, yet, Huzzybuns has seen the images of my favorite painting ideas and is already calling it, "Your hippie chair." I can't wait to get started. I have always desired to paint a chair, just for the fun of it.

That's all for now! Have you read anything brilliant, lately?

©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.

Fiona Friday - No photos, please

Izzy has never been camera shy but recently she has decided she's disinterested in having her picture taken and has chosen to either look away or leave the room when I point the camera in her direction. Hopefully, it's just a phase. Fingers crossed.

©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.