December Reads in Review, 2016

December

101. The Orphan's Tale - Pam Jenoff
102. Sydney Bridge Upside Down - David Ballantyne
103. Born a Crime - Trevor Noah
104. Under the Influence - Joyce Maynard
105. The View from Flyover Country - Sarah Kendzior
106. Appointment in Samarra - John O'Hara
107. Think Happy, Be Happy - Workman Publishing
108. Wild Pork and Watercress - Barry Crump
109. Rebirth - Kamal Ravikant
110. I Could Pee on This - Francesco Marcialiano

I'm not going to write a paragraph about each book, as I usually do, since I've already written about all of my December reads. Hop through the links to read about them.

Favorites were Born a Crime, The View from Flyover Country, Appointment in Samarra, Wild Pork and Watercress, Rebirth, and I Could Pee on This. Born a Crime is exceptional, more a book about how race impacted Trevor Noah's life in S. Africa than a general memoir. The View from Flyover Country is a little repetitious but fascinating. I learned a lot about why 20-somethings have it a lot harder than we ever did. Appointment in Samarra was my classic choice and I enjoyed it. I liked the writing style and it was especially cool that Sherlock kept referring to the fable upon which it's based in the first episode of the new season. Wild Pork and Watercress was fun because it was mostly survival and I love survival stories. Rebirth was much more interesting than I expected and had an impact that I didn't realize until I went back to review it and pulled out a few quotes. I Could Pee on This is a hoot.

I liked but didn't love The Orphan's Tale, Sydney Bridge Upside Down, and Under the Influence. The Orphan's Tale offered an interesting perspective on WWII that was new to me but I still disliked the circus setting; it occasionally bored me reading about the aerialists practicing. Sydney Bridge Upside Down was very good but when it turned sinister, I confess it was pretty upsetting. I liked it, though. It just wasn't a favorite. I'm more impressed with the writing than in love with the story. And, Under the Influence was just kind of meh till the end. The ending was good, though.

Think Happy, Be Happy is cute - a book of quotations that are upbeat with marvelous illustrations. It's a fun little thing, gimmicky but in a good way. I have a couple books that are similar in style but with different topics (one is a book of funny things spouses have said). I find books like Think Happy, Be Happy and the cat poetry the kind of smile-inducing books that are great for rereading when I'm in need of an upper.

Next up will be the full year's list of books read!

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Everything I didn't review in 2016, Part 2

This will be the last post covering the books I neglected to write about in 2016. Fortunately, I kept up pretty well, in general.

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote is a book that I had on my shelf for a while but had not gotten around to reading. It was my F2F book group's September selection and that gave me the nudge I needed. Since it's a classic, it was also my classic read for the month. I've attempted to watch the movie and found it bizarre and hard to follow, but I'm sure I would enjoy it, now. Holly Golightly is an interesting character, a woman who escaped her past and remade herself as a woman living off rich male companions. Her story is told from the viewpoint of a neighbor and friend. Now that I understand the character and her motivations, I think I would get the movie just fine. But, I haven't watched it, yet.

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders is a book that I happened across when I decided I wanted to own a copy of Tenth of December, a book I read and loved, also by Saunders. Honestly, it's probably the cover that convinced me to buy it. I love that cover. And, the content is every bit as fun and wacky. The inhabitants of a place called Inner Horner come into dispute with their neighbors in Outer Horner when their home suddenly shrinks and they no longer fit on the tiny bit of land alloted to them. A tiny, hilarious book that I presume is an allegory (but, honestly, I just don't know), The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil is bizarre, thought-provoking, strangely insightful, and also one of my favorite reads of the year. I'm glad I bought it; I plan to reread this one regularly.

Leveling the Playing Field: The Democratization of Technology by Rod Scher was not meant to end up in the end-of-year batch, review-wise. I think I must have not realized I hadn't reviewed it at the blog because I put up a review at Amazon when I was asked to do so. Mea culpa. By "the democratization of technology", the author means that most inventions go from being hard to acquire and expensive to cheap and widely available. He starts out with the invention of fire and then progresses to such things as books (how they became more widely available with the advent of the printing press), computers, 3D printers, The Internet of Things, and the GPS. I had particular favorites amongst the chapters; I can't say why, but the book is fascinating and very readable. A side benefit to this book is that the author described a few websites, one of which I zipped off to check out. I ended up finding a perfect Christmas gift at that website, so thank you, dear author, for that.

The View from Flyover Country: Essays by Sarah Kendzior is an e-book that I purchased after reading a ton of Kendzior's tweets. There's a bit of repetition within the essays but that was not a bad thing for me because it helped clarify some of what she had to say about things like the difficulties faced by a younger generation in which the norm is quickly becoming a requirement to work an unpaid internship in order to qualify for a job and why internships and other poorly paid introductory jobs mean some fields are dominated by people who are already economically advantaged. Although I can't recall the other topics, a good portion of the essays dealt with racial and economic inequality. A very good read and it's notable that she has a doctorate in authoritarian regimes, so her tweets about the incoming Presidential administration are terrifying but informative.

Think Happy Be Happy has no credited author but is a collection of inspirational quotes, sayings, and some miscellaneous fun things like playlists. I've got a flag marking one of those, the "Fearless Playlist" with songs like "Just Say Yes" by Snow Patrol. On the opposite page it says, "'I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.' -- Louisa May Alcott " So, it's basically a little book of, as it says, "Art, inspiration, joy," very upbeat and beautifully illustrated. One of my favorite pages says, "Hell yes!" with a little devil in a burning background. It was part of the reason I chose "Yes" for my word of the year. I haven't torn that page out, yet, although I'd like to. I'm not so hot at damaging books.

I Could Pee on This and Other Poems by Cats by Francesco Marciuliano is just as silly as you'd expect but it has photos of cats and it made me laugh so I'm glad I finally managed to acquire a copy. I think I may have mentioned this, already, but I stood in Target and read bits and pieces of I Could Pee on This when it was a fairly new release, maybe a year old. It made me smile, so I put it on my wish list and I just finally found it at a price I found tolerable when we were visiting Kiddo, a couple weeks ago. While the guys went into an office supply store to find something to organize papers, I sat in the car reading and laughing. I'll reread this one many times. It's worth owning a few small things that are guaranteed to make you smile.

That's it! I will post my end-of-month for December (it will be brief), publish the full list of books read, and then I'm done with 2016!!

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Everything I didn't review in 2016, Part 1

After writing that last post, I realized there was no recent read left that I thought needed even mini review treatment, although a couple of the books I neglected throughout the year really should have gotten reviews fresh from the reading. I'll mention those when I get to them.

Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change by George Marshall is a book not so much about climate change and the stats that prove it but how people think about it, what makes them prone to denial or understanding, and why certain circumstances make it more likely that they won't connect an event to climate change. An excellent, thought-provoking book that I thought about for so long I didn't get around to reviewing, this is probably one of two books I seriously regret not getting around to saying anything about. It's more psychology than climate science. While the author approaches both sides and does his best to stay neutral, he falls clearly on the side of the 97% of scientists who are convinced that climate change is going to kill us all (he's not shy about saying so) and describes climate scientists as a gloomy lot, because they anticipate their doom. This one deserves a reread. It's a 5-star book.

From the Land of the Moon by Milena Agus is a Europa translation with a surprising ending, so twisty as to be baffling. I found another reader to discuss with and we were uncertain what actually happened in the end but it appeared that the narrator was unreliable and the ending cast the entire story into doubt. I'm glad I read From the Land of the Moon but it was definitely a head trip.

1914 and Other Poems by Rupert Brooke is one of the few books I don't remember all that well. I knew of Rupert Brooke as one of the war poets but as far as I can recall, the book was not composed entirely of war poetry. As with most poetry, some of it made sense and even resonated, some was either baffling or simply beyond my understanding, some I liked and some I did not. In the end, I'm guessing I didn't have much to say about it and that's why it ended up unreviewed, but I'm always happy to have read a volume of poetry because I love trying to engage with an art form that is powerful due to the careful and precise use of wording, whether I get it all or not.

The Secret of Raven Point by Jennifer Vanderbes is a book I read while on vacation, a WWII story about a nurse, her patients, and a doctor for whom she has feelings she must keep to herself. When I read this book, I really enjoyed it but I was shocked how quickly I forgot what it was about. To this day, I can't remember the details. But, I have to wonder if that has to do more with travel fatigue than the content of the book. At any rate, I know I enjoyed it. I just don't remember much about it.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows was, of course, the hot book about 5 years ago. Maybe longer, I don't know. At any rate, I put off reading it for ages and I don't know why. I finally got to it in 2016 and, like everyone else, I loved it. I found the story of the group of Guernsey island inhabitants who use a book club as cover for their activities charming, sometimes funny, but at the same time fiercely real. It's a rare book that can be funny, serious, and deeply moving. I opted not to review the book because everyone else already reviewed it but if there's anyone left out there who hasn't yet read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, quit putting it off.

Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo is a book I bought and had autographed - or maybe just bought autographed - at our local book festival. I got to hang out with blog friend Brittanie during the author's hilarious question/answer session and then came home and gobbled down Flora and Ulysses, that night. It's the story of a squirrel who is sucked up by a vacuum cleaner and when he does, he gains the ability to write poetry. But, he really wants to be a superhero. Funny, cerebral, and heartwarming (although not my favorite by the author). Kate DiCamillo is a gifted storyteller. I can't imagine not liking anything she has ever written or will write.

A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression by Jane Ziegelman and Andrew Coe is one of the best works of nonfiction I read in 2016 and I feel awful about not reviewing it. You should see my copy; it is chock full of colorful flags. I still think about it regularly. It's particularly relevant because a great deal of what was done during the Depression with the back-and-forth about social programs and whether or not people were becoming too dependent upon handouts and should only get seeds to grow their own food . . . similar things are being done, today, with the whole "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and stop depending on SNAP!" thing. I had no idea, actually, about the bread lines being as controversial as the distribution of food to families, nor did I ever contemplate the fact that it was always the men standing in food lines. Funny that I never noticed that. I also gained a new admiration for farm wives of that time period and learned a lot about how home economists led changes in the way we live and cook.

I need to find my copy and pull some quotes from this one. It's a crime that I didn't get to it, honestly, particularly given its application to the way we're still bickering about whether or not people living in poverty should be served by food programs. If you have any interest at all in the Great Depression, A Square Meal is a marvelous resource and a fascinating read.

Part 2 is coming up.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini Reviews - The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff, Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara, Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump

Since I have so many reviews remaining from 2016 and another 2 to hit in 2017, I'm going to go ahead and revert to the mini review format, for now. If there are any books that I believe require more depth in reviewing, I'll save them for separate posts. I'll post my December reads, later today.

The Orphan's Tale is my first read by Pam Jenoff, in spite of the fact that she writes about WWII. I don't know what took me so long to get to her books. The story is about two women. Noa was kicked out by her family after falling pregnant at 16, the father of her child a Nazi soldier. Separated from her own child, she has saved a baby found in a freezing train carriage. Astrid was forced to divorce her Nazi husband and leave her home because of her Jewish heritage.

Astrid grew up in a German circus and her family has disappeared. When a neighboring circus takes her in she is grateful but haunted by the loss of her family and perpetually in danger. After Noa shows up with the baby and is also given refuge, Astrid reluctantly teaches her to work on the flying trapeze. When they travel across Germany and Noa falls for the son of a mayor who works closely with the Nazis while Astrid's boyfriend refuses to stop breaking the rules, the dangers sharpen. Will Noa and Astrid be able to keep each other and the baby safe?

There was a lot that I loved about The Orphan's Tale. I liked the fact that I learned about a new facet of life during WWII. I liked the fact that it focused on specific issues that were problematic for women. And, I thought the ending was both heartbreaking and beautiful. There were a couple problems I had with the book, though. The main one was stylistic. The author used the passive voice and it took me ages just to learn to stop mentally rewriting sentences. So many had dones and had beens. The Orphan's Tale needed a dedicated editor to shift its prose away from the passive voice. The other problem was minor: I really don't like circus settings. I thought I would be okay with a circus setting and I did enjoy learning about what it was like within that kind of setting during WWII, but it still was not a setting I enjoyed and I occasionally found myself bored with the details of training someone to be an aerialist.

Recommended but not a favorite - I'm glad I read The Orphan's Tale and I will happily read more by Pam Jenoff but there were some minor frustrations. Definitely a unique setting for WWII and solid storytelling. Crucially, the ending felt perfect in a way few endings do.

Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara - My classic choice for December, I knew Appointment in Samarra was not going to be a happy tale. I'd read about it a bit and the fable about death finding a merchant in Samarra makes it clear that the ending will not be a pleasant one. But, the writing is superb and I was quickly swept into the story.

Julian English finds one of the members of his club particularly annoying and thoughtlessly tosses his drink in the man's face. The next day, his wife Caroline talks Julian into going to apologize to Harry Reilly, the victim, but Harry is unwilling to see him. It then begins to become clear just how much damage Julian has done to his standing. Slowly, Julian begins to unravel, in the process throwing away everything he's worked for and ruining his closest relationships. What will happen to Julian and Caroline?

Well, the fable makes it pretty obvious but it's still just a bit shocking, in the end.

Highly recommended - Sad as it is, Appointment in Samarra is impressively written and when I look back at 2016's classic choices, I have a feeling it will be one of my favorites.

I ordered a copy of Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump after watching the movie Hunt for the Wilderpeople and finding out that it was based on a book. I love watching a movie and comparing it to the book (better that way than reading the book first and being disappointed, actually) and they were definitely poles apart, although both are set in New Zealand - so, at least the book didn't suffer the fate of being Americanized.

Ricky Baker has been taken in by his Aunt Bella and Uncle Hec. At 12 years old, he's overweight and has spent much of his life being shuffled about. Aunt Bella is warm and loving, a great cook, and happy to step in as a surrogate mom. Uncle Hec is a curmudgeon and former inmate. When Aunt Bella dies suddenly, Hec is heartbroken and decides to head into the bush. But, Ricky will be sent back into foster care if Uncle Hec doesn't take him along. Reluctantly, Uncle Hec agrees to let Ricky come along.  They head into the bush to hide out till Ricky turns 16, when he'll be free of the social system.

That's the book version and they do, in fact, succeed in hiding out for about 2 years, sometimes while being pursued by authorities. Ricky and Uncle Hec make a single friend while on their adventures and Ricky becomes an expert hunter. Because the book is a survival story in which they hide out for literally years, it's quite different from the lighthearted comedy film. But, both are terrific in their own ways. The book is wonderful for being a survival story that ends mysteriously, the movie for its sense of humor. Both describe a building relationship with heart and they both have meaningful, yet extremely different, endings.

Highly recommended - I ordered my copy of Wild Pork and Watercress from Book Depository and it was shipped from Australia. Then, it became available on Amazon. Oh, well. It was worth the wait. I enjoy survival stories and it was fun mentally comparing the book with the movie, as I read. Wild Pork and Watercress has the feel of a YA because Ricky tells the story, although I'm not sure how it would be shelved in New Zealand.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Tuesday Twaddle

Recent arrivals (top to bottom):

• The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou - purchased
• The Rain in Portugal by Billy Collins - Christmas gift I forgot to mention
• The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson - from HarperCollins for review

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now by Maya Angelou
• Leopard at the Door by Jennifer McVeigh
• Yesternight by Cat Winters

Currently reading:

• The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman
• The Wars of the Roosevelts by William J. Mann
• Faithful by Alice Hoffman

Last week's posts:

• Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now by Maya Angelou (book review)
• Rebirth by Kamal Ravikant (book review)
• Fiona Friday on the Wrong Day (cat photo)

In other news:

Besides the three books I'm reading (two of which will take me forever to get through, although I'm enjoying them both), I started a classic choice but I'm not sure this one is going to click for me, so I've opted not to write it on my list, just yet. If it eventually takes, you'll know about it. I planned to start my second personal challenge - the first being a continuation of my monthly classics challenge - last night, but I also planned to finish my Monday Malarkey post and you can see what became of that. I fell asleep on the couch, instead. My second challenge is to read at least one feminist title per month and I'm not too strict about what I will consider "feminist". I have, for example, a copy of Hidden Figures coming. A book about women who were successful in their fields but without public acknowledgment works for me. First on the feminist reading list is We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, partly because it's a mere 65 pages long and we're getting close to the middle of the month.

The fact that it's already the 12th 10th of January (haven't replaced my desk calendar, so I looked at December) means I'm not going to worry about how long it takes me to finish up my last reviews from 2016. Clearly, trying to shove through them has not worked, so I'll write when it works for me. I'll post my 2016 list tomorrow, though. Might as well get the end of month and end of year lists out of the way, right?

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday on the Wrong Day

We had a new experience, this week. Isabel was whining at me because she was bored, so I decided to look up squirrel videos for cats. Boy, was that a hit! She watched the video I loaded (which had both a squirrel and a robin) at least 4 or 5 times and tried to turn the iPad back on when I decided she'd had enough. I'm glad to have an extra option besides dangling strings and rolling jingle balls because Izzy is an active kitty who sometimes goes a little nuts when she can't decide what to do.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Rebirth by Kamal Ravikant

"Two partners," he whispers into my ear. His voice is hoarse. "Fear and faith. The one you dance with determines your life."

~ fr. p. 73 of Advance Reader Copy, Rebirth (Some changes may be made to the final print version)

"Il n'est pas votre blessure qui vous rend spécial."
Then he leans back, waits.
"Yes?"
"It is not your wound that makes you special."

~ p. 96 of ARC

"People have this amazing resiliency, this power to live through the worst things imaginable -- famine, genocide, you name it -- and still they survive. Not only survive, but sometimes flourish. How? How do they do it? I would venture that it's not by focusing on the 'why?' but moving ahead with the 'now what?' You might want to try that."

~ p. 106 of ARC

Rebirth is the story of a young man named Amit, who decides to walk the Camino de Santiago on a whim. Amit's father has recently died and Amit left his girlfriend abruptly to scatter his father's ashes. After spending a little time in India, he is unsure about his original plan to become a doctor. When a stranger mentions the 550-mile path taken by pilgrims for many centuries, Amit decides to give it a go, more as a delay tactic than a personal challenge.

At first, he has no real plan. He'll walk part of the Camino and then he'll make a decision. He calls his girlfriend and finds that he can't go back to the way things were, even if that's what he desires. But, as he begins to meet people on the hike across Spain and they share the wisdom of their years with him, Amit finds that he wants to continue the hike. Maybe, eventually, some of their hope will rub off on him.

Rebirth is based on the author's hike on the 550-mile Camino de Santiago and it reads very much like a Mitch Albom or Paulo Coelho book, as stated in the publicity material. I confess, that kind of "life lesson fable" tends to turn me off and toward the beginning of Rebirth, I really thought it was going to be tremendously hokey. I wasn't sure I'd make it all the way through. However, after a time, I started to warm to the story. The lessons are very much in your face, told via conversation with wise pilgrims who muse about family, tell stories about the challenges they've endured, talk about living your life instead of focusing on your ambitions, etc. But, I particularly liked the Frenchman and the final character that Amit meets: Kat. Although they were clearly in the book to impart their wisdom, those two characters felt more real to me than most and they kept me going.

In the end, I really liked the way Amit came to a decision about the direction of his life. It wasn't actually quite what I expected, and I appreciated that.

Recommended - While a book that calls itself "A fable of Love, Forgiveness, and Following Your Heart" is kind of suspect to me, I ended up enjoying Rebirth. I particularly recommend it to fans of Albom and Coelho, but if you're okay with a not-too-subtle book about finding meaning in your life, I think it's a good one. I found myself wishing I'd heard about the Camino de Santiago when I was younger and truly enjoying the trip vicariously.

Interesting aside:

I had totally forgotten about this interaction because it was the image in another book that made me choose my word of the year, "yes", but clearly it also must have moved me further in the direction of my word choice:

The monk returns, one hand raised in a blessing.
"Say yes."
I give him the finger.
"To all that happens."
Both hands, fingers.
"Say yes."

That's from p. 119 of the ARC. Clearly, I am choosing not to give the finger to this concept. It made me laugh to look back and see that I'd marked this bit and completely forgotten about it. In fact, when Amit remembered the monk, later in the book, I just shrugged at the fact that I couldn't recall their interaction at all. I didn't even bother to flip back, didn't realize I'd marked this passage.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now by Maya Angelou

My dears, I draw the picture of the wealthy couple standing in a darkened hallway, peering into a lighted room where black servants were lifting their voices in merriment and comradery, and I realize that living well is an art which can be developed. Of course, you will need the basic talents to build upon: They are a love of life and ability to take great pleasure from small offerings, an assurance that the world owes you nothing and that every gift is exactly that, a gift. That people who may differ from you in political stance, sexual persuasion, and racial inheritance can be founts of fun, and if you are lucky, they can become even convivial comrades. 

~from "Living Well, Living Good", p. 65 of Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now

I started the year off right by reading a Maya Angelou book. Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now is a book of short essays. I've only read one other book by Angelou, but when I did I immediately got online and ordered her collected poems. This time, I got online and ordered her collected memoirs. And, I'll plan on reading her poetry in April for National Poetry Month.

Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now begins with a nice, feminist bang as her first essay, "In All Ways a Woman" describes a practice that has, I believe, now fallen mostly into the past. She talks about how demeaning it is to add the "ess" that used to define whether a working person was male or female. Postmaster, postmistress; actor, actress. It jarred me a little when I realized that female actors were simply being called actors, years back. I don't know exactly when that occurred but I agree with Maya. It makes a lot more sense to use a single term, rather than demeaning women by making it obvious when there's a female in a certain position. Having said that, I believe we still do call females in Congress "congresswomen". That needs to change.

From the essay "Complaining":

"Sister, there are people who went to sleep all over the world last night, poor and rich and white and black, but they will never wake again. Sister, those who expected to rise did not, their beds became their cooling boards and their blankets became their winding sheets. And those dead folks would give anything, anything at all for just five minutes of this weather or ten minutes of that plowing that person was grumbling about. So you watch yourself about complaining sister. What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain. 

~fr. pp. 86-87

From the essay "Our Boys":

We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter their color; equal in importance no matter their texture.

~p. 124,

Highly recommended - A short gulp of a book at just 139 pages (with lots of white space between essays) but deeply meaningful. So glad I started the year by reading the advice of a wise, strong, amazing woman.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Tuesday Twaddle

I've been offline due to storms, for a few days, so first things first. Welcome to the dawn of a new year. Hello, 2017! I hope you're a good one. Happy New Year, friends!

I'm not entirely done with 2016, review-wise, so I'm going to go ahead and do the Tuesday Twaddle (Malarkey was inhibited by the presence of a spouse) and then work backwards. I really do wish I could start with a clean slate but I'll do my best to quickly catch up with myself. It should help not having a husband around. Nice idea, not shutting down the blog for the first time ever, but it didn't really work out because if family is around, I'll always be hanging with them.

Recent arrivals (top to bottom):

• I Could Pee on This and Other Poems by Cats by Francesco Marciuliano,
• Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson,
• H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, and
• The Nix by Nathan Hill - all purchased
• Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars by Miranda Emmerson and
• The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy - both from HarperCollins for review

All my purchases came about during a road trip to take the desk Kiddo and Huzzybuns built over the holidays up to Kiddo's home in Oxford. He didn't have quite enough room in his little car, so we drove the parts up and the guys put the desk together, then we went out to eat and shopped at Square Books and Off-Square Books. They just happened to have a number of books that were on my wish list. It was a bit of a splurge but I only got one book for Christmas so Huz didn't mind one bit. Cool. 

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump
• Rebirth by Kamal Ravikant
• I Could Pee on This by Francesco Marciuliano

Currently reading:

• The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman
• The Wars of the Roosevelts by William J. Mann
• Leopard at the Door by Jennifer McVeigh

The View from the Cheap Seats and The Wars of the Roosevelts are both chunksters, so they will probably take quite some time to read. I'm trying to pace myself and mix in a little of each book, every day, so that I won't stall on the bigger books, as I often do.


Last week's posts:

• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (book review)
• Fiona Friday: Basket cases (cat photo)

In other news:

I've been enjoying reading various bloggers' and friends' word choices for #OneWord, this year. I'm not so great at sticking to my word so I skipped it, last year. This year, a really great one jumped out at me as I was reading Think Happy, Be Happy - a book that was sent to me by the delightful Carrie of Care's Books and Pie. It has a page with a little devil saying, "Hell, yes!" I thought, "That's my word, 'yes'," the moment I saw it. I'm the opposite of most women who have trouble saying 'no'. My problem is that I'm too good at it - too good at saying, "I'll tackle that later," or "No, thanks, I really don't want to do that." So, this year is my year of "yes" and that includes some personal goals I've avoided. In fact, I decided to not even try for one particular goal that I've been working toward all my life, last year. I will get back to work on it, this year. I may never succeed but I can keep saying "yes" to trying.

Happy 2017 to all my book-loving friends!


©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - Basket cases

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

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

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

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

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

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

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


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

Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals:

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

Books finished since last Malarkey:

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

Currently reading:

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

Last week's posts:

• Fiona Friday: Ruffled (cat photo)

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

In other news:

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

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


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

Fiona Friday - Ruffled

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

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

Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals:

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

Books finished since last Malarkey:

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

Currently reading:

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

Last week's posts:

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

In other news:

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


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

Under the Influence by Joyce Maynard

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sydney Bridge Upside Down by David Ballantyne

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday Malarkey

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

Recent Arrivals:

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

Books finished since last Malarkey:

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

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


Currently reading: 

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

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


Last week's posts:

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

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


In other news:

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

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

Fiona Friday on the Wrong Day - Cat crazies collage

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

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

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

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

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

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


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

Monday Malarkey

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

Recent arrivals:

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

Books finished since last Malarkey:

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

Currently reading:

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

Last week's posts:

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

In other news:

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

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


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

November Reads in Review, 2016

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

November 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And, now, for something completely feline:

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

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