October Reads in Review, 2016

I'm a bit late getting around to my October summary as I expected to write the last three remaining reviews before posting about the entire month. Since I still haven't gotten around to them and all three of the titles I haven't reviewed were from my personal shelves, I think a paragraph each will suffice. Links are provided (via title) for the three reviews I did get around to writing: A Most Extraordinary Pursuit, Carrying Albert Home, and Killfile.

October

87. A Most Extraordinary Pursuit by Juliana Gray - When the man who has inherited a Duchy goes missing, the personal secretary to the former Duke of Olympia goes in search of him, with help from the dashing Lord Silverton. Ghosts, mythology, archeology, seasickness, and even a little paranormal aspect made A Most Extraordinary Pursuit engaging and adventurous but a little over-the-top. The ending was not particularly satisfying. First in a series.

88. Landfall by Nevil Shute - During WWII, a pilot is sent on a reconnaissance mission and bombs what he believes to be a German submarine. Upon his return to base, though, he finds that a British sub has gone missing and articles of British naval clothing have been recovered from the precise location of the sub that he bombed. Is he guilty of friendly fire or did Jerry correctly spot and destroy a German craft? Plenty of tension is interspersed with a sweet romance and a few scenes that drag a bit. Overall, I absolutely loved Landfall.

89. Carrying Albert Home by Homer Hickam - Not so much a tall tale as a series of tall tales based on a family legend, Hickam tells about a road trip his parents made to return a pet alligator named Albert to his Florida home. I thought the book was a bit too long and certain incidents, while humorous, pushed my ability to suspend disbelief a bit too far. So, I found Carrying Albert Home only an average read.

90. Little Bee by Chris Cleave - The gut-wrenching tale of an affair, a broken marriage, a suicide, and a young woman's escape from danger in Africa, only to end up living in a detention center for two years and then . . . well, that's a spoiler. Little Bee was an F2F discussion book and the conversation was excellent; it's definitely great for discussion. But, I found the book too heartbreaking to love.

91. Killfile by Christopher Farnsworth - A former military man and telepath sells his services to the wealthy. But, when he's asked to retrieve information and wipe it from an entrepreneur's brain, things go horribly wrong. He and sidekick Kelsey find themselves being pursued by a man who can track their every move. A thriller that's nicely balanced, cinematically written (easy to visualize on-screen), with a touch of romance.

92. Spring Torrents by Ivan Turgenev - My classic choice of the month, the bittersweet story of a young Russian man who falls in love while on a European tour. But, when he's caught under the spell of a siren-like married woman, will he escape from her in time to return to his beloved? Well, you can guess from the use of the word "bittersweet". I liked Spring Torrents but it's probably not a book I'll reread.

Favorites of the month were Landfall and Killfile. I also enjoyed (but didn't fall in love with) Spring Torrents and A Most Extraordinary Pursuit. Little Bee and Carrying Albert Home were my least favorites, although it seems a bit harsh to pair Carrying Albert Home - a book crammed with humor and adventure, if a bit overlong and hard to buy into - with Little Bee, a book so depressing I had to force myself to finish.

Not a great month, either for quantity or quality, but my two favorites were both excellent and the only book I kind of wish I could have avoided is Little Bee, which turned out to be one of those rare books I can't wait to get rid of.

©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:

• Glimmer Train, Winter 2017, Issue 98 - purchased, yet surprised to see this arrive so quickly, since I just got my first issue from the subscription, last week.
• Your Alien Returns by Tammi Sauer and Goro Fujita - from Sterling Children's Books for review
• News of the World by Paulette Jiles - from HarperCollins for review

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• The Paris Review, Issue 218 - I gave this 3 stars and considered knocking it down to 2 at Goodreads. There were a few stories and poems that I loved but there was a lot of material I considered substandard or just flat boring.
• News of the World by Paulette Jiles - Called to me from the moment it walked in the door and I'm glad. I absolutely loved this book. Hope to review it very soon.
• Your Alien Returns by Tammi Sauer and Goro Fujita - As always with children's books, I read this the moment it walked in the door. Loved it. The aliens are so stinking cute!

Currently reading:

• Leveling the Playing Field by Rod Scher - Planning to focus on finishing this one, next.
• I Can't Begin to Tell You by Elizabeth Buchan - A WWII novel.

Posts since last Malarkey:

• Fiona Friday: How to handle a holiday (cat photo)

In other news:

We went to the zoo. Kookaburra went for the glamour pose.

©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 - How to handle a holiday

I think Izzy has the right idea.

©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: 

• Glimmer Train, Fall 2016 (Issue 97) - Yep, that's the only arrival. I ordered a full year of Glimmer Train plus the issue that arrived last week, which is a back issue but one I intended to buy primarily because of David Abrams' short story. 

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly - A book I saved specifically for a week when I was feeling slumpy and it did the trick!
• The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty - While I'm not certain whether I'll bother writing a full review of The Optimist's Daughter, I can tell you that I enjoyed it and was sometimes confused by it. But, the general feeling was, "I get this." I understood the mixed emotions of Laurel, the daughter of a judge who died, having experienced both the loss of both parents and the remarriage of one. And, the scenes with lots of locals and some visiting family from the second wife were so spot on I felt like I'd already been there. There is definitely a realness to the novel. 

Currently reading:

• The Paris Review, Edition 218 - Still reading this. I'm getting close to finishing, though. Last night, I read a short story by Ann Beattie, which was excellent, and a very thought-provoking poem. 
• Leveling the Playing Field by Rod Scher - This one lingered unread, this week, but not for lack of interest. I simply needed a mood breaker and focused my efforts on the suspense by Paula Daly. 
• LaRose by Louise Erdrich - I haven't gotten very far into LaRose because we went kayaking, again, and Sunday is my TV day (I bury myself in PBS on Sunday evenings) but I think it's going to be a very good read. "LaRose" is the name of a child. Personally, I think it's a terrible title with a worse cover, so I'm glad the contents are promising.

Posts since last Malarkey:

• Leaping Lemmings by John Briggs and Nicola Slater (children's book review)
• Carrying Albert Home by Homer Hickam (book review)
• Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly (book review)
• Fiona Friday - Cat Inception? (cat photo) 

In other news:

I updated my review policy, this week, but the only change was the removal of the notice saying I'm accepting absolutely nothing. I've been incredibly picky, hence the lack of arrivals, but I didn't realize I hadn't altered my review policy in a while, so . . . fixed. I doubt I'll be accepting many books for review, but I figured I might as well update. I like to do that about every 6 months or so.

There's not much other news. I'm still painting and I'm trying to spend more time at the gym. Today, the weather changed and I have a mild migraine so I'm not accomplishing much. I kind of hate days like today. And, I think the entire United States would like to skip right on past tomorrow, if that were possible. Regardless of the outcome, I'll be praying for a peaceful, united country in the days to come.

©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 - Cat Inception?

This is a picture of Isabel exploring the table upon which I keep my paint supplies and some of my in-progress paintings (it's a mess) but I thought it was pretty funny that a collage I'm working on that features Isabel happened to be right behind her.

©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.

Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly

I just finished reading Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly, two nights ago, and since I keep falling behind on reviewing, I figure I should talk about it right now.

Just What Kind of Mother Are You? is about a woman who is a working mother of three, married to a taxi driver and living in England's Lake Country. She works at an animal shelter and is so overwhelmed that she finds herself frequently spacing out, particularly around the children. Lisa is thinking about the fact that she needs to be more attentive when her friend Kate calls and asks her a strange question: "How are the girls?" This throws Lisa, but it's not till later that anyone realizes her friend's daughter, Lucinda, is missing. Lisa feels responsible. Lucinda was supposed to have spent the night with Lisa's daughter, Sally, but Sally became ill and missed school. Nobody knows exactly when Lucinda disappeared but she should have been with Sally. Lisa didn't bother calling Kate to let her know Sally was ill.

Lucinda is the second 13-year-old to disappear in England. The first was half naked when she showed up, having been repeatedly raped. A known rapist is out there. Does he have Lucinda? When a third girl goes missing and Lucinda hasn't shown up, does that mean Lucinda is dead?

There are all sorts of little twists and turns to Just What Kind of Mother Are You? While I figured out a couple of the questions that the story posed before they were revealed, I found the book impossible to put down for long and raced through it. The ending, while predictable in some ways, was still utterly satisfying. Unfortunately, reading a single suspense novel did not manage to usher in cold weather as I'd hoped, although it has cooled off a little bit. So, I need to read a second suspense and cross my fingers that a real cold front will show up as I'm reading.

Highly recommended - I love a suspense that has so many little strands that it poses a lot of questions. Just What Kind of Mother Are You? was apparently Paula Daly's first book. If so, I'm impressed. It is very well-written with believable, very human characters and suspense that keeps going, right till the answers are revealed. It didn't even matter that I figured out a couple of the mysterious plot points because there was enough left hanging that I was still in suspense, even when I thought I knew what exactly was going on. Now, I'm wishing I had more of Daly's books sitting around. I may look to see if there are more titles I can order. I've enjoyed both of the books I read by Daly and I'm glad I saved Just What Kind of Mother Are You? for a time when I needed a slump-breaker.


©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.

Carrying Albert Home by Homer Hickam

Carrying Albert Home by Homer Hickam is a tale that's based on a family legend, the story of a road trip once taken by Hickam's parents, who drove to Florida from their home in coal country to return their pet alligator to the swampy land he came from. Hickam confesses he doesn't know what's true and what's not, so he clearly just ran with the story and had a good time.

The book reads like a string of tall tales that are interwoven. Elsie is unhappy as the wife of a coal miner and spends a good bit of her time daydreaming about the romance that never was, with actor Buddy Ebsen. Buddy sent the couple a young alligator as a wedding gift and the alligator, Albert, has grown to four feet. He likes to have his belly rubbed and he has his own little pond but Homer (the elder Homer, father of the author) has had enough of Albert and gives Elsie an ultimatum: give up the alligator or lose me. This prompts the road trip to Florida after Elsie decides that her choice is Homer, not the alligator, but only if Albert is returned to Florida. Somehow, a chicken ends up traveling along with them.

I enjoyed Carrying Albert Home but I had several problems with the book. The first problem was the flatness of dialogue. Everyone -- and I do mean everyone -- sounded exactly the same to me. There was no variety from one character to another. The second problem was the book's length: I thought Carrying Albert Home dragged on far too long. Around page 300 of the 400-page book, I started to get sick of the story and just wanted to get the reading over with. Third, both John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway make appearances in the book. As if.

Recommended but not a favorite - I'm glad I stuck it out till the end but Carrying Albert Home was just a bit too fanciful for me. I had trouble suspending disbelief and I didn't fall in love with the characters. In the end, I felt like I had to fight my way through the final hundred pages. Having said that, I think if you like a wildly tall tale in which a young couple goes from one adventure to another, you might enjoy Carrying Albert Home. I found it an average read and can't recommend it enthusiastically, but it's worth mentioning that stuff happens. There's plenty of action, in other words, if the dialogue and characters don't get in your way.

©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.

Leaping Lemmings! by John Briggs and Nicola Slater

The opening spread of Leaping Lemmings asks the reader, "Can you tell these two lemmings apart? No? That's because all lemmings look alike, sound alike, and act alike." Two lemmings are facing each other and they look nearly identical but not quite. Four others are below the igloo the first two are standing upon, all of the four lemmings squeaking. But, then you meet a lemming who is different.

When all the other lemmings dug tunnels to keep warm, he went sledding with the puffins. 
When the other lemmings squeaked and squealed, he banged on the bongos he got from the seals. 

And, so forth. Clearly, this lemming is not like the others. He says he would not follow his lemming friends off a cliff. And, he calls himself "Larry". You can get a pretty good idea of how Larry stands out from this interior spread (click to enlarge):

Because I'm an information junkie, I looked up lemmings to see if they really are, in fact, willing to follow each other off a cliff. Apparently not. The idea of lemmings being suicidal is based on a cartoon, not reality, although lemming populations have a tendency to rise precipitously and then drop significantly, which makes you wonder if they're lining up somewhere and committing mass suicide. The article I read indicated that there's really not a full understanding of the reasons lemming populations rise and fall so dramatically, but they do occasionally cross bodies of water to get to food, which can cause inadvertent mass drownings.

At any rate, Larry would probably not follow anyone across the water without a boat because Larry is  different, and deliberately. He doesn't want to be like everyone else. Eventually, Larry tries to break away from his lemming family, but he discovers that living with other creatures has its own discomforts (like living on a cliff if you're with the puffins) and he runs home just in time to save the lemmings from walking off a cliff, leading them instead to his home, where he feeds them pizza and they learn it's all right to be a little different. But, they're still mostly alike.

Highly recommended - I love the simplicity of the text and artwork in Leaping Lemmings, and the underlying theme that it's good to be different but you can still enjoy those who are like you, even if they're not so great at going against the flow. Larry is a pretty funny character and the lemmings are adorable. I like the text but I adore the minimalist illustrations, which are both fun and easy on the eyes.

©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

Last week was another meh week, reading-wise. I think I'm just about ready to be done with 2016 and start a fresh year.

Recent arrivals:

• Glimmer Train, Spring/Summer 2016 - Purchased because I was in the mood to read literary periodicals.
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin - Sent by friend Carrie of Care's Books and Pie. Thanks, Carrie!

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Spring Torrents by Ivan Turgenev was the only book I finished, last week, my classic choice for the month of October. I got a late start choosing my classic for the month, so I'm happy to have finished it. It's a bittersweet romance. 

Currently reading:

• The Paris Review, Edition 218 - I'm beginning to agree with those who have given this issue a poor rating, although not for the reason most of the reviews I've seen have quoted (too much poetry). I think the quality of some of the material is mediocre, chiefly the most recent poem and short story I read. I'm hoping the rest of the Review will be an improvement. It started out well and has a lousy middle.
• Leveling the Playing Field: The Democratization of Technology by Rod Scher - Don't let that rather dull title put you off. I'm really enjoying Leveling the Playing Field, which is about how technology has generally followed a pattern of being available only to the elite and then eventually becoming easier to pay for and therefore available to the masses. The first chapter is dedicated to how fire was a civilizing force. Next is the development of language and then written and printed language. 
• Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly - I decided not to participate in the annual R.I.P. Challenge, this year, and I'm blaming my lack of participation for summer's refusal to end. Reading spooky, atmospheric, or suspenseful books is a great way to usher in the cooler weather and Just What Kind of Mother Are You? (which I won in a Twitter drawing held by the author, a couple years ago) is a suspense. I just happened to be thinking about Halloween and fall and the R.I.P., last night, and decided fall just doesn't feel right without a little bit of suspense, so I started reading the closest suspense book. So far, so good.

Posts since last Malarkey:

• Even Superheroes Have Bad Days by S. Becker and E. Kaban (book review)
• Fiona Friday - Big cat, tiny box (cat photo)

In other news:

This weekend was unexpectedly fun. Husband has been looking at kayaks for a few weeks and decided he was ready to buy. We've thought about buying kayaks for years but either decided they were out of our price range or balked at the thought of paddling something made of plastic in bodies of water that might be home to alligators. Years ago, we went on a float with the local canoe and kayak group and one of the locals pointed out the spots where alligators had pulled themselves from the water. Shiver. But, Huz investigated and found that there are places the alligators aren't as prevalent and alligator hunting season was not all that long ago. So, the time was right. We didn't go far (to prevent aching shoulders) but we had a blast. The photo absolutely doesn't do the beauty of this little lake justice. 

Happy Halloween!

©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 - Big cat, tiny box

This was a quite funny. I walked into the kitchen and found Fiona sitting in this tiny box, which made me laugh out loud. And, then she shifted and wiggled and had to tug her paws out from under herself (this photo was taken just after she tugged her paws loose), curled up, and took a nap in it. She hasn't been back inside the box, since. I'm amazed that she found it comfortable enough to actually fall asleep even once.

©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.

Even Superheroes Have Bad Days by S. Becker and E. Kaban

When superheroes don't get their way, 
When they're sad, 
When they're mad,
When they have a bad day . . . 

They could use super-powers to kick, punch, and pound,
They could shriek --
They could screech
With an ear-piercing sound. 

You can probably already tell where the storyline of Even Superheroes Have Bad Days is headed, just from those first two paragraphs (each of which is comprised of a two-page spread in this 40-page children's book). There are all sorts of terrible things superheroes could do because of their special powers -- if they just happen to be in a bad mood. And, perhaps a recent movie or two has shown them doing just that.

But, Even Superheroes Have Bad Days is a children's book and, as such, it stays on the positive side. Do superheroes do bad things, just because they're feeling moody? Do they "crush wooden crates and bend metal gates"? Do they "throw trucks and buses across several states"? No, of course not.

They could super-rampage--
They could, but they don't,
Because real superheroes just wouldn't--
They won't!

Nope, instead, they "acknowledge their sorrow, their anger, their pain, as they wait for their super-emotions to wane."

Recommended - It's a nice thought, isn't it, that superheroes are so terrific that they can keep their emotions in check? I confess, Even Superheroes Have Bad Days is not at all what I expected. I had a mental image of how I would have written a book with the exact same title, before my copy arrived from Sterling. But, I love the extreme positivity of Even Superheroes Have Bad Days. I adore the theme: emotions are messy and self-control is an important thing to learn and use. And, the illustrations are marvelous. Meditating superheroes! How cool to plant the idea of meditating to calm down.

I would personally save Even Superheroes Have Bad Days and pull it out only when the lesson of self-control needs to be reinforced, although some superhero-loving children might not being willing to put up with that.  Even Superheroes Have Bad Days is both a fun book to look at and a book that uniquely serves a purpose of reinforcing good behavior, definitely recommended.


©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

There's not much to say about this past week, so I'm going to dive right into the usual Malarkey format.

Recent arrivals (top to bottom):

• The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope
• The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
• Selected Poems by W. H. Auden
• Ava's Man by Rick Bragg (my only ARC, from HarperCollins)
• Still Life with Tornado by A. S. King
• The Paris Review, Edition 218
• Gemina by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

We went on a day trip to Oxford to visit Kiddo, this weekend, so several of the books I got this week were from Off-Square Books. Gemina was a pre-order -- which I will not do again; both times I've pre-ordered an Illuminae Files book, I accidentally ordered two. I thought Amazon warned you when you've already purchased a book, but I guess that's just e-books. At any rate, Kiddo will benefit from my mistake, again. I also ordered Still Life with Tornado because I enjoyed A. S. King's last book so much. I hope Still Life is equally weird.


Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Little Bee by Chris Cleave (for F2F discussion)
• Killfile by Christopher Farnsworth 

Currently reading:

• Spring Torrents by Ivan Turgenev - Just getting back to this after I photographed it for last week's arrivals pile and then humorously thought I'd misplaced it for a full 4 days. 
• The Paris Review, Edition 218 - Purchased on a whim. I've been thinking I'd like to get subscriptions to a couple literary journals, lately, so I decided to give The Paris Review a try. Funny thing about that: Edition 218 has a terrible rating at Goodreads, so far. I'm enjoying it, though. Since it's my first edition, I have no basis for comparison - probably a good thing, in this case. 

Posts since last Malarkey:

• Fiona Friday - Haunted (cat photo) 
• Killfile by Christopher Farnsworth (book review)

I was happy to finish two books but didn't feel like writing reviews until yesterday. When the urge strikes, I think it's best to sit down immediately and get the writing done. I enjoyed Killfile enough to feel like I wanted to write about it, so that's good. I wasn't too enamored of Little Bee. The discussion was good and I'm glad I went to book group, but the story was a bit too sad for my taste. I haven't chosen my next modern novel to start reading, yet. I think maybe I'll focus on my classic choice and see if I can make some progress. 

©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.

Killfile by Christopher Farnsworth

I just finished Killfile by Christopher Farnsworth a couple hours ago and it was such fun that I want to write about it right now. Well, that's helpful. I haven't much felt like writing, lately.

Killfile is about a man who goes by the name John Smith (I was never entirely certain whether or not that was his real name). John is a telepath and former military. He now sells his ability to read minds as a service to wealthy people who want to get inside the heads of others. Everett Sloan believes his former employee, Eli Preston, stole the algorithm upon which he built a successful data mining business called OmniVore. He wants the algorithm extracted from Preston's head and erased. This is something Smith can do, but it's not easy. As the book opens, you're treated to an example of Smith's abilities and the way his use of his natural talent can rebound on him. In short, when he hurts someone, he feels their pain and it takes time to recover.

Normally, he might be hesitant to try to erase information from someone's mind because it's something Smith has only done once and it was not a pleasant experience; neither is planting bad images. But, the pay is something he can't refuse: an island home where he can retreat from the noise of nearby people's thoughts. There are other methods for dimming the noise of everyone else's thoughts, but they have consequences.

I've decided the final paragraph of my review might be a tiny bit spoilery, so skip this paragraph if you're wary of potential spoilers.

John meets up with a woman named Kelsey Foster, who goes along to help him pitch a pretend job offer from Sloan to Preston at a gathering of Preston's employees. There, he will probe Preston's mind and earn his pay. But, things go horribly wrong and the two end up being pursued by dangerous killers. It gets worse when they try to contact Sloan, are completely cut off for not finishing the job, then Preston uses his data mining abilities to take away everything they own and track their every move. Will Preston's hitmen catch them or will Smith be able to find a way to save them both and finish the job?

Highly recommended - A fast-paced thriller with a unique hero and a tiny touch of romance, I found that there were times I had to work to suspend disbelief, but once done, I enjoyed the ride. The author's bio says Farnsworth is a screenwriter. I'm not surprised. The dialogue and scenes have a cinematic feel. It was easy to imagine the story on a big screen. There is quite a bit of violence, including torture, the kind of scene I often skim to get done with. But, I gave Killfile a high rating because I enjoyed the uniqueness and the fast pace - and it does have some light-hearted moments. I particularly appreciated the fast pace after reading a book that I found a bit of a slog for book group discussion, last week (more on that, later).


©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 - Haunted

Seems like a decent time to post a photo of Izzy in her haunted house. I think we bought this last year, maybe the year before (and I noticed Target has brought them back). I had to do a little taping to keep it together but Izzy is still enjoying it. I keep the haunted house in my library and she's been spending a lot of time in it, lately. Apropos for October.

©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! My week off to read didn't result in a whole lot of reading because this has been another one of those months that I've repeatedly fallen asleep reading or don't feel like picking a book up when I have the time (a whopping 3 books read, so far) but I keep thinking, I'll always have September. You never know; the reading could pick up any day, now. Like before, I'll just keep trying not to fret about it.


Recent Arrivals:

I went to a secondhand bookstore, last week, so most of the incoming books were purchased; I have only received one book in the mail, since my last Malarkey post.

• Mister Monkey by Francine Prose - My only arrival, from HarperCollins for review (shown at top)

Purchases (shown above):

• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
• Barchester Towers and The Warden by Anthony Trollope
• Spring Torrents by Ivan Turgenev
• Herbert Hoover at the Onset of the Great Depression, 1929-1930 by Robert Sobel
• Science Fiction Quarterly, Nov. 1957 (a periodical, which includes an entry by Isaac Asimov - cool)

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• Carrying Albert Home by Homer Hickam 

Yep, just the one. But, I've continued to flip through the Jane Green cookbook, Good Taste, because I love it so much. 

Currently reading:

• Little Bee by Chris Cleave - for F2F discussion (this one is rough)
• Spring Torrents by Ivan Turgenev - my October classic selection 

Posts since last Malarkey: 

• September Reads in Review, 2016 (one month's reads in review)
• Good Taste: Simple, Delicious Recipes for Family and Friends by Jane Green (cookbook review)

I didn't have any new cat photos loaded and was busy doing housework and watching movies, this weekend, so I let Fiona Friday slide. Sorry about that.


In other news:

"We" (mostly "he") cooked four recipes from Good Taste, this weekend: the mostly-flourless orange cake, tomato tart, fish balls, and sweet and sour nuts. We screwed up the cake a bit. I thought the almonds should be pummeled to a flour-like consistency but Huz chose to leave them a little rough and I just shrugged it off. Sure enough, the consistency was off. But, the flavor was still amazing. The rest of the recipes turned out perfectly and we were kind of shocked at the flavors. The tomato tart was had a lovely, delicate crust and tasted a bit like dessert. We had no sauce for the fish balls so I was a little worried that they were going to be bland. Nope, they were so good I went back for seconds. You can add sauce if you like but they're fine without. Huzzybuns was less fond of the sweet and sour nuts than I was because he prefers a savory, spiced nut but he thought they were good, just not his thing. I loved them.

So, the conversation after all that cooking?

Me: We're running at 100% approval, here, right?
Huz: Yep.
Me: Wow, that's unusual.
Huz: It is. And, this is great food for sharing.

Of course, that's part of the point of the book. None of those foods are heavy, so you won't send anyone home feeling painfully stuffed. It would be easy to pick a handful of recipes and put out a spread and you know everyone will find something they'll enjoy, if not everything, although we've liked everything.

©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.

Good Taste: Simple, Delicious Recipes for Family and Friends by Jane Green

I signed up to review Good Taste: Simple, Delicious Recipes for Family and Friends, today, but neglected to block off a quick jaunt taken this past weekend on my calendar. As a result, I won't be able to cook from the book until this coming weekend, since it's really my husband that does the bulk of the cooking and he has been gone for the better part of the last 5 weeks. When we cook together, I typically read the instructions aloud and he puts me to work chopping while he does most everything else. Having said that, I have to tell you that I want to cook absolutely everything in Good Taste, which is highly unusual because I'm kind of a picky person.

Here's what I love about Good Taste:

1. It's beautiful. The cover is, in my opinion, way too easy to walk past. But, open the book and flip through and you'll find at least one full-size photo for every dish, sometimes several smaller, decorative images, as well. I have learned my lesson about cookbooks that don't have photos of the finished product: we don't use them. So, the photos are not just great to look at, they're crucial.

2. The word "simple" is not an overstatement. While a few of the recipes have a longish list of ingredients, only one that I recall required the preparation of a second item to use in the recipe (and that ingredient is available at Trader Joe's, if you have one). Most ingredients are easily obtainable, even in our location, which is sadly lacking in options. So, the list of ingredients is almost always all you need. The curry shown above has one of the longer ingredient lists. Most fall closer to 8-10 ingredients.

3. My husband wants to cook just about everything, too. He'll eat just about anything once, but he very seldom finds a cookbook that he thinks is up to snuff, primarily because so many of them involve too many ingredients or complex preparation. After I gushed to him about Good Taste, he spent an hour or so flipping through the book and reading recipes. He was completely sold and is looking forward to cooking out of it, too. He's the chief cook in this house but I often foist recipes on him. If he's not interested, he won't budge. I also have let a couple other people flip through the book and they thought it looked appealing, too. We're at 100% approval, here, people. That's amazing.

4. The text is marvelous. If you've read Jane Green, that's probably not surprising. Jane Green is a novelist. She tells anecdotes about her family, her cooking history, her childhood, etc., in Good Taste, and they make the book just as fun to read as it is to flip through for the photographs and recipes. If you like a little extra material that goes beyond recipes, you'll enjoy the text.

Highly recommended with a side note - I've already mentioned this but it bears repeating that I have not yet cooked a recipe from Good Taste. However, the lists of ingredients are on the minimal side (always a plus) and I found the recipes easy to visualize preparing. Because I seldom cook, anymore, I often have a lot of questions about preparation -- I don't always "get" the instructions -- so that bodes well for less experienced cooks. I even want to try the meat recipes. Husband got a good belly laugh when I told him I even want to try the ribs because I'm one of those weird people you've heard about who don't like messy food -- you know, the ones who use a knife and fork on pizza? Yeah, I'm that weirdo. I don't like messes and I'm not a fan of meat. So, it's pretty weird that I want to try a rib recipe.

I may not do a full review of any recipes we cook this weekend, but I will definitely let you know the results in one of next week's posts.

UPDATE:  I talked about the 4 recipes from Good Taste that we cooked over the weekend in my Monday Malarkey post. Scroll down to "In other news" toward the bottom to read what we cooked and what we thought (in brief: we liked everything).


©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.

Week off to read

I've kind of fizzled out on both the reading and writing, this week. So, I'll be back for Monday Malarkey on the 17th. Hopefully, I will have read a bit and will feel like writing, by then. Happy week-and-a-half to all!


©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.

September Reads in Review, 2016

September

73. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett - When two couples divorce and a new marriage blends their families, the consequences reverberate throughout the lives of their children. I found this book difficult to put down.

74. Maybe a Fox by K. Appelt and A. McGhee - A young girl goes missing and her sister knows she's likely dead. But, what is the meaning of the strange appearance of a fox? The saddest book I've read in ages. I'm not sure of the age range but I think it's a middle reader. I would not hand it to my child (if I had one in the right age range), although the writing is very good.

75. Where Do Pants Go? by R. Van Slyke and C. Robinson - A picture book about dressing yourself that is so repetitive that I drifted off, both times I read it.

76. Even Superheroes Have Bad Days by S. Becker and E. Kaban - A picture book about the fact that life is not perfect for anyone.

77. Leaping Lemmings by J. Briggs and N. Slater - Adorable picture book about being an individual rather than following the pack (and, of course, leaping off a cliff with them). Love this one. The illustrations are super cute.

78. The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan - Libraries are being closed and the heroine, a librarian, is about to lose her job. While salvaging as much of the library's stock as she can manage, she comes up with a brilliant solution to her job and landlord problem: buy a van and sell her books from the van. A charming book about love of books, life, and Scotland.

79. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote - My classic selection for the month of September. I couldn't get through the movie, years ago, but the prose is dazzling and now that I understand Holly Golightly's character, I plan to give the movie a second go.

80. The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders - In a world of not-quite-humans, there are two countries called Inner Horner and Outer Horner. The Outer Hornerites own most of the land. When Inner Horner begins to shrink and half of the one resident who can fit falls out of the country, one power-hungry Outer Hornerite declares war. I'm assuming this is an allegory. It's hilarious and shockingly spot-on about how easy it is to overlook the obvious solution and blindly follow the loudest voice.

81. Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye by Tania del Rio and Will Staehle - Warren is a hardworking kid with an uncle who is lazy and an aunt who is tearing the hotel they live in apart in search of the All-Seeing Eye, which may or may not exist. And, Warren is the only one who can save the day. I stayed up late finishing and got a book hangover reading this one.

82. Wonder Women by Sam Maggs - A book full of short bios of amazing women who didn't let the patriarchy stop them from accomplishing great deeds and why most of them have fallen into obscurity.

83. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin - My F2F group's September selection, a book about an Irish woman who is offered an opportunity to live and work in the United States, takes the job and finds a devoted man. But, when tragedy calls her home, will she stay or will she return? Does she really love him?

84. Girl in the Woods by Aspen Matis - The memoir of a young woman who was raped on her second night of college and eventually left school to walk the Pacific Crest Trail, to figure out how to salvage her future.

85. Good Taste: Simple, Delicious Recipes for Family and Friends by Jane Green - A cookbook written by the British novelist Jane Green, who grew up in a family that entertained and is happiest when sharing simple but delicious food with friends and family. Everything sounds good -- and I do mean everything. Will cook from this one, soon.


Clearly, September was my Comeback Month, after a half year of blah reading and weeks during which I haven't felt like reading at all. My absolute favorite titles were Commonwealth, Leaping Lemmings, The Bookshop on the Corner, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil (a novella), Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye, Brooklyn, and Good Taste.

I liked Wonder Women a lot and feel like it's the kind of book that every child should read - to correct a history that favors males, empower girls, and clarify that any human can be great, but the modern style was a little off-putting (probably because I'm older). And, I liked Even Superheroes Have Bad Days although it wasn't quite what I expected.

If any books were a waste of time, they'd have to be Girl in the Woods and Where Do Pants Go? Girl in the Woods serves a purpose (showing the difference between rape and consensual sex), but it was so wordy and the author was so messed up that it became a bit tiresome, yet I stuck it out because I wanted to know what happened, in the end. It turned out the ending was about the worst part of the book. I think the author decided to experiment with style and it just didn't work; it became confusing and convoluted. I don't regret reading Girl in the Woods, in spite of all that. Where Do Pants Go? is one that baffles me. How can a children's picture book almost put you to sleep? But, it does and it did, twice. I won't review it beyond the summary on this page because that would just be mean.

Unexpected bonus shot of Izzy with my September stack:

While she didn't appreciate the interruption of her nap, I certainly approve of Isabel's decision to hang out near my stack, enabling me to sneak in and snap a few shots.

©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! I hope your Monday has started out better than that of my Facebook friend, who socked herself in the face while removing the plastic from a new laptop case. Mine has been fine, so far. I just watched the curmudgeon across the street check the interior of his mailbox and then set his fists firmly on his hips and stare at the mailbox like it had disappointed him.

Recent arrivals:

• Mosquitoland by David Arnold - Purchased after reading about it. 

No ARCs arrived, this week. I didn't bring home any books from the library, either, but I did take a picture of the parking lot because I think my library's parking lot is just gorgeous. Walking to the door of the library feels like taking a nature walk:

Books finished since last malarkey:

• Good Taste by Jane Green
• A Most Extraordinary Pursuit by Juliana Gray

Currently reading:

• Landfall by Nevil Shute - A WWII book by the author of A Town Like Alice and On the Beach, published in 1940. 
• Furiously Happy by Jenny Larson - I can't seem to convince myself to pick this book back up and it's due at the library on the 5th, so I'll probably return it unfinished. I'm just not finding it as funny as I'd hoped. 

Posts since last malarkey:

• Mini Review and F2F Report: Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (book review and talk about book group discussion)
• Wonder Women by Sam Maggs (book review)
• Fiona Friday: When you know how to relax (cat photo)
• A Most Extraordinary Pursuit by Juliana Gray (book review)

In other news:

I'm a little behind on the book reviews but I'm going to probably go ahead and post about my September reads, tomorrow. I had a great post-slump reading month.

©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 Most Extraordinary Pursuit by Juliana Gray

I suppose scorn makes one feel more clever, in the same way that indignation makes one feel more moral. 

~p. 197

Emmeline Truelove was the personal secretary to the Duke of Olympia, till his recent death. Now, a young man by the name of Maximillian Haywood has inherited the duchy. But, he has gone missing. At the behest of the newly widowed duchess, and with the charming and dashing Lord Silverton accompanying her, Miss Truelove must head for the Mediterranean to unravel the mystery of the future duke's disappearance.

A Most Extraordinary Pursuit contains a wild, almost bizarre blend of adventure, mystery, characters who may or may not be entirely what they seem, potential for romance, ghosts, time travel, magic, and some very informative history paired with mythology.

The vast majority of the book follows Truelove and Silverton as they pursue clues to Haywood's whereabouts. Somewhere along the way, they pick up another man, a gentleman and scholar by the name of Mr. Higganbotham. Silverton is a gorgeous spy and a cad, Higganbotham an, at times, slightly daffy intellectual. After finding a fresco that appears to be fake in the palace of Knossos, which is being dug up and preserved, and repeatedly facing danger, the myth of Ariadne takes on a deeper meaning. But, what does the myth have to do with the missing duke? And, will either of the men pursue an understanding with Truelove or are they toying with her?

Recommended with postscript - I was absolutely immersed in A Most Extraordinary Pursuit, all week. It's only about 430 pages long (technically, that meets my old definition of "chunkster" from the days when I came up with the Chunkster Challenge, but it's not far over the line) but there's so much happening that it took me a long time to get through the book. I love the fact that A Most Extraordinary Pursuit has interesting characters but is plot-heavy. I love the Edwardian time period and the language. I really love-hated Lord Silverton. I pictured him with the face and hair of Luke Norris (Dr. Enys in Poldark) but with a wicked twinkle in his eye, Edwardian clothing, and a bit of a swagger.

There were portions, however, that didn't work for me. There are two ghosts: the ghost of Queen Victoria and Truelove's father. Both visit Miss Truelove but it's Queen Victoria who tries to guide Emmeline and the ghost of her father contributes little. There are two men who may have romantic interest in Truelove, but one is known for enticing and abandoning women. The other is a either an enigma or exactly what he seems. Higganbotham almost completely fades away within the last 100 pages; he's there, but he's no longer key. Are we to distrust Higganbotham or simply dismiss him? Has his interest waned for good or will he appear in the next book? Because, herein lies another issue. A Most Extraordinary Pursuit is not a stand-alone. Although it's mostly wrapped up, at least one bright red thread is left dangling; clearly the story will continue.

Also, toward the end of the book, the mythology became extremely confusing. I thought the author did a fairly good job of interspersing bits of the tale of Ariadne and Theseus between chapters and explaining the characters (I'm not knowledgeable about mythology) till that last 50 pages or so. Then, it became suddenly overwhelming, to the point that I began to skim over the mythological portion. I didn't mind the craziness -- there is even a paranormal aspect, a magical touch -- but the author nicely warned her readers that she'd asked permission to take the book to extremes and it was granted. Well, she certainly did that. The book is wildly adventurous but it's also rather strange.

In the end, I gave the book 4 stars and I would, in fact, like to see where Juliana Gray (more commonly known as Beatriz Williams) takes Miss Truelove in future installments, but I also felt a slight bit let down and perplexed after the last 30-50 pages. And clearly I need to bone up on mythology.

There was also one particular feature of the book that I believe could have been minimized, if not left out entirely, and that was Truelove's repetitive seasickness. It was neither important to the plot, nor necessary for character development at any time, in my humble opinion, although perhaps it was meant to show us that Silverton could display compassion and kindness. I would have preferred that the author minimize those scenes; they were not fun to read at all.


©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.