Monday Malarkey

I received an interesting variety of books, this week.

Recent arrivals (top to bottom):

• One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson and
• Under the Paw by Tom Cox - both purchased
• Raising Ryland by Hillary Whittington - from William Morrow for review
• The Betsy-Tacy Treasury by Maud Hart Lovelace - swap book
• Daily Life in the United States: 1920-1940 by David E. Kyvig and 
• Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr - both purchased
• Teeny Tiny Toady by Esbaum and Yamaguchi - from Sterling Children's Books for review

I'm going to have to find a shelf to keep all my Depression-era purchases separated from other books. I've gradually built up a pretty decent pile. Betsy-Tacy was a surprise. I'm still technically a member of Paperback Swap but have no points left and I thought not paying the annual fee would mean I could no longer swap, but I still had 10 free swaps remaining so I just had to purchase a credit and pay a 50-cent additional fee, which turned out to be much cheaper than purchasing the book used. Paying for the credit means it's really a purchase rather than a swap, but there's always a cost so . . . whatever works.


Books finished since last malarkey:

• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
• Teeny Tiny Toady by Esbaum and Yamaguchi
• Pines by Blake Crouch

Currently reading:

• Close Encounters of the Furred Kind by Tom Cox (plus a library book that's overdue, so I won't mention it unless I'm able to recheck; and I'll add a novel to the mix, tonight)

Last week's posts:

• Iris Grace by Arabella Carter-Johnson (book review)
• Books 1 and 2 for #Weirdathon: Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote and Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (mini reviews)
• Fiona Friday - Checking it out (cat photo)

In other news:

Huzzybuns discovered some unpacked boxes in the garage (including boxes of books, which fortunately were not damaged by our high humidity or he would have been in Big Trouble). One of the boxes contained a very exciting find: my copy of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I've been looking for my copy of The Bell Jar for months. No wonder I couldn't find it! It will be either my April or May classic choice. I've owned my copy of The Bell Jar for a long time but have never read it.

And in other other news, I can't believe we're still finding things to unpack, 3 1/2 years after moving.


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - Checking it out

Thanks to a broken microwave, we've had kitties hanging out in the microwave slot for a couple weeks. Every nook and cranny must be explored.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Books 1 and 2 for #Weirdathon - Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote and Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

Blogger and my ISP are both behaving fitfully, this morning, so I'm going to try to keep this short for sanity's sake.

I'm calling Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote my first read for #Weirdathon, even though it originally hit my stacks because it was my book group's March selection and I had no idea (because I've only read Capote's sweet Christmas story) just how wacky a Capote book could be. The group's selection was just lucky timing.

Joel has been living in New Orleans with an aunt, following the death of his mother. When his father's second wife writes a letter saying they'll be happy to take him in, Joel is sent to a decaying and isolated mansion. Before he even arrives, Joel is disappointed to find that nobody has been dispatched to meet him, although he was told he would be met near the town where his father lives, so he has to figure out how to get to the house on his own. And, when he makes it to the house, he's confused. Where is his father? Why won't anyone answer any of his questions? Was that a ghost he saw in the window?

Surrounded by eccentric characters and bored out of his mind, Joel seeks friendship while trying to figure out what on earth has happened to his father.

A couple of our group members brought some helpful information to share. Other Voices, Other Rooms can be a little surreal, at times, and it has more of a snapshot feel than the sense of a well-defined plot, but there were some very strong themes. The book is partly about Capote's own loneliness and longing for a father, but there are several other themes that were not quite as obvious to me. I mostly got the sense of longing for love out of it.

Bizarre characters and beautiful language were the two aspects of this book that made me love it. I often felt like I didn't understand what was happening during a scene but then understood it as it was ending. A lot of what I didn't grasp was nicely explained by people in my group so the discussion was excellent. It's a book worth talking about and I loved its oddities.

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel is a book that seemingly everyone has read but me. I already owned a copy, purchased in a library sale years ago, so I was happy when not one but several people suggested Like Water for Chocolate when I asked for weird book suggestions.

Tita is in love with Pedro and expecting him to ask for her hand in marriage when her mother informs her that she is never to marry. Instead, Tita will be forced to follow tradition, caring for her mother for the rest of her life. Seeking to be near his beloved, Pedro marries her sister, Rosaura. Tita has learned how to cook from the elderly Nacha, and will eventually take over the cooking duties. But, when Tita's tears over her lost love are mixed into the batter of Rosaura and Pedro's wedding cake, the start of their marriage is ruined. Will Tita and Pedro ever be able to marry or are they doomed to love each other from a distance?

Holy Toledo, there is some serious weirdness going on in Like Water for Chocolate. No wonder so many people recommended it! There's strange magic in Tita's cooking and sexual energy that vibrates between Pedro and Tita, inflaming or repelling those around them via the food. Each chapter begins with a recipe and one of the quirks of this book is the way the author will interrupt her own story with a continuation of the recipe. The storyline bounces around a little, sometimes stepping backward in time so that a deceased character is suddenly alive. I found myself jolted by the changes in time but loved the uniqueness of this strange love story and its crazy ending.

Both highly recommended - I really enjoyed the eccentricities of the characters and the storytelling in both Other Voices, Other Rooms and Like Water for Chocolate. If you're filing away ideas for future #Weirdathon events and you haven't read these titles, definitely add them to your list. They are completely nuts.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Iris Grace by Arabella Carter-Johnson

I've followed Iris Grace Painting on Facebook since a friend posted a video of this talented little girl painting. Iris lives in England and is on the severe end of the autism spectrum. During her first years, she had difficulty interacting at all and she was behind her peers in several skills. Frustrated with her inability to function in a preschool environment her mother, the author, decided to work on teaching Iris at home and gradually exposing her to social activities. But, it was painting that offered the first breakthrough. Iris had a natural talent and painting made her happy. Gradually, she began to open up.

The second breakthrough came when the family adopted Thula, a Maine Coon kitten. Thula is an adventurous kitty who goes on bike and boat rides, climbs into the tub with Iris, helps Iris sleep by napping with her and curling up with her at night, and even goes swimming with her. Thula has helped calm Iris when she needed to be soothed and provided a friendly presence.

The book Iris Grace tells her story, beginning with her parents' first meeting and proceeding to the present. Carter-Johnson is a professional wedding photographer and the book is absolutely beautiful, packed with gorgeous photos, paintings by Iris, and pencil illustrations at the opening of each chapter. Even the end papers are charming. While I do think the book suffered a bit from at least one first-time author flaw (the overuse of the word "so"), that single flaw and a couple of minor editing errors were the only problems I found with the book and I gave it 5 stars. I enjoyed learning a bit about how a child with severe autism reacts physically. I knew some of the behaviors but not all and I found Carter-Johnson's teaching methods fascinating (but expensive -- sounded like she spent an awful lot of money on props for learning experiences).

I hope, more than anything, I've learned enough from Iris Grace to know how to react if I'm ever in public when an autistic child has a meltdown and/or to be more understanding in a public venue. I found it particularly interesting learning about how Iris Grace reacts to music. Carter-Johnson has mentioned frustration with people who are not shy about saying their experience has been ruined by young Iris's movement and vocalization during concerts. While I can understand how they might feel and would never criticize parents in public (I had high-energy children and was occasionally criticized by strangers, myself; I keep my mouth shut), it's helpful to be educated about that kind of behavior and why, when they take her out in public, they're actually being good parents, carefully exposing their child to challenging situations. It's far too easy to judge.

Highly recommended - Iris Grace is one of the most beautiful books I've seen. Gorgeous photos, paintings, and pencil sketches make it a pleasure to page through. The memoir portion is quite well-written, with only minor first-time author flaws and is quite compelling. I enjoyed the learning experience and admire the author's efforts to help her daughter open up socially and learn to cope with the situations that overwhelm her senses. Cat lovers will also enjoy reading about Thula's part in helping Iris.

Note: Iris Grace has not yet been published in the United States. I pre-ordered a copy from Book Depository when the author talked about it on Facebook.


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey

Well, this was an exciting arrival week!

Recent arrivals (top to bottom):

• Close Encounters of the Furred Kind by Tom Cox - Purchased
• Father's Day by Simon Van Booy - from HarperCollins for review
• Modern Girls by Jennifer S. Brown - from NAL for review
• The Last Goodnight by Howard Blum - from HarperCollins for review
• Glory Over Everything by Kathleen Grisson - from Simon & Schuster for review

Of course, you know the arrival of this one involved cheering and bouncing:

It's always a great day when a new Simon Van Booy book arrives!


Books finished since last malarkey:

• Iris Grace by Arabella Carter-Johnson
• The Heart by Maylis de Kerangal

Currently reading:

• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel - My first #Weirdathon book! And, yessiree Bob, she's a weird one. 

Last week's posts:

• #Weirdathon stack and some recommendations - (Photos of weird books, chosen to read and curated by yours truly)
• Fiona Friday - The countertop is my throne (cat photo)

In other news:

So far, I have not convinced myself to return to the Kate Hudson book I started a few weeks ago, partly because I was finding it too general and partly because it requires work. I hate books that involve effort - you know, evaluating your habits and taking notes. Blah. But, I intend to return to it because I don't feel like I got far enough in to give it a fair shake. Maybe this will be the week. Guess we'll find out.


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - This countertop is my throne

I guess. If she says so.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

#Weirdathon stack and some recommendations

It took me a few days to get to the high shelf and I only found one Margaret Atwood book when I did (possibly because the other one I'm looking for isn't in the same category -- the large sci-fi books are waaaay up high) but I've finally gotten my #Weirdathon stack gathered. Here 'tis:

Top to bottom:

• Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
• The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
• Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch

And, while I was gathering books, I figured I might as well gather a few I've found a little weird (or that others might find odd):

Top to bottom:

• Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote - Just finished this, a few days ago. I mentioned the fact that someone in my F2F group called it "weird" so it might qualify. Boy, was she right. If only for the characterization, Other Voices, Other Rooms falls into the weird category.
• The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami - Most of the books I've read by Murakami have been either his short story collections or nonfiction, so I haven't fallen down the rabbit hole with him very often. But, The Strange Library is so mindbending I didn't know quite what to make of it and asked for help figuring out what on earth it was about. 
• Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi - It's been a while since I read Agent to the Stars but I recall an alien who had a body made of something akin to orange jell-o. Yeah, it's weird. Good weird, though. It's one of my favorite Scalzi books and surprisingly meaningful.
• Harriet Wolf's Seventh Book of Wonders by Julianna Baggott - I read somewhere that this one's gone through a name change for the paperback release -- now just "The Seventh Book of Wonders", I think. The history upon which it's based is fascinating but . . . yeah . . . it's a weird one.

I liked all four of my weird suggestions, in case you were wondering.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey

I think I'm going to have to stop commenting on whether I'm having a good year or bad year. As soon as I say things are going well, it seems like either my reading skids to a halt or I get bogged down in a book I'm not sure I should finish. This week, I stopped reading one book and I'm loving what I started but finishing things? Not happening much.

Recent Arrivals:

• The Wholesome Cook by Martyna Angell is not technically mine; it's a book my husband brought home from his most recent business trip. But, I only had one arrival, this week, and The Wholesome Cook is so pretty that I asked if I could add his purchase to my photo. Because it's Australian, the measurements have to be adapted but Huzzybuns has already cooked some lemony chicken and a cashew-kale pesto that was great on crackers.
• Iris Grace by Arabella Carter-Johnson is a book I pre-ordered from Book Depository and I started reading it the evening it arrived. I've been following Iris Grace's adventures on Facebook since a friend posted a video about her paintings. Iris Grace is on the severe end of the autism spectrum and the book is the story of how art (and probably her cat, Thula, but Thula has not yet arrived by the point I've reached) opened up her world. So far, I'm loving this book. There's a little bit of "first-time author" awkwardness but it's negligible and I'm finding her story captivating.

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• In This Proud Land: America 1935-1943 As Seen in the FSA Photographs by Roy Emerson Stryker and Nancy Wood - Mostly photographs but the introductory material to this book was much more interesting and revealing than anticipated.
• Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote - My F2F group's March selection and a book that definitely works for #Weirdathon. There's some major weirdness in that sucker.

Currently reading:

• Iris Grace by Arabella Carter-Johnson
• Lone Star by Paullina Simons - but this one may end up a DNF. Lone Star is 622 pages long and fairly word-dense but it reads a bit like a YA and I was expecting something . . . I don't know, with more of a literary feel? I stopped at p. 252 because the reading was going very slowly and I read In This Proud Land, that night. The next day, I didn't feel like picking Lone Star back up. And, the next day, and the next. It might be time to let this one go. 
• The Heart by Maylis De Kerangal - I've only read about a dozen pages so I don't know if this one's going to click, yet, but I do like the writing style and it's a translation (something I've been intending to read more) so we'll see how that goes. 
• Magazines - bunches of them. I subscribed to several magazines with unused airline points and they've been piling up like crazy so I'm trying to knock the stacks down and get some of those into the recycling. Husband also brought home some magazines from his trip and it's always fun to read articles from other countries so I read a bit of one, this weekend (a very interesting interview with Bindi Irwin). 

Last week's posts:

• A Walk in the Sun by Harry Brown (review)
• Normal Norman by Tara Lazar and S. Britt (review)
• Getting Weird: Signed up for #Weirdathon (post about reading challenge)
• Fiona Friday: Twofers (cat photos)
• February Reads in Review, 2016 (brief descriptions of everything I read in February)

In other news:

I still haven't gotten around to pulling down the Margaret Atwood books (which require, believe it or not, either a tall ladder or a small scaffold to reach -- we do have one) so I'll just take a picture of the #Weirdathon books I already have in hand, tomorrow, if I haven't managed to get husband's help reaching the Atwoods. I have plenty of weird books within reach.

What's up in your world? Read anything marvelous?

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

February Reads in Review, 2016

February of 2016 was an unusual month for me in two ways. First, it was another unusually low-count month. I credit that partly to the fact that I made the mistake of continuing to read two books that weren't grabbing me, although I have to keep reiterating the fact that I think they both involved some solid storytelling; it was my mood that was off. The second way February was unusual? I reviewed everything I read in a timely manner. That doesn't happen often! Links to the full reviews are provided below.

February

9. What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin - A convicted murderer visits her father-in-law and returns home drenched in blood. Did she kill him or just happen to show up at the wrong time? An unreliable narrator who keeps certain facts locked away in mental drawers and a twisty plot kept me guessing all the way to the end.

10. Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham - My classic read for February tells the story of an author's colorful first wife, a story the narrator reveals when he is asked to share what he knows about the late author's life. Originally entitled "Skeletons in the Closet" for good reason, it's about secrets that are not revealed and why a biography isn't necessarily as accurate as one might expect. Loved it.

11. Weirdo Simpatico by Katy Bourne - A slim book of flash fiction brilliantly written, wacky, and entertaining. As I type, there is a giveaway for this book in process at Goodreads. You should definitely sign up.

12. Orhan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian - When his grandfather dies and leaves the family estate to an elderly woman in America, Orhan travels to visit her, hoping to get her to return the property to the family but instead finding out the truth about his family's past and the old woman's experience as a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. Liked but didn't love this but it was probably just bad timing on my part.

13. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson - The story of the author's childhood in Ohio, South Carolina, and New York City, her struggles with reading, and her determination to become a writer. A lovely, inspiring, beautifully-written memoir and one of my favorites of the month.

14. What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan - A year has passed since a little boy went missing when his mother let him run ahead of her in the woods. She recounts the story of his disappearance and how people came to believe her guilty of murder after a botched television plea while the parallel story of one of the policemen leading the investigation is told through his conversations with a psychiatrist. I particularly liked the way the author showed how people are judged via social media through the story of the fictional mother.

15. Normal Norman by Tara Lazar and S. Britt - Norman, a purple orangutan, has been chosen by the scientist narrator to display the concept of normality. But, it turns out there's nothing normal about Norman because there is no such thing as normal. A book that encourages youngsters to embrace uniqueness. Loved it.

16. A Walk in the Sun by Harry Brown - My absolute favorite read of the month, a WWII novel about  a platoon of American soldiers taking a 6-mile hike from the beach to a farmhouse in Italy. There's an immediacy and truth to this story that makes it one of the best WWII novels I've ever read.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - Twofers

I've already posted this photo to Facebook so I'm going to share two photos, today, for those who've already seen this gem: the look Isabel gave me when I asked her to stop attacking the clean laundry (by far my favorite photo of the week).

My second favorite is a pic of the cats hanging out on the guest bed. They weren't exactly cuddling but it was nice to walk into the room and see that they were peacefully coexisting.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Getting Weird - Signed up for #Weirdathon

I happened to see a Twitter conversation about this month's #Weirdathon, yesterday, and immediately signed up because I am nothing if not weird and therefore I'm a fan of weirdness and weird events.

The sign-up goes on through Saturday and you can read the entire thread about #Weirdathon, here. I can't get to some of the books on my long list, at the moment, but I'll post a picture when I've at least got most of what I'm considering. In the meantime, the books on my mental planning list:

• Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch
• The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
• Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

It's the Margaret Atwood titles that I can't get to: Oryx and Crake, Alias Grace. And, because I'm weird, all titles are subject to being thrown back on the shelf and changed for others, at any time. I can definitely get into a weird event, especially if it also involves #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks.

Addendum: I've started reading Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote and one of my F2F group's members has already declared that it's weird. So, maybe that counts. Maybe not. I'm finding it typically Southern and loving the language.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Normal Norman by Tara Lazar and S. Britt

Normal Norman by Tara Lazar
Illustrations by S. Britt
Copyright 2016
Sterling Children's Books - Ages 4 and up
40 pp.

What exactly is the meaning of the word "normal"? Is there any such thing as normal when it comes to creatures? That's what Normal Norman is all about.

The narrator of Normal Norman, a young female scientist, introduces herself and seeks to explain the meaning of "normal" by pointing out a very normal, average animal: Norman the orangutan. But, Norman immediately begins to prove that there is no such thing as normal when the narrator peels a banana and Norman thinks she's torturing fruit. He begs her to stop. An orangutan who doesn't eat bananas and talks? That doesn't sound normal, does it? The scientist tries to show Norman's normal home, a jungle. But, Norman turns away and climbs into a bunk bed and says he can't sleep without his stuffed anteater, Mr. Scruffles.

Norman's best friend is a python. Norman likes to drive dune buggies and fly with a jet pack. There is nothing normal about Norman because, as this nutty orangutan shows, there is no such thing as normal.

After a slighly awkward beginning in which the narrator introduces herself (I could visualize myself having to explain what a narrator is, when reading to a child -- not a bad thing, actually), Normal Norman quickly becomes a very funny book.

Highly recommended - Great story, terrific theme, brilliantly colored illustrations that show movement and expression. The only things I disliked about Normal Norman were a couple pages that are slightly awkward for read-aloud and a different quality of paper than I'm accustomed to from Sterling Children's Books, neither of which are worth focusing on. The theme and humor make Normal Norman a book worth owning and definitely a great title to read to a class of young students who need to start learning early that there is no normal and it's okay to be yourself.

Note: After posting my review, the author tweeted to me to let me know that the matte paper in Normal Norman (different from the glossy I'm accustomed to) was a higher quality matte finish chosen for a vintage feel. And, here I had myself convinced it was the opposite. As I said, I don't think it was a negative at all. It was just different and surprised me. I think all Sterling Books are excellent quality. Thanks to Tara Lazar for clarifying!


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

A Walk in the Sun by Harry Brown

To a man marching in the sun time becomes as static as the shimmering horizon. It surrounds him and presses on his shoulders. He moves, but time stops. Seconds swell to giant size and minutes are immensities. The body conditions the mind's knowledge of time--it flies in pleasure, it crawls in pain. And on no one does its weight fall more heavily than on the soldier. Yet as the platoon wound carefully along the dusty road time warred with itself. It crawled when the men thought of their march, it ran insanely when they thought of their objective. Over them hung the fear and the threat that something was going to happen, that Something was going to happen. They did not feel that they could move fast enough to beat time to the punch. In a normal route march a man can let his faculties go dull, he can become numb. He can slog on, unaware of his surroundings, unaware of anything save the back of the man who slogs in front of him. But under fire, during a landing, during an advance, he must keep continuously on the alert. He must seek out rocks and trees and attempt to see through them. He must recognize that there is an enemy very near at hand and that even the landscape can rise up and kill him.

~p. 68

"Hey Cousins," he said. "What comes after Tibet?"
"What comes where after Tibet, for God's sake?"
"In the war. Where are we going to fight the war after Tibet?"
"How the hell do I know? In bed."
"There's a country. I can't think of its name."
"There's a million countries I can't think of their names."
"All right, I just asked. Forget it."
But Cousins had suddenly lost interest in Archimbeau. Over on the left, about five hundred yards away, he saw two figures coming toward them.
"Arch," he said softly. "Look."
Archimbeau looked. And as he saw the figures Cousins turned and went running back to Sergeant Porter. He crouched a little as he ran.

~pp. 86-87


A Walk in the Sun by Harry Brown is a WWII novel that was published in 1944. It tells the story of a platoon of American soldiers sent on a mission to capture a farmhouse in Italy. Before they land on the beach, their commanding lieutenant becomes the victim of a freak accident. When the second in charge goes to find someone to seek permission to take over the platoon and doesn't return, the platoon begins the 6-mile hike inland. And, then the third in line for command simply falls apart, victim to the fatigue and mental stress of a year of fighting.

The title is perfect. The platoon is literally taking a walk in the hot Italian sun. But, since it's wartime, it's no normal walk. They must deal with the many hazards around them -- mud, heat, hunger, fear, Germans in the air and on the road -- in addition to constantly changing leadership, injuries and loss. Throughout their march, the soldiers joke with each other and give each other a hard time. They worry aloud and make plans for the future. When friends are killed, they choke back the emotion and just keep going.

Highly recommended - Absolutely riveting. At only 187 pages, A Walk in the Sun is a compact, powerful piece of writing, one of the most gripping, realistic war books I think I've ever read. David Abrams, author of the novel Fobbit, book blogger at The Quivering Pen, and a former military man, read A Walk in the Sun just a week before I did and we were both equally stunned that it isn't more widely known and talked about. I'll link to his review when he posts.

I ordered my copy (which looks almost pristine, apart from a scrunched spot on the cover, even though it's a first edition) after seeing a comment about it on a WWII history page. What a lucky catch that was. If you're a WWII fan, I recommend you rush right out to locate a copy. Secondhand copies are available at a reasonable price online.


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey

Monday Malarkey is a little late, today, because someone fell asleep during the news. Oops. 

Recent arrivals:

• A Walk in the Sun by Harry Brown (purchased - and already read; review forthcoming) 
• The Ones that Matter Most by Rachael Herron (from Penguin/NAL for review)

Books finished last week:

• Normal Norman by Tara Lazar and S. Britt
• A Walk in the Sun by Harry Brown

Currently reading:

• Lone Star by Paullina Simons

Last week's posts:

• What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan (review)
• Orhan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian (review)
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (review)
• Fiona Friday - Hanging out with Al (cat photo)

In other news:

Hmm, can't think of anything. Tomorrow is the first of March (good grief, you can almost hear the whoosh noise as 2016 is flying past) so I can start my next classic: Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote. I didn't want to read it too soon because it's a discussion book, so I've been waiting till March. And, the cats are pretty much back to normal, now:

I'm almost positive that their fights (which occasionally still do occur, but rarely) are due to neighborhood cats roaming around the house, so I've been researching homemade cat repellents to splash around the house. We'll probably always have cats walking through our yard but it can't hurt to try to keep them as far away from the windows as possible. It's so nice to see the girls cuddling and sharing spaces well, again.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - Hanging out with Al

They're both pretty talkative.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

I bought Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson when it was recommended to me for the #Diversiverse reading challenge, which I completely failed. But, when I realized it's Black History Month, I thought, "Yes! Another excuse to read Brown Girl Dreaming!" Not that I needed an excuse but it's kind of fun to read thematically, isn't it?

Brown Girl Dreaming is a memoir written in verse and it tells the story of the author's life, from her birth in Ohio to her move to South Carolina and then to New York City (and onward).

What I loved about Brown Girl Dreaming:

• It is written in a way that places you squarely in the author's shoes, so that you really get an understanding of what it's like to experience racial prejudice.
• There are many people to absolutely fall in love with. I adored Jacqueline's South Carolina grandparents. She described them with genuine affection; you can't help but love them as much as she clearly did. I also loved her best friend in New York and her best friend's mother.
• I loved reading about the differences in culture between the three places that the author lived in her youth and how they shaped her.
• The story of her childhood writing and how she grew in her writing parallels my own writing experiences in many ways, except, of course, for the fact that she is a very successful author and I'm not. I have to say Brown Girl Dreaming stirred up that yearning to try harder in a way very little has, in recent years. 
• The author is also much like me in having experienced a great deal of loss. She's so positive, though, never maudlin but simply grateful for the ways her loved ones have contributed to making her the person she is. 
• She has such a friendly, upbeat voice that you can't help but come out of the book wishing you knew the author. 

What I disliked about Brown Girl Dreaming:

• Nothing. It's a 5-star book.

A favorite excerpt:

Highly recommended - An absolutely perfect choice for expanding your reading by people of color, a wonderfully-written memoir that evokes time and place brilliantly, and a good read for anyone interested in writing, as well.


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Orhan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian

I'm going to use the cover description because I think it's well-written without giving away too much:

When Orhan's brilliant and eccentric grandfather, Kemal Türkoglu, who built a dynasty out of making kilim rugs, is found dead, submerged in a vat of dye, Orhan inherits the decades-old business. But Kemal has left the family estate to a stranger thousands of miles away, an aging woman in a retirement home in Los Angeles. Intent on righting this injustice, Orhan unearths a story that, if told, has the power to undo the legacy upon which Orhan's family is built, a story that could unravel his own future.

Orhan's Inheritance has a dual historical/contemporary storyline and it's unfortunately another book that didn't grab me for almost the same reasons as the book I mentioned yesterday, What She Knew. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the woman who has inherited Orhan's home is a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. The author makes that clear pretty early on; she's living in a home for elderly people of Armenian descent and when the narrative shifts to the historical viewpoint, it's immediately evident that the genocide is about to occur.

Well, heck, maybe I'm just having a hard time with hard times. When I started reading Orhan's Inheritance, I just didn't know if I wanted to go through the genocide portions of the book. It is such a horrifying period of history. However, it's also an important one because it's not as widely known (and not acknowledged by Turkey, to this day, from my understanding) that I took a break from the book and then returned to it when I felt like I could move forward.

Recommended but not a favorite - I didn't dislike Orhan's Inheritance; I just found it difficult to get through because I'm not tolerating sad books very well, lately. Again, I must repeat that I'm having a weird reading year and I need to work harder at setting books aside when they're not working for me. I've found in the past that timing is everything; I'm a very moody reader. And, Orhan's Inheritance is a good story that evokes the time and place well. I am having difficulty reading tragic books but I definitely recommend it, particularly to lovers of historical fiction.

Side note: I had never heard of the Armenian Genocide till I read The Sandcastle Girls, a few years ago. I reread that review and found that I was confused when I read The Sandcastle Girls (I mentioned needing maps and having to look up the genocide because of the fact that I knew nothing about it). This time, I had no trouble with the time and place because I was already familiar with it.

Good news: Tomorrow's review is about a book I absolutely loved. And, I am definitely working harder at sticking to my usual, "If it's not clicking, set it aside," commitment. Maybe it's not always bad to be reminded of what works for you.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan is December 2015 release from HarperCollins that tells the story of a child's disappearance, the way the mother becomes a public scapegoat when she does a poor job of appealing to the public for help finding her son, and how a detective develops insomnia and other issues after he thinks he's made a terrible mistake.

Rather than using a single narrative, author Gilly Macmillan tells the story of 8-year-old Ben's disappearance through mother Rachel Jenner's viewpoint, along with the transcripts of the detective's sessions with a psychiatrist and articles and comments on social media. She does a pretty terrific job of showing how easily a person can be tried by the jury of public opinion and how appearances are not always what they seem.

Having said that, What She Knew was just a so-so read for me and I think that is almost entirely down to timing. The story didn't grab me until I reached about page 150 (out of nearly 500 pages) so I should have probably put it aside. I also admit to being so worried that the child was going to turn up dead that I kept putting off the reading. It does not bother me at all to flip to the end of a book if I'm worried it's not going to turn out the way I'm hoping; I have no idea why I didn't bother just doing that (apart from the fact that I had a migraine most of the week), but eventually I got over myself and the pace picked up. I didn't love the ending but I won't tell you why because it's a spoiler.

Recommended but not a favorite, probably due to bad timing - In spite of the fact that I never did fall in love with What She Knew, I can tell you that there were moments that I really appreciated the depth of emotion portrayed by the author and I thought the use of social media and the way people make judgments without knowing all the facts is timely. I've talked to several friends who found the book a very fast-paced read so I want to reiterate the fact that I think it was just bad timing for me.

Total unrelated note:  I completely forgot to put links to last week's reads in my Monday Malarkey post, yesterday. The post has been updated and republished to fix that error.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey

Well, huh, I guess this is just going to be one of those off reading years. I hope not, but it certainly has gotten off to a terrible start. Last week, I only read one book . . . again.  I don't think it was the book's fault although it didn't do much for me. There were just a couple of days I didn't feel like reading at all. On the plus side, Fiona willingly posed with the arrivals. Upper.

Recent arrivals (not in the order shown above):

• America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie,
• World Gone By by Dennis Lehane, and 
• The Taxidermist's Daughter by Kate Mosse - all from HarperCollins for review
• Euphoria by Lily King - purchased for April F2F discussion
• The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway - purchased on a whim (thanks to Carrie)

Not pictured (because it arrived about 10 minutes ago):

• Normal Norman by Tara Lazar and S. Britt - from Sterling Children's Books for review 

Books finished last week:

• What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

Currently reading:

• Absolutely nothing. I'm sure I'll start a new novel, today (since I just finished What She Knew, early this morning) but I haven't even thought about what to read next, yet. I will probably continue reading the Kate Hudson book on how she stays slim, tonight, even though what little I've read was meh.

Last week's posts:

• Cakes and Ale by Somerset Maugham (review)
• Weirdo Simpatico by Katy Bourne (review)
• Fiona Friday - Decisions, decisions (cat photo)

In other news:

It took a few years but this girl has totally become my lap buddy. I love it. All I have to do is put a blanket across my lap and up she comes.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - Decisions, decisions

I was in one room and Isabel was in another when she let out a howl. I went to ask her what was up and she gave me her, "I don't know what to do with myself" look. So, I peeked under the curio cabinet to see if she was upset because she'd lost a toy. It's one of those tricky places that eat toys -- the little furry arms aren't long enough to reach them. I could see there were quite a few toys near the back of the cabinet so I fetched a ruler and knocked out everything you see.

Then, of course, she gave me that perplexed look because there were way too many toys and how's a cat supposed to know which one to start batting around? Decisions, decisions.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Weirdo Simpatico by Katy Bourne

First things first: I love that cover. It's not only appealing, it's also perfect thematically.

Weirdo Simpatico by Katy Bourne is a book of flash fiction containing 50 stories (and a few more photos of those tiny books). The author asked friends to give her a single word to use as a story starter and then gathered the stories she came up with and self-published them in one slim volume.

One of my favorite stories is "Boom," the first in a series of stories about two typical little boys getting into all sorts of trouble. You should be able to click on the photograph to enlarge.

Cosmo and Dexter appear in several of the stories and, of course, as a mother of boys they remind me of what it was like having two young rapscallions to deal with. I'm hoping Katy will write an entire book starring Cosmo and Dexter. They're a hoot.

Another favorite is the story of a man who can't decide which container is the right one for his empty coffee cup and mutters, "This is all propaganda," before throwing his cup on the ground.

Highly recommended - Clever, funny, sharp stories about everyday people that feel like real-life anecdotes. While I can zone in on a few personal favorites, the truth is that I loved them all -- a very unusual occurrence. I haven't read as much as I normally do, this year, but Weirdo Simpatico is one of my favorite reads, so far in 2016, and I'll be reading it over and over and over, again. I adore flash fiction when it's done well.

Full disclosure: The author was in my high school graduating class and sent me a copy of Weirdo Simpatico but only after I'd read an excerpt and told her I was planning to buy a copy. Her writing is consistently first rate and my opinion would not have changed if I'd forked out the money.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham

Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasing vigilance and a rare detachment of spirit. It cannot, like adultery or gluttony, be practised at spare moments; it is a whole-time job. 

~ p. 15

I stopped him. 'Edward,' I said. He looked startled. For a moment I could have sworn he did not know who I was. 'What avenging furies urge you with such hot haste through the rakish purlieus of Pimlico?' I asked.

~ p. 241

Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham is my third read by Maugham and my second classic read for 2016.

Told in first person, Cakes and Ale tells the story of how the narrator met now-famous and deceased author Ted Driffield when he was a boy and Driffield was married to a disreputable former barmaid, Rosie. Rosie was known for carrying on with just about anyone. The narrator, a writer himself, is asked by his friend Roy to share all he knows about Driffield to help fill some of the gaps in his knowledge about the author after the second Mrs. Driffield has asked Roy to write her husband's life story. But, neither Roy nor the second Mrs. Driffield want Roy to bother mentioning Rosie, the first Mrs. Driffield. So, the narrator recalls the truth of what he knows about Rosie.

Cakes and Ale jumps back and forth in time a bit, which can be a little confusing, and the ending is abrupt. But, I thought it was excellent. Rosie is a scandalous character but charming, as well. The narrator was entranced with her from his boyhood and, having spent a great deal of time with the Driffields over the years, understands her like no other living man. The book winks at the reality of how inaccurate a biography can be, based on the way an author chooses to portray his subject. By skipping past the years with Rosie, Roy has chosen to ignore the heart of how Driffield's characterization emerged. But, because the narrator of Cakes and Ale has secrets of his own, he doesn't go out of his way to correct Roy.

I noticed that the copyright page indicates that Cakes and Ale was originally entitled Skeletons in the Closet, a much more apt title because that's exactly what it's about -- the hidden events of both the author's and narrator's lives that are kept from view but which inform their lives.

In fact, I never could figure out quite where the title Cakes and Ale might have come from. Rosie is a former barmaid and Driffield liked to hang out at an unfashionable public house in his younger years, so I suppose that could be the origin of the "ale" in the title. But, the only time I recall reading anything about cakes was in the odd scene involving tea and cakes. There is one particular scene in which the narrator is persuaded to go to tea at the home of a woman whose influence can make or break an author. That scene took place after a crucial moment in the book (I don't want to give away the plot point) and the narrator had been working all day. He was extremely hungry but because he arrived late for tea, his hostess assumed aloud that he probably didn't want anything and the poor narrator sat there, hungry and thirsty, while she nibbled on the leftovers. That was a particularly irritating but telling scene, showing that many of the narrator's crowd thought it was perfectly fine using his friendship with Driffield for selfish purposes, so he was equally justified in sharing just enough to satisfy them.

Highly recommended - While I wouldn't call Cakes and Ale my favorite Maugham, it is nonetheless an excellent read that starts out slowly and gradually becomes more compelling. Rosie, in spite of her flaws, is a delightful character.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey - Out of the slump she rises

Well, it took a few days but my week off did finally help me pull out of the reading slump that's been plaguing me in 2016. Whew! So relieved.

Recent arrivals:

• Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones - from William Morrow for review
• Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote - purchased for F2F discussion
• Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst - purchased
• One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis - From William Morrow for review
• The Miracle Girl by Andrew Roe - Unsolicited from Algonquin
• The Pocket Wife by Susan Crawford - From William Morrow for review
• Pretty Happy by Kate Hudson - from Dey Street for review

Hmm, #ReadMyOwnDamnBooksFail? Pretty sure you're not supposed to add heavily to the quantity of books you own before reading them off your own damn shelves.

I'm also mostly certain (fingers crossed) that's the end of the book orders I've placed, for now. The two purchases were from Book Depository, so it took a while for them to arrive. Since Other Voices, Other Rooms is a modern classic and my F2F book group's March selection, they've very kindly chosen my classic read for March. It's going to be difficult waiting to break into it, I confess.

Books finished last week:

• Cakes and Ale by Somerset Maugham - Loved it; review is in draft form.
• Weirdo Simpatico by Katy Bourne - Flash fiction! And, very well done, I might add.
• Orhan's Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian - Had trouble getting through this one but it turned out better than expected. 

Currently reading:

• Pretty Happy by Kate Hudson - Interesting, but so far not thrilled with this one. I was hoping for more recipes. Near as I can tell, there are exactly 3. 
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson - for Black History month.

In other news:

I meant to post for Book Blogger Appreciation Week, today, but I'm writing during a break between storms. The first hours of the day were spent sheltering in the utility room after my weather radio told me in no uncertain terms that I was to find myself a place to hide, post haste. Bossy old thing.


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey - A book pile, a cat photo, a week off

I knew this was going to be a big week for arrivals because Huzzybuns went to the UK and I sent him with a list of Persephone Books to purchase if he had time. I was not expecting quite this many arrivals, though!

Recent Arrivals (top to bottom):

• Weirdo Simpatico: Little Stories for Short Attention Spans by Katy Bourne - sent by author
• The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski,
• Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski,
• Maman, What Are We Called Now? by Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar, and
• The Hopkins Manuscript by R. C. Sherriff -  all purchased from Persephone Books (thanks, Huz)
• Alfa Romeo 1300 and Other Miracles by Fabio Bartolomei - Purchased
• The Secret of Raven Point by Jennifer Vanderbes - Purchased 
• All Stories Are Love Stories by Elizabeth Percer,
• Journey to Munich by Jacqueline Winspear, and
• Don't Let My Baby Do Rodeo by Boris Fishman - all from HarperCollins for review

I don't normally accept books directly from authors but I noticed my high school classmate, Katy, had written a book of flash fiction when a member of our graduating class was killed by a drunk driver and I visited a few pages of other classmates on Facebook, a couple weeks ago. I read an excerpt of Weirdo Simpatico and loved it so I planned to buy a copy but Katy offered to send a copy to me. So far, I am finding it a tiny, brilliant gem. I like to let short stories rumble around in my head rather than whip through them quickly, so I'll take my time reading and then I'll probably read it a second and third time because, frankly, I'm already in love with her writing.

Alfa Romeo 1300 and The Secret of Raven Point were both on my Paperback Swap wish list. I've decided to go ahead and try to buy as many of those that I've most eagerly awaited (secondhand, if possible) as I can. I discovered that a few are not only not in print but also priced so high it's no wonder they didn't become available after 8 years of sitting on my wish list. The two I've bought so far were affordable and arrived in like new condition.

Last week's posts:

• January Reads in Review (2016) and How Those Goals are Shaping Up (monthly review)
• Change of pace - Making corner bookmarks (bookish craft attempt)
• Fiona Friday - Building the castle (cat photos)
• What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin (book review)

Books finished last week:

• What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin - Just one book, ugh. Insomnia is killing my reading.

Currently reading:

• Cakes and Ale by Somerset Maugham and
• Weirdo Simpatico by Katy Bourne

I have some other books with bookmarks in them but I haven't touched them for at least a week.

In other news:

It's been too cold to paint a second coat on the kitty castle and according to the weather forecast it won't be warm enough till Thursday. So, the castle project is on hold till then. The cats don't seem to care.

Since I've already reviewed my most recent read, I'm going to take a week off from blogging to focus on reading and writing (fiction, not blog posts) and painting and cleaning, blah, blah. Here's an early Fiona Friday pic of Isabel peeking at me through the windows of the castle. I'll be back next Monday. Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin

Quick! Someone interview me! 

Smelly Candle: I volunteer.

Bookfool: Thanks. I didn't know where to start.

SC: That's what I'm here for. That and wafting pleasant odors throughout your library. What is What Remains of Me about?

BF:  It's the story of convicted murderer Kelly Michelle Lund. Five years after her release from prison, where she spent 25 years serving time for the murder of a movie director, John McFadden, her father-in-law is killed and the evidence leads to Kelly. But, did Kelly shoot her father-in-law? Was she even guilty of John McFadden's death?

SC: So, why were you having trouble starting to write about What Remains of Me?

BF: It's got a lot of twists and turns. Kelly's story is told via two timelines as the book jumps back and forth between 1980, the year she killed McFadden (or, did she?) and 2010, when Sterling Marshall is found dead. There's enough complexity to the story to make it hard to describe.

SC: What happened in 1980 to lead to the murder?

BF: There's too much to go into in a review and I don't want to spoil anything but in 1980 Kelly is a vulnerable high school girl whose fraternal twin sister tragically died, two years before. Kelly still mourns her. Their mother is bitter and over-protective. Her father, a stuntman, was badly burned in a movie and he's still working but heavily addicted to painkillers. As the book opens, Kelly meets actor Sterling Marshall's daughter, Bellamy, and they become friends. Unfortunately, Bellamy is a rebel who gets Kelly into trouble as they experiment with drugs. Bellamy introduces Kelly to Vee (short for Vincent), son of John McFadden, and through these friendships Kelly begins to unravel what happened to her sister, Catherine, before her death.

SC: And, what happens in 2010?

BF: In 2010, Kelly is married to Bellamy's little brother, Shane, and living in the desert about two hours' drive from Hollywood. On the night of the murder, she goes for a long drive and returns home covered in blood. It seems fairly straightforward; there's plenty of evidence placing her at the scene. But, why would Kelly murder her father-in-law when she has spent five years living quietly, well away from the Hollywood scene? After all these years, will Kelly find out there's more to her sister's story than she imagined?

SC:  Sounds interesting. What did you think of the writing and characterization?

BF:  The writing is good but nothing that stands out. I would call it typical for the type of book -- written in a way that places you in the scene without noticing the writing. There's a certain skill in the ability of a writer to not stand out. The characters felt very real and three-dimensional to me. They each have their own secrets and problems, things that shape them but which they don't necessarily share with anyone. I liked the unreliability of just about everyone. There is a lot of implication, a lot of unknown that the author gradually shades in.

SC: What did you like the least about What Remains of Me?

BF: There were moments that I was pulled out of a scene because of an inaccuracy or something I thought was questionable. For example, in one scene that takes place in 1980, Bellamy (who is driving) "rolled the windows down" in a Volkswagen Rabbit. As I recall, windows were not electronic in 1980 (we actually owned a Volkswagen in 1980). So, unless Bellamy leaned over Kelly to crank the passenger-side window down, that moment could not have happened as described. However, I should add that I read an ARC that I got from the library and the book is a February 2016 release -- I have not seen the final print version. Some of the errors I found may have been edited out.

SC:  What did you like the most about What Remains of Me?

BF:  It kept me guessing all the way to the end. I love that. There were many times that the answers to the many questions posed in What Remains of Me seemed transparent. They were not.

SC: Recommended or not?

BF: Definitely recommended. What Remains of Me should satisfy psychological thriller readers and those who enjoy mysteries. The reader can't fully understand what Kelly is thinking because she keeps certain bits of her past locked in metaphorical drawers, which makes untangling her thoughts and motivations interesting. And the murder is not necessarily what it seems, so there's definitely a mystery aspect. Harlan Coben's cover blurb says, "Label me a big fan," and, hmm, yes, I do believe fans of Coben would like Gaylin's writing.

SC: Thank you for allowing me to interview you. I don't know if you've noticed this, but I'm a candle and you've never lit me. Not once. I have a purpose, you know, a purpose that has been unfulfilled.

BF: Yes, sorry. You smell perfectly lovely without being lit, though, you see. Thanks for jumping in to interview me when I was desperate.

SC: ----Goes back to corner of desk to sulk----

What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin is a February, 2016 release from William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins. It is 374 pages long if you include the author acknowledgments (I always read them . . . do you?) and my copy came from a cart of ARCs being given away in my former library.


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - Building the castle

This is definitely not going to be attractive enough to end up on Pinterest but my wing-it cat castle creation is going well. I've put on the first coat of paint.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was below 60° when I was painting. See the bubbles on the upper left? That's what happens when you paint at below the recommended temperature. The paint didn't adhere in some spots. I haven't decided whether or not I'll bother pulling the bubbled bits of paint off before the second coat (which will probably then lead to a third coating -- and there's enough surface area that one coat = one can). The cats don't seem to care about the fact that it's ugly.

I may, in fact, make it uglier by putting duct tape around the crenellations. The upper level is currently blocked off, but there is a hole they'll be able to climb through and both kitties enjoy chewing on cardboard. I don't want them to get a mouthful of pebble paint.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.