tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2363348289694146412024-03-05T02:40:25.266-08:00bibliophiliacbibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.comBlogger560125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-53449500606874427282017-07-06T19:17:00.004-07:002017-07-06T19:17:56.766-07:00Reading Trollope: Phineas Finn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjygfqthFltM7FFPa8ibW5G6ObmHHZLb7eUD1RAK3jZekp0aOt2eEEHt8pTr2vFem2ry3wAwo0cEcGAws3SGLkS8OVq7NG88kU3AgwuhG2n4RLXaXHA4i40Bcvwwa24RuaobGfOL4R8H-HB/s1600/Phineas+Finn.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="314" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjygfqthFltM7FFPa8ibW5G6ObmHHZLb7eUD1RAK3jZekp0aOt2eEEHt8pTr2vFem2ry3wAwo0cEcGAws3SGLkS8OVq7NG88kU3AgwuhG2n4RLXaXHA4i40Bcvwwa24RuaobGfOL4R8H-HB/s320/Phineas+Finn.PNG" width="200" /></a></div>
<i>Phineas Finn</i><br />
Anthony Trollope<br />
Oxford World's Classics<br />
paperback, 383 pages<br />
<br />
I just spent several days immersed in a world created by Anthony Trollope, a world of Victorian England, of Parliament, Lords, entails, and endless marriage plots. Everything I know about the British Parliament and system of government comes from Victorian novels, mainly Trollope. In <i>Phineas Finn</i>, I re-entered a familiar world, the world of the Palliser novels. It's a place I've been before, and this is the second time I've read Phineas Finn. By now I know the characters well, and I understand the interconnecting web of political, familial, and romantic relationships. In fact, I knew from the start the basic shape of the plot, and most of what was to come (I had forgotten some minor details). I even remember what will come in Trollope's fourth Palliser novel, <i>Phineas Redux</i>.<br />
<br />
You might wonder, why? Why read Trollope at all, and why read him more than once?<br />
<br />
I've asked myself those same questions. I'm a twenty-first century woman, a feminist I read diversely and I care about social justice. Why then do I enjoy immersing myself in this ancient world of power and privilege? Why am I so beguiled by a bearded Victorian novelist, one who was unquestionably burdened with many of the biases and prejudices of his time?<br />
<br />
The only answer I can come up with is that something in Trollope's books answers questions I have about being human and living life. Isn't that funny?<br />
<br />
Trollope wrote at a time when women had practically no autonomy, no rights, and little control over the most important decisions of their lives. I mean, I get nauseous when I think about the movement-limiting clothing they had to wear. And, amazingly, Trollope gets that. He clearly feels enormous sympathy toward his female characters (all of whom are, of course, amazingly privileged compared to impoverished women of the time). Despite their lack of power, these women long to do something useful in the world. And if they can't do that, they'd at least like to marry someone who will do useful work in the world.<br />
<br />
Glencora Palliser, Alice Vavasor, Violet Effingham, and most of all, Madame Max Goesler: these are women of passion and intelligence. Often they are far more intelligent than their male counterparts.<br />
<br />
So there's that.<br />
<br />
But that's just a part of Trollope's appeal. His writing is my no means beautiful; it is serviceable most of the time and no more than that. But he creates a vast canvas, an entire social world, and he peoples it with characters who have life and breath. He shows the reader how politics works, why a Parliament man must vote with his party and not his conscience. He brings the reader deep inside the craven and mercenary world of Victorian marriage. And he shows us good old human nature, which hasn't changed very much.<br />
<br />
Phineas Finn is a young Irishman who has trained in the law, but through luck and circumstance, ends up getting a seat in Parliament. Phineas is young, inexperienced, and callow. He is a gentleman, but he doesn't have much money (none, really, except for what his father provides). He is exceedingly pleasant, and very handsome (Trollope makes quite a point of this). Throughout the course of <i>Phineas</i> <i>Finn</i>, the hero tries to make his way in the world of politics, and falls in love several times. His actions and behavior are not always admirable, but the way Trollope writes the character, the reader forgives him.<br />
<br />
<i>Phineas Finn </i>is about the two big questions of life: work and love. Phineas has triumphs, setbacks, and catastrophes (or near catastrophes) in both work and love.<br />
<br />
I think we can all relate to the two big questions: what kind of work should I do, and with whom do I want to spend my life (or at least part of it). Finding the right answers to these questions can make the difference between happiness and misery. Trollope shows some of the ways people can find the right answers, and many more of the ways they can find the wrong answers. And he does this in the context of politics and the lives of both privileged and ordinary Victorians--the people of his age.<br />
<br />
There are six novels in Trollope's Palliser series. If you are interested in reading and discussing the novels, Audrey at <a href="http://booksasfood.blogspot.com/">books as food</a> and JoAnn at <a href="http://lakesidemusing.blogspot.com/">Lakeside Musing</a> have created #PalliserParty. It's easy and fun--we just read along at roughly the same pace and chat a bit on twitter. The next novel up in the series is <i>The Eustace Diamonds</i>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45a_tSJpF2YMOD2ceXs_vm9ZvW5_uiU-iYWFUFMPNJ7GpPJmErsb5yqTf6QLo61lGRafxNIcl_Z6wMKT0kHxsFjdRoSV1Ya0lp0gBPioVKX3WJbMfdauMte5Ph1DGENwWBL4zY_JVpydo/s1600/Palliser+Party.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="217" data-original-width="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45a_tSJpF2YMOD2ceXs_vm9ZvW5_uiU-iYWFUFMPNJ7GpPJmErsb5yqTf6QLo61lGRafxNIcl_Z6wMKT0kHxsFjdRoSV1Ya0lp0gBPioVKX3WJbMfdauMte5Ph1DGENwWBL4zY_JVpydo/s1600/Palliser+Party.PNG" /></a></div>
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-65289684986738220012017-07-04T10:35:00.002-07:002017-07-04T10:40:11.624-07:00Review: Pachinko<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTHjNAwVeXT48wVpTU9fcebY4GO_25IpYSJ9rOG8uO1wcF3TDyKdrXs2b1Nse8Jmqt92lD8AOJKpQahA1O1cjX8M67bfKUkIhEeXHaSTm1DSDerZfmr2yi2-hN6l7TSta-kCC7Qlp0Zb1E/s1600/Pachinko.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTHjNAwVeXT48wVpTU9fcebY4GO_25IpYSJ9rOG8uO1wcF3TDyKdrXs2b1Nse8Jmqt92lD8AOJKpQahA1O1cjX8M67bfKUkIhEeXHaSTm1DSDerZfmr2yi2-hN6l7TSta-kCC7Qlp0Zb1E/s320/Pachinko.PNG" width="214" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i>Pachinko</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Min Jin Lee</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Grand Central Publishing</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
hardcover, 490 pages</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I read voraciously, and mostly I read what I like. If I don't like a book, I put it down. I've gotten pretty good at choosing books that I know will appeal to me. So good reading experiences are my norm. But every once in a while I pick up a book and am completely gobsmacked. I fall in love with the world of the book, with its characters, and I don't want to leave that world. At the end of such a book, I feel a real physical sensation in the vicinity of my heart, a sensation that stays with me and makes picking up any other book impossible. I'm in a relationship with a book, and I can't move on.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
That's how I feel about Min Jin Lee's newest novel, <i>Pachinko</i>. My love for this book is real; this book is everything.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
If I tell you that George Eliot's <i>Middlemarch</i> is my favorite novel, that I have read it again and again and again, you might get a sense of the personal reading schema that leads me to love <i>Pachinko</i>.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i>Pachinko</i> is an ambitious, panoramic novel that tells a big story about ordinary people from an omniscient point of view. The novel encompasses history, geography, and culture through meticulously created characters who live and breathe on the page.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The first sentence of the novel is this: "History has failed us, but no matter." Then begins a tale that almost reads like a fable. The reader is taken to Busan, Korea, in 1910 when Japan annexed Korea. We are introduced to characters living on the very edge of poverty, almost starvation, coming up against the brutality of history. The family that produces Hoonie, who marries Yangjin, leads to the birth of Sunja--an adored only daughter. It is Sunja and her problematic out-of-wedlock pregnancy who launches the narrative, and Sunja remains at the center of the novel. By the end of <i>Pachinko</i> I was thoroughly in love with this illiterate, innocent, persevering woman.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Min Jin Lee has said that the genesis of this novel was a story she heard in Japan, of a young Korean boy who, bullied mercilessly about his Korean origins, committed suicide by leaping from the top of a building. Due to legal and social discrimination against Koreans in Japan, Koreans, even ethnic Koreans born in Japan cannot be said to be at home in Japan. Even for those of Korean descent who are born in Japan, Japanese citizenship is not automatic; in fact it is very difficult for Koreans to gain Japanese citizenship. When Sunja emigrates to Japan during her pregnancy, she escapes the shame of having an out-of-wedlock child in her village. But she enters a world that cannot truly be home, and she spends the rest of her life in that world.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Sunja and her family encounter discrimination, poverty, and hardship. Min Jin Lee shows a Dickensian delight in creating a multiplicity of characters. Because of the scope of <i>Pachinko</i>, the inner lives and stories of even minor characters enliven the novel. These characters are caught within the arc of history, but they live their lives and experience joy and triumph as well as hardship and catastrophe.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The title of the novel comes from a kind of game (similar to pinball) which is played in gaming parlors in Japan. Because ethnic Koreans are shut out of many professions, Sunja's second son Mozasu goes to work in the somewhat shady world of the Pachinko parlors. Her older son, Noa, is studious, and ends up reading English novel after English novel. The two sons take very divergent paths, and each son has his own story. There is both deep love and enormous rivalry between the two, and intimate secrets that divide them.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I can't even begin to summarize the events of <i>Pachinko</i>, and it seems pointless to even try. The novel encompasses so much of history, including World War II and the Korean War, and yet the story stays both intimate and large. I loved the characters because they are real ordinary people facing struggles that are Biblical in scope: deception, secrets, rivalries, hidden love. The intimate struggles of the characters are played out against the backdrop of a history that is indifferent to their daily lives. I came to this novel with almost no knowledge at all of Korea or the history of Koreans in Japan. I feel grateful that the author dedicated herself to telling this story. <i>Pachinko </i>is a real achievement, and I cannot do justice to the complexity and beauty of the novel--the best that I can do is to urge readers to dive into this spectacular book.</div>
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-8199601026783438862017-06-22T18:04:00.000-07:002017-06-22T18:04:11.449-07:00Review: The Essex Serpent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXAG-rX3bGu-BnDHfwwWokxekiaLuGsXOrp3oOWDmTHBMSS8SUjjlvBH2CwVDJNM5eO-ZUr95Dw90oxY52V4Hbog5BIWLRHfDEWxT_KqPuz7IpB62YAmshmf7A-Ciey-Cl1tsDLHSuceU/s1600/The+Essex+Serpent.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="553" data-original-width="364" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXAG-rX3bGu-BnDHfwwWokxekiaLuGsXOrp3oOWDmTHBMSS8SUjjlvBH2CwVDJNM5eO-ZUr95Dw90oxY52V4Hbog5BIWLRHfDEWxT_KqPuz7IpB62YAmshmf7A-Ciey-Cl1tsDLHSuceU/s320/The+Essex+Serpent.PNG" width="210" /></a></div>
<i>The Essex Serpent</i><br />
Sarah Perry<br />
Custom House<br />
hardcover, 432 pages<br />
A review copy of this book was provided through <a href="http://tlcbooktours.com/2017/06/sarah-perry-author-of-the-essex-serpent-on-tour-june-2017/">TLC Book Tours</a><br />
Purchase Links:<br />
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062666376/the-essex-serpent">Harper Collins</a><br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Essex-Serpent-Novel-Sarah-Perry/dp/0062666371/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1496440364&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=tlboto-20&linkId=545b17c2891889cd08e8337a2f857b7f">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-essex-serpent-sarah-perry/1124651156?ean=9780062666376">Barnes & Noble</a><br />
<br />
I sank into the world of Sarah Perry's <i>The Essex Serpent</i>, never suspecting that I was entering a fictional world that I would not want to leave. Perry has created a late Victorian world that is strikingly like our own: a battle rages between science and faith; the yawning gap between rich and poor begs for compassion--and a solution; women struggle for autonomy and independence.<br />
<br />
Cora Seaborne, the character around whom both the plot and the other characters orbit, is recently widowed. She is tall, untidy, wealthy, and has a vibrant, curious mind. Her husband, Michael, was a cruel and devilish man, and she hardly mourns him. Instead, she feels a sense of relief, and freedom, that is entirely new to her. She leaves her home in London and goes seeking---something. Obsessed with fossils and discoveries, a Darwinian atheist, Cora goes to Essex, bringing with her her son Francis and his nanny (and Cora's friend), Martha. In Essex, Cora goes tramping for miles in a man's coat and boots, listens to the stories of a professional beggar, and hears the tale of a strange, legendary serpent-like creature who has haunted the area. Cora becomes determined to find out the truth about this creature of superstition and legend.<br />
<br />
Along the way, Cora encounters, and is simultaneously attracted to and annoyed by the Reverend William Ransom. The two become close friends--despite their vehement disagreement on matters of faith, and many other things. Will's beautiful, ethereal wife Stella becomes a friend to Cora too, and Cora's son Francis is drawn to Stella too. There are complicated human dynamics at work here; attraction and repulsion, and much unrequited desire (mostly for Cora). Dr. Luke Garrett, the late Michael Seaborne's physician, and a brilliant surgeon fascinated by the workings of the human heart, also goes to Essex: he has diagnosed himself as being in love with Cora, and does not wish to recover.<br />
<br />
Cora Seaborne is an absolutely enchanting character. She's definitely not your typical Victorian heroine: now that she is a widow, she is reveling in her freedom. She is free to not be beautiful, she is free to explore and search for fossils and the mystery of the Essex Serpent, she is free to have a lively friendship with a man, or more than one man. She settles in the village of Aldwinter to be closer to the Ransomes; there the villagers are steeped in superstitious fears, and Will, a freethinker but a believer, thinks perhaps the village is being punished for their sins, their lack of faith. There are just enough mysterious events (a dead man washes up on the shore, a child disappears, Will and Cora see a fantastic illusion along the skyline, just above the river) to create a mood of darkness and possible doom.<br />
<br />
At the same time, this novel, and its main character, are teeming with life. Cora's exhilaration, the intensity of her perceptions, are felt by the reader, making this a novel that teeters between suspenseful darkness, and the transcendent rush of beauty in nature, in life, in feeling. I found myself completely captivated by Cora, and by this book. I truly never wanted it to end.<br />
<br />
This is one of those rare books that left me with no desire to pick up another book. I just wasn't ready to leave the world of this novel. When I finished reading <i>The Essex Serpent</i>, I could still hear the voices of the characters; I couldn't stop thinking about <i>The Essex Serpent,</i> and I felt as though the book was continuing to make meaning in my mind. After reaching the last page, I put the book down, then picked it up again a few hours later to do something I've only done a few times: begin reading the book all over again. I didn't read to the end, but I wanted to hold on to the world of this novel for just a little longer.<br />
<br />
<i>The Essex Serpent</i> is an extraordinary book. It is the best kind of historical fiction: it sheds light not only on an earlier age, but also on our own. It's harder to say who this book isn't for than to say who will like it: any reader who loves to think and feel? There are Dickensian moments (much about the poor in London, and how to help them--or not) and something of a Sarah Waters feel.Some of the Gothic qualities of Mary Shelley, the mystery of Wilkie Collins....there is a tincture of each of these. But in the end <i>The Essex Serpent</i> strikes me as entirely original, an immersive and brilliant tale of seen and unseen worlds.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH-fq7TdDX3KdMoUsj8mTrQLjXEI_mbhEfAz-apBGqczyZuoWF2Qv0VK1KFOAxKf0oqE9K3_5bpDaU4kC0a91njUIj6URL0fgPCWxDXaAq_f1-uod_QZ6eEymjFhQ3kw188rpvPgtKE-UP/s1600/tlc+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH-fq7TdDX3KdMoUsj8mTrQLjXEI_mbhEfAz-apBGqczyZuoWF2Qv0VK1KFOAxKf0oqE9K3_5bpDaU4kC0a91njUIj6URL0fgPCWxDXaAq_f1-uod_QZ6eEymjFhQ3kw188rpvPgtKE-UP/s1600/tlc+logo.png" /></a></div>
bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-41565835215280069432017-06-09T05:22:00.000-07:002017-06-09T05:22:18.146-07:00Books, dreams, and reading at parties: A morning coffee post<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ8hpYB2zKJX25cGMxE4ISRijs6y0-PbXY3pRZ05NCxIUFCDi5dDJPm-yR3GccbE0dDQhDkBldhw4004KYpFupuI_IbYGG5FReDwMNaZJOA9MbGeXutyU-Ru2J1Y1YCeo6zvr5qhpOQB6/s1600/A_small_cup_of_coffee.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ8hpYB2zKJX25cGMxE4ISRijs6y0-PbXY3pRZ05NCxIUFCDi5dDJPm-yR3GccbE0dDQhDkBldhw4004KYpFupuI_IbYGG5FReDwMNaZJOA9MbGeXutyU-Ru2J1Y1YCeo6zvr5qhpOQB6/s320/A_small_cup_of_coffee.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Morning Coffee<br />
<br />
This is almost straight from my journal, not my usual sort of post. We were getting ready to go to a party, and my husband was going through all the stages of grief. He really, really hates going to parties. Until he gets there, and then he is fine.<br />
<br />
So we started out with anger, moved on to denial, then bargaining. He was finally starting to pick out clothes. I was already fully dressed and sitting at my desk, waiting for him and reading a novel. I was at the stage where I knew we were going to have to go to the party, and had accepted it. I was thinking about the dream I'd had just before waking that morning: I was at a lively, crowded party, and scattered around the room I saw several people who were sitting, just quietly reading books. That made me so happy.<br />
<br />
Be totally honest. Did you ever slip a paperback into your bag as you left to go to a party? Somewhere inside you were telling yourself that maybe you would find a way to slip into a corner and curl up with your book.<br />
<br />
Introverts have it tough sometimes. It's just an expectation that everyone enjoys gatherings where people get together for almost no reason at all, and stand or sit around and talk to each other. And really, it's not that bad when you get there.<br />
<br />
I knew that my husband would reach the stage of acceptance. That's when we would be in the car actually on our way to the party.<br />
<br />
It happened just like that, too. We got into the car, drove to the party, and had a pretty good time. I had to drag my husband out of there.<br />
<br />
But silent reading parties are a thing now. See below:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://bookriot.com/2016/05/18/host-silent-reading-party-7-easy-steps/">Host a Silent Reading Party in Seven Easy Steps (Book Riot)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/readers-night-out">Reader's Night Out (New Yorker)</a><br />
<br />
I'm waiting for someone to break the introversion barrier and make it socially acceptable to curl up anywhere and pull out your book....even at a party. It would be a conversation starter, right?<br />
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-42186279062442881142017-06-04T16:46:00.001-07:002017-06-04T16:46:23.253-07:00Sunday Salon: Let the Summer Reading Begin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4xtYaLd9lxmqu9NaE9a84fDCezlRfEufpyVYlo_t5TSxQXkv4ZjVAoCT3jh0A8sJl7u-02I9Hbz41rilEjgmmqbjGqZTyclat5s7lCWV9qDc1FqEitO_aXE-pXdfheTKB_AmZZDkEzDQ/s1600/Sunday+Salon+Sun.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="285" data-original-width="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4xtYaLd9lxmqu9NaE9a84fDCezlRfEufpyVYlo_t5TSxQXkv4ZjVAoCT3jh0A8sJl7u-02I9Hbz41rilEjgmmqbjGqZTyclat5s7lCWV9qDc1FqEitO_aXE-pXdfheTKB_AmZZDkEzDQ/s1600/Sunday+Salon+Sun.PNG" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
I'm going to be very honest here. The school year is over. I packed up my entire classroom and moved to another classroom on another floor (again). And now I need to detox. Being a teacher is demanding, stressful, rewarding, amazing. It is a roller-coaster ride of emotions and situations and epic failures and qualified successes. It's exhausting. And at the end of the year, I need some time. I need to sleep until I wake up, at least for a few days. I need to sit down and eat a leisurely lunch (something that never, ever, ever happens during the school year). I need to drink when I am thirsty, without worrying about when I will manage to get a bathroom break. I need to read, purely for pleasure, and at my own whim.<br />
<br />
Just now I'm reading Pat Conroy's <i>Beach Music</i>. It is absolutely perfect for me right now. It's set in the fictional town of Waterford, which is actually Beaufort, SC, just a couple of bridges away from where I live. I actually got to meet Pat Conroy, not long before his death of pancreatic cancer. He was one of the most gentle, generous, compassionate men I have ever met. His eyes were sea green, and he had the gift of focusing entirely on whoever he happened to be speaking with, in a way that made you feel that he was genuinely interested in everything about you, and that he had all the time in the world to spend with you. My husband took this picture, and it just makes me happy, even though I look a bit of a wreck (I had taught all day, then waited an hour in line in wilting South Carolina heat). Sadly, I am in pretty good focus, but Conroy is pretty blurry. But this picture captures a moment where I just felt supremely happy. Conroy and I talked about his book <i>The Water is Wide</i>, which related his experience of teaching on Daufuskie Island, called Yamacraw Island in the book.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7rdhqTPkePXMYkqaXOTFyEns3EM_FlxLwD8KMlt43czF8ADkCwq9xicZFiaI4QP4v74W_pqeypzjacUBCIiaF1R269hWQrQ5FSxXbyode7Lzfc4QBDZv_cKywz0Snr8d8pG_D9tazKJWK/s1600/Pat+Conroy.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="408" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7rdhqTPkePXMYkqaXOTFyEns3EM_FlxLwD8KMlt43czF8ADkCwq9xicZFiaI4QP4v74W_pqeypzjacUBCIiaF1R269hWQrQ5FSxXbyode7Lzfc4QBDZv_cKywz0Snr8d8pG_D9tazKJWK/s320/Pat+Conroy.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
I only met Pat Conroy once, but he's the sweetest man in the world to me. He used to go to a certain restaurant in Beaufort, and have lunch on a specific day of the week (I think it was Thursdays). He often invited members of the reading public to join him; it was an open invitation. Whoever showed up would be his lunch companions.<br />
<br />
So this is my time to rest, let some of the toxins escape, and read, read, read. Also write, write, write. This is the summer when I will establish and stick to a writing schedule. I'm letting go of everything else. Nothing else matters.<br />
<br />
bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-69052182489279429282017-06-02T10:15:00.001-07:002017-06-02T10:15:22.596-07:00Review: The View From the Cheap Seats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLCjy_oMP-abv_GO9qlylsSnUDYoUTA4vm0CaBuXaQ-yhf4WDKjVcmTm34EuneVxt_Y_DL2QDniDFp-ivKHxDRQ-Yjn2y9X9hP1d30GjIN9SPCZGD8PpBoCHqBWX1QDF4B73O35NoWOjU/s1600/The+View+from+the+Cheap+Seats.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="366" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLCjy_oMP-abv_GO9qlylsSnUDYoUTA4vm0CaBuXaQ-yhf4WDKjVcmTm34EuneVxt_Y_DL2QDniDFp-ivKHxDRQ-Yjn2y9X9hP1d30GjIN9SPCZGD8PpBoCHqBWX1QDF4B73O35NoWOjU/s320/The+View+from+the+Cheap+Seats.PNG" width="210" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<i>The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction</i><br />
Neil Gaiman<br />
paperback, 544 pages<br />
William Morrow Paperbacks, reprint edition<br />
A review copy of this book was provided through <a href="http://tlcbooktours.com/2017/05/neil-gaiman-author-of-the-view-from-the-cheap-seats-on-tour-may-2017/">TLC Book Tours</a><br />
Purchase Links:<br />
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062262271/the-view-from-the-cheap-seats">Harper Collins</a><br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/View-Cheap-Seats-Selected-Nonfiction/dp/0062262270/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1494571475&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=tlboto-20&linkId=4ab75af7151c697ad3cadf794c898281">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-view-from-the-cheap-seats-neil-gaiman/1123244182?ean=9780062262271">Barnes & Noble</a><br />
<br />
Is there any better companion for the cheap seats, or any seats at all, than Neil Gaiman? The answer, my friends, is no.<br />
<br />
Neil Gaiman is like that one high school teacher that made students want to come to class, that one teacher who made school bearable and any topic enthralling. Gaiman takes the most ordinary journalistic task and turns it into a friendly conversation that starts out in one place (books and authors) and ends up in quite another (the urgent need for storytelling in our lives). Carried along by Gaiman's voice, the reader finds a companion who restores faith and hope all by talking about libraries. And who else could get away with a book review that is almost entirely about the color of the book cover (gold) and the fact that the book reviewer has quite accidentally misplaced the review copy of said book?<br />
<br />
You will not find vitriol, venom, or even bile between in <i>The View from the Cheap Seats.</i> Most of the pieces in this volume are appreciations: of authors (Bradbury, Aldiss, Terry Pratchett, and others); of libraries and bookstores; of comics and comic artists; of science fiction and fantasy. If you are a book lover, if you are a true reader, then you are going to find a kindred spirit in Neil Gaiman, and you are going to love this book.<br />
<br />
If you are already a Gaiman fan, then you will find much to please you: the origins and writing of <i>The Graveyard Book</i> and other works, the author's childhood love of books. If you first came to Gaiman through <i>The Sandman</i>, there is much for you in this book. Personally, I discovered Neil Gaiman when my daughter gave me a copy of <i>American Gods</i>. I was and still am gobsmacked. <i>American Gods</i> is unlike anything else I have ever read, and yet it is like every story I ever read that I wanted to keep reading. If you haven't read it yet, go get it. You can thank me later.<br />
<br />
If you are a writer, or secretly wish to be a writer (aren't all readers just one step away from wishing to write or actually writing?) then you will love this book. There is guidance and comfort and advice here.<br />
<br />
In short, you need this book. Keep it on your nightstand. Leaf through it when you are feeling as if you might lose faith in humans or the future or libraries or bookstores. Read it to remind yourself that this is why you read.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-e_tYun4-dP_CWtAgoADJE13US4EH4aWh6ZIfIs4pcbOC3VH37H-9pxbZK_R8zPiEu5RNG3sGNYUl2SyM9_EeaQnJ1M-MZiLCAM3AQm1Ywk6DqG66f_8tAW4u0S_lyl8D1PFnnRN2vrE/s1600/tlc+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-e_tYun4-dP_CWtAgoADJE13US4EH4aWh6ZIfIs4pcbOC3VH37H-9pxbZK_R8zPiEu5RNG3sGNYUl2SyM9_EeaQnJ1M-MZiLCAM3AQm1Ywk6DqG66f_8tAW4u0S_lyl8D1PFnnRN2vrE/s1600/tlc+logo.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-79506309974282499012017-05-28T07:13:00.004-07:002017-05-28T07:13:37.054-07:00Sunday Salon: Denis Johnson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4xzBMBv0_Zx0U1J5H_kCkt_tkf70e5xoMOjtAi3jbItwW587A8wC_FyLH8a6kV9PuV_12VNNQ1ZpPCvadu1r2xEeph-5WyKrbG4_9XA_eIYVRkpQ1LsaYy0eWFU1p3_P2AMw5vn7l1qF/s1600/The+Sunday+Salon+2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="118" data-original-width="348" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4xzBMBv0_Zx0U1J5H_kCkt_tkf70e5xoMOjtAi3jbItwW587A8wC_FyLH8a6kV9PuV_12VNNQ1ZpPCvadu1r2xEeph-5WyKrbG4_9XA_eIYVRkpQ1LsaYy0eWFU1p3_P2AMw5vn7l1qF/s320/The+Sunday+Salon+2.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjavHTIX7AUbE8CrflUS6cHpjaaemhBEX2FAerqDcZgexLaCTR2l09fxcwsclM7NodWK7PXDT__B6jrVPt2ClPLygRzurZKK4Hwp7Vu3nGHU6rig7dLEnKXXNptT8sxa5-yazBJ7lxM3RjS/s1600/Denis+Johnson.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjavHTIX7AUbE8CrflUS6cHpjaaemhBEX2FAerqDcZgexLaCTR2l09fxcwsclM7NodWK7PXDT__B6jrVPt2ClPLygRzurZKK4Hwp7Vu3nGHU6rig7dLEnKXXNptT8sxa5-yazBJ7lxM3RjS/s1600/Denis+Johnson.PNG" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Denis Johnson</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
July 1, 1949-May 24, 2017</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
On December 29, 2016, I discovered an overwhelming, urgent, need to purchase Denis Johnson's <i>Jesus' Son</i>. This often happens to me. I know the exact date, because I am still using the sales slip as a book mark. This urgent need (99% of the time I obey these epiphanic book desires) might have been because I had recently read <i>Train Dreams</i> (a brief review is <a href="http://bibliophiliac-bibliophiliac.blogspot.com/2016/12/short-but-powerful.html" target="_blank">here</a>), or it might have just been one of those communications from the great Book World in the sky. I had read "Emergency" numerous times (in Alice La Plante's excellent <i>The Making of a Story</i>). And when I got home with <i>Jesus' Son</i> I did start reading. But at some point I put the book down and went about my life. But when I really, urgently, needed to read <i>Jesus' Son</i>, it was right there for me. Thank you, messages from the Book World in the sky.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Yesterday I sat down and read <i>Jesus' Son</i> straight through. Cover to cover. Each time I finished a story, I would stop and wonder what kind of ecstatic madman angel wrote these stories. Then I would look at the covers, front and back, and read all the words. The blurbs, the descriptions, they were just mortal faded words. I tried at the end of each story to come up with a sentence, or a phrase even, that might be adequate to express the sheer, pure, shining genius of these stories. Nope. Couldn't do it. Next to the incredible perfection of these stories, there was not a sentence or a phrase that didn't sound hollow.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Incandescent.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
That is the only word that approaches an adequate description of the book that has become synonymous with Denis Johnson's name. If you have ever, even once in your life, been ecstatically drunk or high, then you have some sense of the narrative structure of <i>Jesus' Son</i>. Each story is the fragmented yet unified dream vision of a narrator who has sunk so low it is hard to imagine anyone sinking lower and not being in hell.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Johnson neither deifies nor exaggerates nor demonizes his characters. And yet they see angels. The fact that the angels turn out to be the faces of actors on a drive-in movie screen does not in any way detract from the religious experience.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
If I told you that this book is about junkies and drunks and people who do loathsome things, would that attract or repel you? Neither response is relevant, because Johnson is doing something outside those categories. Something like what Dostoyevsky or William Blake did--offer an ecstatic, visionary, light-filled and spiritual account of all that seems to be the lowest and least spiritual in humankind.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Now that I've read <i>Jesus' Son</i> (and I will be rereading this book over and over), I'll be starting Tree of Smoke today (yes, I got a message to buy that one too). The other book I've heard about again and again is <i>Fiskadoro</i>--that goes on the list.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Denis Johnson was a poet as well as a novelist and story writer. Here are some links to his poems:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://www.poets.org/search/node/denis%20johnson">poets.org</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/search?q=Denis+Johnson">poetryfoundation.org</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Appreciations of Denis Johnson from:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/books/denis-johnsons-poetic-visions-of-a-fallen-world.html?_r=0">The New York Times</a></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/what-a-pair-of-lungs-denis-johnsons-ecstatic-american-voice">The New Yorker</a></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-66234636392208297322017-05-21T18:11:00.005-07:002017-05-21T18:11:54.854-07:00Review: Concepcion and the Baby Brokers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnvc42Iy2B1opL60n5g6NkRlQF9mJufSJfVCy3EeyScWdUjMe79rvS9oFKFPBmU1twbPjgUidSvhhR_hTzVarY0pMNOOHdml9XcfJOmVKGYiugzqzdZTmUruf6Zvp4-1BfbEK1esiyDpyO/s1600/Concepcion+and+the+Baby+Brokers.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnvc42Iy2B1opL60n5g6NkRlQF9mJufSJfVCy3EeyScWdUjMe79rvS9oFKFPBmU1twbPjgUidSvhhR_hTzVarY0pMNOOHdml9XcfJOmVKGYiugzqzdZTmUruf6Zvp4-1BfbEK1esiyDpyO/s320/Concepcion+and+the+Baby+Brokers.PNG" width="203" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<i>Concepcion and the Brokers and Other Stories Out of Guatemala</i><br />
Deborah Clearman<br />
Rain Mountain Press<br />
paperback, 236 pages<br />
A review copy of this book was provided through <a href="http://www.tlcbooktours.com/" target="_blank">TLC Book Tours</a><br />
Purchase Links:<br />
<a href="http://rainmountainpress.com/books43.html" target="_blank">Rain Mountain Press</a><br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Concepcion-Baby-Brokers-Deborah-Clearman/dp/0996838457/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485985786&sr=8-1&keywords=concepcion+and+the+baby+brokers" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br />
<br />
Deborah Clearman has a beautiful, engrossing, and enlightening collection of stories in <i>Concepcion and the Baby Brokers</i>. Set primarily in Guatemala, this collection allows the reader to glimpse the daily lives of Todosanteros--the inhabitants of the community of Todos Santos. The opening novella, <i>A Cup of Tears</i>, tells the story of a third-world baby farm, a kidnapping, and a New Jersey couple who come to Guatemala to adopt a toddler. What the couple doesn't know is that the toddler is one of two twin boys who were kidnapped by their wet nurse, Concepcion. In just under one hundred pages, Clearman illuminates the lives of Concepcion, Prudencia, who is complicit in the kidnapping, and who works for a wealthy baby broker, Lala, the inconsolable mother of the kidnapped toddlers, and Sunshine, the New Jersey woman who believes she is offering an orphan a better life. Clearman imbues each of these characters with compassion. The novella is gripping in its depiction of the forces that drive each of the characters--gangs, drugs, poverty, and abuse--but ultimately it is optimistic about the human capacity for love and sacrifice.<br />
<br />
Although each of the stories in this collection stands on its own, I loved the fact that place holds them all together. Whether transplanted to Guatemala City, Washington, D.C., or Michigan, the characters remain Todosanteros, and the connections between the characters and their community bind the stories together. While reading this collection, I learned quite a bit about the customs and daily life of the people of Guatemala--a life that was totally unknown to me. As a reader, I look first and foremost for believable characters, for story, and for that ineffable magic that gifted writers create. But if the story transports me to, and lets me understand, a world previously unknown to me, that's something special. These stories do all of that.<br />
<br />
In "The Race," a young man returns from Michigan to Todos Santos and spends his earnings to impress his father, his community, and the village girls while participating in an annual horse race. The story intertwines the story of the race and the whole history of the young man's life in the village--his victimization by a childhood bully, his abandonment by his father, and his love for a village girl. Clearman is able to do more in the pages of a story than some writers are able to accomplish in a novel.<br />
<br />
The stories in this collection often focus on the interaction between Guatemalans and Americans, whether the Americans are tourists, or those who have come to stay. In "English Lessons" Jorge is married to an American college instructor--but he becomes George in his English lessons, as he navigates living in two worlds, one in which he is happy to speak Spanish and work as a landscaper, and one in which he tries to make his American wife happy by learning English and visiting a fertility clinic. In another story, a transplanted American has become an almost saintly figure, offering advice to people of the village as he recovers from a nearly fatal illness. In this story, "Saints and Sinners," innocence and guilt are not so easily assigned.<br />
<br />
The stories in <i>Concepcion and the Baby Brokers </i>offer no easy solutions to the deeply difficult problems of their characters--but the author offers insight, compassion, and the dignity of beautifully observed and truthful portrayals of the lives and loves of her characters.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm5UNRSWiZP0JfR5LVyGiUEjzY7cBr4_f6Bc_tkZOe9ECvX4ibNH8pIL9xNsdyh0QeEDaG0QL_PVSzxwD5iBT04BBbpYV6-I-4o-Qtl4d8uxA7qqwRFW_7r3ztKBL9wljsPRG57MSPnigu/s1600/tlc_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm5UNRSWiZP0JfR5LVyGiUEjzY7cBr4_f6Bc_tkZOe9ECvX4ibNH8pIL9xNsdyh0QeEDaG0QL_PVSzxwD5iBT04BBbpYV6-I-4o-Qtl4d8uxA7qqwRFW_7r3ztKBL9wljsPRG57MSPnigu/s1600/tlc_logo.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-75017598879187234582017-05-07T15:28:00.001-07:002017-05-07T15:28:23.465-07:00Sunday Coffee in May<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ8hpYB2zKJX25cGMxE4ISRijs6y0-PbXY3pRZ05NCxIUFCDi5dDJPm-yR3GccbE0dDQhDkBldhw4004KYpFupuI_IbYGG5FReDwMNaZJOA9MbGeXutyU-Ru2J1Y1YCeo6zvr5qhpOQB6/s1600/A_small_cup_of_coffee.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ8hpYB2zKJX25cGMxE4ISRijs6y0-PbXY3pRZ05NCxIUFCDi5dDJPm-yR3GccbE0dDQhDkBldhw4004KYpFupuI_IbYGG5FReDwMNaZJOA9MbGeXutyU-Ru2J1Y1YCeo6zvr5qhpOQB6/s320/A_small_cup_of_coffee.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The Month of May</h3>
<div>
This month is a month of deadlines and distractions. My AP students took their Literature and Composition exam on May 3rd, and my ninth graders will be taking the End-of-Course exam for English 1 in about two weeks. As the school year winds up, there is not much time for reading for pleasure.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But I do it anyway.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Honestly, I don't know how I would survive my job or my life without the consolation of books.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Although this year has been a tough one for my reading life (fewer books finished than normal, lots of books begun and then set aside) here are some of the books that have been sustaining me recently:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Lab Girl</i>, a memoir by scientist and professor Hope Jahren. I've been reading this book mostly at night, about a chapter at a time, but I've picked up the pace recently. I can't begin to explain just how amazing this book is. First of all, Jahren is an astonishingly good writer. I mean GOOD. She is also hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. She makes everything about plants, geology, science, and the workings of a scientific lab absolutely enthralling. And her perspective as a woman in a male-dominated field is riveting.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>The Ambassadors </i>by Henry James. When I was an English major in college I loved Henry James. Now, I'm wondering if anyone even reads him anymore--someone must, surely. I picked up <i>The</i> <i>Ambassadors</i> to see whether I still had the focus and ability to concentrate to read James. The reality is that the ability to focus deeply on the type of sentences and precise details you get with Henry James is something that requires practice. My life and my job have left me with fractured attention. But I am slowly making my way.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Pachinko</i> by Min Jin Lee. This 490 page panoramic historical novel set in Korea and Japan hit the sweet spot for me. It is a beautiful, profound, entrancing book. I was lost, completely immersed, in this story of a Sunja, a young girl who becomes pregnant by a married man. Sunja lives with her widowed mother, who runs a boardinghouse. In a twist of fate, a young Christian minister comes to stay in the boardinghouse, and rescues Sunja from her shameful situation by marrying her and taking her to Japan, where most of the story takes place. I will be posting a full review of this novel, but suffice it to say for now that it is splendid.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As the school year comes to an end, I'm looking forward to reading for pleasure, sheer, pure pleasure, and reading all the time.But even now, when it seems like there is no time for it, I will be reading.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What have you read lately that hit the sweet spot for you? Do you find as life gets more and more busy and stressful, that you need to read more, not less?</div>
bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-50526435266791870022017-04-18T19:28:00.002-07:002017-04-18T19:28:22.020-07:00Review: Mississippi Blood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpxt_bolla5_UvOH58798RQ2cLy7Rz59MdyvBvCGAssIXoEJPkaFM8b3YjGzboIHFan0cghKIJW1zbSF16igkNFn0QmlMAvRd1i9Ifauid6sElN_uxi-JtcwtS98svrfX1xnNuGWkgl8LV/s1600/Mississippi+Blood.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpxt_bolla5_UvOH58798RQ2cLy7Rz59MdyvBvCGAssIXoEJPkaFM8b3YjGzboIHFan0cghKIJW1zbSF16igkNFn0QmlMAvRd1i9Ifauid6sElN_uxi-JtcwtS98svrfX1xnNuGWkgl8LV/s320/Mississippi+Blood.PNG" width="212" /></a></div>
<i>Mississippi Blood</i><br />
Greg Iles<br />
hardcover, 704 pages<br />
William Morrow<br />
Purchase Links:<br />
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062311153/mississippi-blood" target="_blank">Harper Collins</a><br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mississippi-Blood-Novel-Natchez-Burning/dp/0062311158/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1489735697&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=tlboto-20&linkId=cddb8db72124a3d48b9406d1281e4760" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br />
<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mississippi-blood-greg-iles/1123951144?ean=9780062311153" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a><br />
A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher through <a href="http://tlcbooktours.com/2017/03/greg-iles-author-of-mississippi-blood-on-tour-marchapril-2017/" target="_blank">TLC Book Tours</a><br />
<br />
<i>Mississippi Blood</i> is the absolutely stunning conclusion to the <i>Natchez Burning</i> trilogy by Greg Iles. This third novel is far and away the best of the three, and the first two books were superb. Iles manages to create a thriller with courtroom scenes that evoke <i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i>, and action that rivals the very best in the genre. It's rare that a book so immensely readable and compulsively fast-paced also goes so deep in historical significance. In<i> Mississippi Blood</i>, the secrets and mysteries of Penn Cage's family merge with the history of the South in all its bitterness.<br />
<br />
The loathsome villain of the trilogy, Snake Knox (whose evil is of Biblical proportions) is at the center of the action in Mississippi Blood. For those who haven't read the first two books (do that post haste) Snake Knox is a member of a unique offshoot of the Ku Klux Klan called the Double Eagles. Snake and his illegitimate son, Alois, haunt the edges of the main action of the novel much of the time. Penn Cage's father, Dr. Tom Cage, has been accused of murder in the death of his former nurse--and former lover--Viola Turner. Back in the 1960's, Dr. Cage and Viola had an intimate affair, once that was illicit both because Cage was married, but also because Cage was white and Viola was black.<br />
<br />
<i>Mississippi Blood</i> continues the saga that began with <i>Natchez Burning</i>: unsolved murders dating back to the Civil Rights era, including the murder of Viola's brother Jimmy. The second book in the trilogy, <i>The Bone Tree</i>, solved the crimes committed decades before, and ended with the heroic death of Henry Sexton, a journalist. The novel also ended with the devastating death of Caitlin Masters, Penn Cage's wife-to-be, who was pregnant with the couple's child.<br />
<br />
This last novel in the trilogy opens with Penn being shut out by his father as Dr. Cage's trial approaches. Quentin Avery, already a familiar figure to readers from previous novels, has agreed to represent Dr. Cage, but Aver's decisions mystify and worry the son, and both Avery and Dr. Cage refuse to explain. New characters include a young black writer, Serenity Butler, who has come to Natchez to write about the case. She's beautiful, accomplished, and a former soldier with formidable skills, Together Serenity and Penn try to uncover the facts--and the truth--about Viola Turner's death.<br />
<br />
It's not just his father Penn is trying to save; after the shattering losses he has suffered, he is trying to save his family and some semblance of the life he once had. But he soon discovers that the life he thought he had may have just been an illusion all along.<br />
<br />
<i>Mississippi Blood</i> is a deeply satisfying conclusion to the <i>Natchez Burning</i> trilogy. This book is more than just a thriller or a courtroom procedural, it is a book about history, the South, and the price the country is still paying for the sins of the past. Highly recommended.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-e_tYun4-dP_CWtAgoADJE13US4EH4aWh6ZIfIs4pcbOC3VH37H-9pxbZK_R8zPiEu5RNG3sGNYUl2SyM9_EeaQnJ1M-MZiLCAM3AQm1Ywk6DqG66f_8tAW4u0S_lyl8D1PFnnRN2vrE/s1600/tlc+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-e_tYun4-dP_CWtAgoADJE13US4EH4aWh6ZIfIs4pcbOC3VH37H-9pxbZK_R8zPiEu5RNG3sGNYUl2SyM9_EeaQnJ1M-MZiLCAM3AQm1Ywk6DqG66f_8tAW4u0S_lyl8D1PFnnRN2vrE/s1600/tlc+logo.png" /></a></div>
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-32235134171896247542017-04-13T09:36:00.001-07:002017-04-13T09:36:01.809-07:00Review: By the Wayside<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5A8xK_coSHFeqHqK-kjhyphenhyphenBsipOU1YtgK86V8R8QzND4-ZbmrMoK45eDa9Mi4dxig3FV8qA2j-lfBhWp9DnHeCe6BEXD4mzf2V4tsUWIDABqlyf73JLH-JAiTzU83nR2uEq0CwF5fZ_Ubm/s1600/By+the+Wayside.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5A8xK_coSHFeqHqK-kjhyphenhyphenBsipOU1YtgK86V8R8QzND4-ZbmrMoK45eDa9Mi4dxig3FV8qA2j-lfBhWp9DnHeCe6BEXD4mzf2V4tsUWIDABqlyf73JLH-JAiTzU83nR2uEq0CwF5fZ_Ubm/s320/By+the+Wayside.PNG" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i>By the Wayside: Stories</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Anne Leigh Parrish</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
paperback, 246 pages</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Unsolicited Press</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Purchase Links:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/by-the-wayside-anne-leigh-parrish/1125594828?ean=9780998087238" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wayside-Stories-Anne-Leigh-Parrish/dp/0998087238/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486771970&sr=8-1&keywords=anne+leigh+parrish" target="_blank">Amazon </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Wayside/Anne-Leigh-Parrish/9780998087238?id=6806214300029" target="_blank">Books A Million</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
A review copy of this book was provided through <a href="http://tlcbooktours.com/" target="_blank">TLC Book Tours</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Two things stand out for me about Anne Leigh Parrish's writing: her ability to create quirky, compelling, and entirely believable characters, and her incredible eye for detail. The telling details enliven her stories, and emblazon her stories and their characters in my memory.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Parrish is the author of two previous story collections and a novel, and every piece of her writing that I have read has stayed with me. Sometimes I will read a novel and quite enjoy it, but later find myself unable to remember much of anything about it. With Anne Leigh Parrish's work, I find that those memorable details and compelling characters stick with me, almost like real people I have known.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In <i>By the Wayside</i>, Parrish brings together an eclectic collection of stories, including touches of magical realism, touches of actual magic (including a wish-granting genie), and historical fiction. In "Trial by Luck," the serious fractures in a couple's relationship are laid bare by an encounter with a genie. By turns realistic and unreal, the core of the story is the differences in the way Jonathon and Laurie see the world, and even the genie, in entirely different ways. This fast-moving story almost had a "Twilight Zone" feel to it, and I loved the surprise ending.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In "How She Was Found" a graduate student finds an ancient skeleton, and her own power in a male-centered world. In "Smoke" a young girl finally finds her rage, and an escape from a shameful secret. In "The Professor" a woman examines her past and finds the motivation to move forward in a different way.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I think my favorite story in this collection was "Where Love Lies." I'm still thinking about this story, and I'm still not sure I know how it ends. "The Keeper of the Truth" is another story that ends with a sentence that can be interpreted more than one way. The stories in this collection often seem to resonate long after you finish reading them, and often I would find myself closing the book when I finished a story, to give myself time to think before starting the next one. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The characters in Anne Leigh Parrish's stories are often damaged people, people who have lost love or never had it; parents who are neglectful, children who are smarter or more knowing than their parents, husbands and wives who deceive. But each of the characters is written in such a humane and compassionate way that the reader suspends judgment and instead looks for understanding. These are mostly ordinary people doing mostly ordinary things--and then sometimes throwing it all by the wayside. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I highly recommend <i>By the Wayside</i>. In fact, I would recommend Anne Leigh Parrish's entire body of work; she's writing finely detailed and memorable fiction, and she's an author you need to know.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Also by Anne Leigh Parrish: <i>All the Roads That Lead From Home </i>(stories); <i>Our Love Could</i> <i>Light the World</i> (stories); and <i>What Is Found, What Is Lost</i>, a novel.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm5UNRSWiZP0JfR5LVyGiUEjzY7cBr4_f6Bc_tkZOe9ECvX4ibNH8pIL9xNsdyh0QeEDaG0QL_PVSzxwD5iBT04BBbpYV6-I-4o-Qtl4d8uxA7qqwRFW_7r3ztKBL9wljsPRG57MSPnigu/s1600/tlc_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm5UNRSWiZP0JfR5LVyGiUEjzY7cBr4_f6Bc_tkZOe9ECvX4ibNH8pIL9xNsdyh0QeEDaG0QL_PVSzxwD5iBT04BBbpYV6-I-4o-Qtl4d8uxA7qqwRFW_7r3ztKBL9wljsPRG57MSPnigu/s1600/tlc_logo.png" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-49837741208775517982017-03-15T17:05:00.003-07:002017-03-15T17:05:55.066-07:00Review: The Orphan's Tale<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjntgodAJ5do9OnjOFIWvjdWeEWzne-WaFP-OeQ1ROSlDHmTUgJUAVZmpr2UXACpQT2xkz9FR5vaHjI2HAi41g-gdhWCBRqaPH3rPF06w3cxHBqN8hPMqskmfe-MSmXPNaZABzssGbWIBtK/s1600/The+Orphan%2527s+Tale.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjntgodAJ5do9OnjOFIWvjdWeEWzne-WaFP-OeQ1ROSlDHmTUgJUAVZmpr2UXACpQT2xkz9FR5vaHjI2HAi41g-gdhWCBRqaPH3rPF06w3cxHBqN8hPMqskmfe-MSmXPNaZABzssGbWIBtK/s320/The+Orphan%2527s+Tale.PNG" width="213" /></a></div>
<i>The Orphan's Tale</i><br />
Pam Jenoff<br />
paperback, 368 pages<br />
Mira<br />
<br />
<i>The Orphan's Tale</i> is a haunting story set in Germany and France during World War II. Told in alternating chapters by two characters, Astrid and Noa, <i>The Orphan's Tale</i> is an unusual twist on the World War II historical novel. The story takes place within a traveling circus, and Astrid and Noa are aerialists. Each woman has a secret, and each has an unimaginable strength. Readers will be held in suspense by the questions and mysteries at the heart of this novel, and the tale has some of the mystery and magic of a circus act.<br />
<br />
Noa is sixteen and has been sent away by her family after becoming pregnant with the child of a Nazi soldier. She flees from her native Netherlands, and goes to Germany, where she has her baby taken from her after giving birth in a facility for the Lebensborn program. She finds a job as a cleaner in a railroad station in Germany, and a spontaneous act of mercy leads Noa to run again--this time with a Jewish infant she has rescued from a railway car filled with dead and dying Jewish infants.<br />
<br />
Noa runs into the forest, terrified and freezing. She is discovered by Peter, a talented clown in the traveling circus. In the circus, Noa and the baby boy she has rescued find shelter.<br />
<br />
At the circus, Noa meets Astrid, an aerialist whose Nazi officer husband has divorced her because she is a Jew. The circus is hiding more than one Jew, and there are tensions among the performers. Astrid agrees to train Noa as a aerialist, not really believing the newcomer will make it. The developing relationship between Astrid and Noa, and the dazzling descriptions of Astrid and Noa's act, offer a tense counterpoint to the threat of discovery by the SS.<br />
<br />
Pam Jenoff's beautiful descriptions of circus life make this well-researched historical novel haunting and poignant. The inherent danger of a trapeze act, performed high in the air, and depending on timing and trust, works with the shifting narrative perspectives, which blend seamlessly. This story of two women, their secrets, their friendship, and their sacrifices will find an audience among lovers of historical fiction.Especially recommended for readers interested in World War II.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm5UNRSWiZP0JfR5LVyGiUEjzY7cBr4_f6Bc_tkZOe9ECvX4ibNH8pIL9xNsdyh0QeEDaG0QL_PVSzxwD5iBT04BBbpYV6-I-4o-Qtl4d8uxA7qqwRFW_7r3ztKBL9wljsPRG57MSPnigu/s1600/tlc_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm5UNRSWiZP0JfR5LVyGiUEjzY7cBr4_f6Bc_tkZOe9ECvX4ibNH8pIL9xNsdyh0QeEDaG0QL_PVSzxwD5iBT04BBbpYV6-I-4o-Qtl4d8uxA7qqwRFW_7r3ztKBL9wljsPRG57MSPnigu/s1600/tlc_logo.png" /></a></div>
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-66505071578328016102017-02-05T09:26:00.001-08:002017-02-05T09:26:28.007-08:00Sunday Coffee: Reading Right Now, A Miscellany (Sunday Salon)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ8hpYB2zKJX25cGMxE4ISRijs6y0-PbXY3pRZ05NCxIUFCDi5dDJPm-yR3GccbE0dDQhDkBldhw4004KYpFupuI_IbYGG5FReDwMNaZJOA9MbGeXutyU-Ru2J1Y1YCeo6zvr5qhpOQB6/s1600/A_small_cup_of_coffee.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ8hpYB2zKJX25cGMxE4ISRijs6y0-PbXY3pRZ05NCxIUFCDi5dDJPm-yR3GccbE0dDQhDkBldhw4004KYpFupuI_IbYGG5FReDwMNaZJOA9MbGeXutyU-Ru2J1Y1YCeo6zvr5qhpOQB6/s320/A_small_cup_of_coffee.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Six days a week I get up early, by necessity or choice. But Sundays..... To quote Wallace Stevens:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Sunday Morning</blockquote>
Complacencies of the peignoir, and late<br />
Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair,<br />
And the green freedom of a cockatoo<br />
Upon a rug mingle to dissipate<br />
The holy hush of ancient sacrifice<br />
She dreams a little, and she feels the dark<br />
Encroachment of that old catastrophe,<br />
As a calm darkens among the water-lights.<br />
<br />
I've always loved this Stevens poem (there's more...I just quoted the first few lines). Poetry often captures a mood or a sensation that I can't fully express. And there are times that poetry is essential for my life. Recently I've been reading more poetry, (Walt Whitman, John Keats, Mary Oliver, Ocean Vuong, Derek Walcott). It's so easy to find a poem: two of my go-to web sites are <a href="http://poetryfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Poetry Foundation</a> and <a href="http://poets.org/">Poets.org</a>.<br />
<br />
And if you don't have time for a whole poem, how about a few lines? I love the <a href="https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/life-lines" target="_blank">"life lines"</a> page on <a href="http://poets.org/">Poets.org</a>, where people share lines of poetry that are meaningful to them. This is a good place to browse and explore what poetry can mean for us<br />
<br />
One more favorite site: <a href="http://www.favoritepoem.org/" target="_blank">Favorite Poem Project</a> is practically addictive. On this site, people of all ages, vocations, and walks of life share their favorite poem. It is simple and it is beautiful. Here is one example.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ICM5pHil9rI/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ICM5pHil9rI?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />
My reading has really been all over the place this week.I started <i>The Nightingale</i> (which I do plan to finish), but then I picked up Trollope's <i>Can You Forgive Her</i>, and have been reading along with JoAnn of <a href="http://lakesidemusing.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Lakeside Musing </a>as part of her #PalliserParty. How could I resist a group read of Trollope's political Palliser novels?<br />
<br />
This week I also finished reading <i>The Purple Hibiscus</i> by Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche. She is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors, and in an unprecedented book-buying binge over the last couple of weeks, I ordered her <i>We Should All Be Feminists</i>, and picked up <i>The Thing Around Your Neck</i> from my local bookstore. Other books I bought: George Orwell's Why I Write and Hannah Arendt's <i>The Origins of Totalitarianism</i>, as well as <i>The Forsyte Saga</i>. This all despite the fact that I already own an embarrassing number of books (many unread), and there is conclusive evidence that I have a very limited amount of time to actually read all those books. But I find a way, and I find the time, because reading continues to be one of the great and abiding pleasures of my life.<br />
<br />
Do you have a poet or poem that you turn to for comfort? What have you been reading lately? Do you buy or order more books than you can humanly read?<br />
<br />
<br />
bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-68388616222169857192017-01-29T16:04:00.001-08:002017-01-29T16:04:04.717-08:00Sunday Salon: Reading and Resistance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqULaAHT2rgHz-guVOC5J5QhjZfU8G6aHb17tQvphBkhT37mq4ylgYSzsTkj_jvojVeQaAJ8c2f61x9wiZuiaOfJhdnX7d5JgA3IKxar43nF0YWXU1Ic2S6a0ivuAQK_Voz4-GIAdobOkW/s1600/Orwell+A+Collection+of+Essays.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqULaAHT2rgHz-guVOC5J5QhjZfU8G6aHb17tQvphBkhT37mq4ylgYSzsTkj_jvojVeQaAJ8c2f61x9wiZuiaOfJhdnX7d5JgA3IKxar43nF0YWXU1Ic2S6a0ivuAQK_Voz4-GIAdobOkW/s320/Orwell+A+Collection+of+Essays.PNG" width="211" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Can Reading Be a Form of Resistance?</h3>
<div>
The last couple of months I've been reading, thinking, absorbing and processing the results of November's election. But this week was different. After January 20th, I began asking myself what I was going to do. Because I can't just sit back and watch the apocalypse.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Any thinking person who is shaken by the idea that elected officials can present "alternative facts" when they don't like the actual facts needs to read George Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language." Here are a couple of relevant excerpts:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of political parties. Thus, political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenseless villages are bombed from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called <i>pacification</i>."</blockquote>
George Orwell wrote his essay in 1946. It is just as true today. And there's this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Political language--and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists--is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."</blockquote>
<br />
We as readers can seek the truth, be careful and scrupulous readers of political language, and be willing to spend the time and effort to cull the real stories, the real truth,behind the obfuscations and lies of politicians and those who serve them. And then we can really resist--on social media, on the streets, and through contacting our elected officials. But first we have to make the effort to be informed and intelligent--and not to be credulous consumers of "fake news" (once known more bluntly as lies).<br />
<br />
<h3>
The Reading Public Wants an Explanation </h3>
With the advent of "alternative facts" coming from the White House, readers across in the United States and Great Britain are looking for answers, and they are turning to books. As has been widely reported, George Orwell's <i>1984</i> is now a bestseller, along with Aldous Huxley's <i>Brave New World</i> and Ray Bradbury's <i>Fahrenheit 451</i>. Clearly, the reading public believes we are moving toward a dystopian, dangerous future. The Sinclair Lewis novel <i>It Can't Happen Here</i> is sold out on Amazon, as is Hannah Arendt's <i>Origins of Totalitarianism</i>.<br />
<br />
If reading dystopian fiction makes you feel better (or worse), or if it is just what you're doing to cope or process, I'd recommend Octavia Butler's prescient <i>Parable of the Sower</i> and <i>Parable of the Talents. </i>And if you're thinking about climate change and the environmental impact of an administration seemingly hostile to science, I'd recommend Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, starting with <i>Annihilation</i>.<br />
<br />
And I haven't even touched on the catastrophic, devastating policies of this administration for public education. But I think that requires a whole separate post.<br />
<br />
Tell me, how do you resist?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
</blockquote>
bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-55283661818659290832017-01-22T15:16:00.002-08:002017-01-22T15:16:08.866-08:00Sunday Salon: Looking Back, Looking Forward<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4xtYaLd9lxmqu9NaE9a84fDCezlRfEufpyVYlo_t5TSxQXkv4ZjVAoCT3jh0A8sJl7u-02I9Hbz41rilEjgmmqbjGqZTyclat5s7lCWV9qDc1FqEitO_aXE-pXdfheTKB_AmZZDkEzDQ/s1600/Sunday+Salon+Sun.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4xtYaLd9lxmqu9NaE9a84fDCezlRfEufpyVYlo_t5TSxQXkv4ZjVAoCT3jh0A8sJl7u-02I9Hbz41rilEjgmmqbjGqZTyclat5s7lCWV9qDc1FqEitO_aXE-pXdfheTKB_AmZZDkEzDQ/s1600/Sunday+Salon+Sun.PNG" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Looking Back</h3>
Well it's been 2017 for twenty-two days, and I am finally writing a wrap-up for my 2016 reading. But first, a brief aside:<br />
<br />
<h3>
On Teaching</h3>
After fifteen years of teaching, I can honestly say, there is no such thing as a typical year. This year has brought many changes: a new principal, new start times, a new schedule, and now, new classes. Just before Winter break, I found out my schedule for January had changed and I would have two new classes to teach (a grade level I last taught fifteen years ago). I was definitely given the opportunity to turn down the change, but I decided to kind of "take one for the team." The new classes added to my schedule are college prep and honors ninth grade English. The good news is that I absolutely love my new students, and I love the classes. But teaching a whole new curriculum is a challenge, especially on such short notice.<br />
<br />
So here's my schedule for this semester: AP Literature and Composition (which I love teaching), and English 1, English 1 Honors. In every class I teach I emphasize independent reading (students read books of choice). Since I have taught mostly upperclassmen for years, any suggestions of stories, novels, or other works that work well for ninth graders would be truly appreciated.<br />
<br />
Now, about last year: it was a good reading year, but teaching and other facts of life mean that my total books read for the year was only 70. I envy people who find a way to read more. Many of the books I read were over 500 pages though, so maybe I shouldn't feel too bad.<br />
<br />
<h3>
What I read and Loved</h3>
In 2016 I read fifteen classics. I think I can do better than that.<br />
<br />
Here are my favorite books out of those I read in 2016 (most were not published in 2016):<br />
1. <i>The Bone Clocks </i>by David Mitchell. This book is inventive, enthralling, and almost impossible to summarize. Just trust me, you should read it.<br />
2. <i>The Unit </i>by Ninni Holmqvist. A chilling futuristic novel set in Sweden. The main character is a woman over 50 with no children or husband. She is declared "dispensable" and goes to live in "The Unit" where she will eventually be euthanized and her organs harvested.<br />
3. <i>Annihilation </i>by Jeff Vandermeer. Sci-Fi with an emphasis on climate change. Part of a trilogy.<br />
4. <i>Housekeeping</i> by Marilynne Robinson. I've been meaning to read this novel forever, and it is every bit as good as people say it is.<br />
5. <i>Snow </i>by Orhan Parmuk. Gorgeous and complex novel set in Turkey.<br />
6. <i>Pond </i>by Claire Bennett. More a collection of vignettes or short stories than a novel, this lush book is beautifully written, almost poetry.<br />
7. <i>The Sympathizer</i> by Viet Thanh Nguyen. An incredible work. The novel opens with the fall of Vietnam. A story of divided self, and also an immigration story. Stunning.<br />
8. <i>The Orphan Master's Son</i> by Adam Johnson. I came to this novel a little late, but it has to be one of the best books I've ever read. Set in North Korea.<br />
9. <i>American Salvage</i> by Bonnie Jo Campbell. Set in the Rust Belt, these short stories are everything. This is a book I know I will reread many times.<br />
10. <i>Upstream</i> by Mary Oliver. This might be the most beautiful and most consoling book I read in 2016. Again: this is one I will reread more than once. Essays from a beloved contemporary poet.<br />
11. <i>Train Dreams</i> by Denis Johnson. A short novella that packs a surprising amount into a slim volume.<br />
12. <i>The Golden Son</i> by Shilpi Somaya Gowda. A beautifully written panoramic story set in India and Texas.<br />
13. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I don't know why I waited so long to read this book. I'm now an ardent Adichie devotee. Cannot recommend this one highly enough. Set in the U.S. and Nigeria. I really didn't want this book to end. It has humor, romance, the immigrant experience--everything.<br />
14. <i>Underground Railroad </i>by Colson Whitehead. If the underground railroad really was underground.... Whitehead defies classification but he's always brilliant.<br />
15. <i>Parable of Talents</i> by Octavia Butler. This was actually my last book of 2016. I read The Parable of Sowers a few years ago, and always meant to read this sequel. But when I found out that there was a right-wing president in the book whose campaign slogan was "Make America Great Again" I felt I had to read this. Butler was a ground-breaking African-American writer who died far too young. She anticipated the future so well that it's almost scary. Ultimately this is a hopeful book, but there is much in it that is dark.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Looking Forward</h3>
<div>
I really want to focus on reading books I love! Life is too short for dull books. In 2017 I want to read even more, and I want to read books that excite me, books that feed my soul, books that feed my mind.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here's what I've read so far: <i>Cloud Atlas</i> by David Mitchell (loved); <i>The History of Love</i> by Nicole Krauss (loved). In the middle of: <i>Maude Martha</i> by Gwendolyn Brooks (her only novel) and <i>Hunger of Memory </i>by Richard Rodriguez.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
So.....</h3>
<div>
What books have you read and absolutely loved? What books would my ninth graders love?</div>
bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-21769557471899260252016-12-29T10:34:00.002-08:002016-12-29T10:40:19.522-08:00Review: The Golden Son<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHWXi7UlsG2R-ndtZWOivpEOlpNm2XqedEgp5RisnyDpr8r6JVQpaFLSqWee-zZXvHFNheQNVXqD10f1KE3SMMIUuC3paXs6YVY3xyCkBdTvqMNFzZrYsfzObj7yZSAMTqteNbEZkyv30t/s1600/The+Golden+Son.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHWXi7UlsG2R-ndtZWOivpEOlpNm2XqedEgp5RisnyDpr8r6JVQpaFLSqWee-zZXvHFNheQNVXqD10f1KE3SMMIUuC3paXs6YVY3xyCkBdTvqMNFzZrYsfzObj7yZSAMTqteNbEZkyv30t/s320/The+Golden+Son.PNG" width="212" /></a></div>
<i>The Golden Son</i><br />
Shilpi Somaya Gowda<br />
William Morrow Paperbacks<br />
432 pages<br />
A review copy of this book was provided through<a href="http://www.tlcbooktours.com/" target="_blank"> TLC Book Tours</a><br />
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062391469/the-golden-son" target="_blank">Harper Collins Purchase Link</a><br />
<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-golden-son-shilpi-somaya-gowda/1121727690?ean=9780062391469&st=AFF&2sid=Goodreads,%20Inc_2227948_NA&sourceId=AFFGoodreads,%20IncM000" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble Purchase Link</a><br />
<br />
<i>The Golden Son</i> is one of the last books I read in 2016, and definitely one of the best books I read this year. This is one of those rare books that satisfies the reader in every way: the story is engrossing and immersive; the scope of the novel is satisfyingly large, yet the reader doesn't get lost among a cast of minor characters; and most importantly, the ending is both gratifying and convincing. How many times have you finished a book, loving everything except the ending? This is a book that will make you neglect your family, ignore your friends, and finally get off of social media!<br />
<br />
Shilpi Somaya Gowda has published one other novel,<i> Secret Daughter</i>. For this, her second novel, she seems to have poured everything she ever knew or observed about life into a single book. I've always loved books about the immigrant experience, and <i>The Golden Son</i> explores this territory with the story of Anil Patel, the oldest son of an important farming family in a small village in western India. Anil is on his way to fulfilling his dream of becoming a doctor when he lands a coveted residency in Dallas, Texas, where he finds himself tested in entirely new ways. He struggles to make sense of a system and a country where he initially feels excluded and unequipped. Eventually Anil starts to find his way, but struggles to balance his sense of duty to India and his family with his new responsibilities and demands at the hospital.<br />
<br />
As he is adjusting to his new country and to the competitive atmosphere at the hospital, Anil becomes the arbiter of disputes for his village. As Gowda creates the world of the hospital, and captures the exhaustion and disorientation of Anil, she also creates the world of rural India, where Anil's childhood friend Leena is preparing for her marriage to a man she has barely spoken to.<br />
<br />
Without melodrama or condescension, Gowda portrays the life of the villagers who live by a caste system, and live according to ancient laws and patterns. Leena leaves her beloved parents after some negotiations, and goes to a place remote from everyone and everything she has ever known. When the marriage and her new husband shatter Leena's dreams, she is isolated, frightened, and left with a difficult choice. How Leena's dilemma is resolved, and where Anil fits into the solution, is just one of the important plot developments in this novel about culture, tradition, and change.<br />
<br />
<i>The Golden Son </i>offers a satisfying cultural immersion in two different worlds: the world of the immigrant adjusting to life in America, and the world of a changing India. Gowda creates a panoramic landscape that includes both worlds, and the places where those worlds intersect. This is a beautifully written novel that satisfies the reader on so many levels: the characters, the well-realized settings, and the intersecting plots. Highly recommended.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-e_tYun4-dP_CWtAgoADJE13US4EH4aWh6ZIfIs4pcbOC3VH37H-9pxbZK_R8zPiEu5RNG3sGNYUl2SyM9_EeaQnJ1M-MZiLCAM3AQm1Ywk6DqG66f_8tAW4u0S_lyl8D1PFnnRN2vrE/s1600/tlc+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-e_tYun4-dP_CWtAgoADJE13US4EH4aWh6ZIfIs4pcbOC3VH37H-9pxbZK_R8zPiEu5RNG3sGNYUl2SyM9_EeaQnJ1M-MZiLCAM3AQm1Ywk6DqG66f_8tAW4u0S_lyl8D1PFnnRN2vrE/s1600/tlc+logo.png" /></a></div>
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-55547738985793487642016-12-08T16:03:00.000-08:002016-12-08T16:03:01.215-08:00Short But Powerful<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ8hpYB2zKJX25cGMxE4ISRijs6y0-PbXY3pRZ05NCxIUFCDi5dDJPm-yR3GccbE0dDQhDkBldhw4004KYpFupuI_IbYGG5FReDwMNaZJOA9MbGeXutyU-Ru2J1Y1YCeo6zvr5qhpOQB6/s1600/A_small_cup_of_coffee.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ8hpYB2zKJX25cGMxE4ISRijs6y0-PbXY3pRZ05NCxIUFCDi5dDJPm-yR3GccbE0dDQhDkBldhw4004KYpFupuI_IbYGG5FReDwMNaZJOA9MbGeXutyU-Ru2J1Y1YCeo6zvr5qhpOQB6/s320/A_small_cup_of_coffee.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<h3>
Do You Have Time for a Cup of Coffee?</h3>
<div>
No? Me neither. Let's have one anyway. Know what my life's been like lately? I leave for work in the dark and I come home from work in the dark. The only thing I want to do is throw myself onto my bed. Sometimes I go to bed at 8:00 or 8:30. Sometimes I sit up grading essays. What am I not doing? Finishing big fat juicy novels in a week. It took me forever to finish <i>The Blind Assassin</i>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, here's my antidote for when life is too busy, too messy, and too overwhelming for a long and powerful book: read something short and powerful. Here are some suggestions.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
1. <i>Pond </i>by Claire-Louise Bennett. This entrancing work of fiction is a series of linked vignettes--some with more narrative tension than others--all from the perspective of a solitary woman living in an isolated cottage in Ireland. This book is lovely, lyrical, enchanting. At 208 pages, it is a relatively quick read.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2. <i>Train Dreams</i> by Denis Johnson. At 116 pages, this little book is so gorgeous and affecting you will wonder why people bother to write longer books. <i>Train Dreams</i> is the story of Robert Grainier, a day laborer in the American West at the start of the twentieth century. This little book captures history at the ground level, but is also suffused with emotion and myth. Simply beautiful.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
3. <i>Ayiti</i> by Roxane Gay. The author is better known for <i>Bad Feminist</i>, <i>An Untamed State</i>, <i>World of</i> <i>Wakanda</i>, and her mordantly funny twitter feed. Ayiti, 121 pages, is an introduction to the author through a series of brief stories set in Haiti.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
4. <i>Drown</i> by Junot Diaz. Powerful linked stories set in Santo Domingo and New York.So good they will make you glad you are alive to read them. 208 pages.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
5.<i> Upstream: Selected Essays</i> by Mary Oliver. If I could, I think I would live entirely in the world of Mary Oliver. A modern-day Romantic and Transcendentalist, Oliver will make you look at life and nature with fresh eyes. 128 pages.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
6. <i>American Salvage</i> by Bonnie Jo Campbell. The most beautiful, gritty, disturbing, real stories about people you feel you can touch they are so deeply imagined. Incredible, graceful, compassionate writing. 170 pages.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There you have it: six short but powerful books that will remind you that you are a reader, and why.</div>
bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-27749257356098760722016-12-06T18:46:00.005-08:002016-12-06T18:46:44.957-08:00Review: I'll Take You There<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgq9uBh3Q1l9FeqmNEDV89npp6dQJ4xkGeFVCSTmG8s6UipZHw6gji2g-J06jJkI7r2hvgyWSXNwqhZtCsl8F_4nmtwI-MJmPunh74k3fcefIUlkcDy-0vY5qb-LKzdeC1IRND1YrR8dSl/s1600/I%2527ll+Take+You+There.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgq9uBh3Q1l9FeqmNEDV89npp6dQJ4xkGeFVCSTmG8s6UipZHw6gji2g-J06jJkI7r2hvgyWSXNwqhZtCsl8F_4nmtwI-MJmPunh74k3fcefIUlkcDy-0vY5qb-LKzdeC1IRND1YrR8dSl/s320/I%2527ll+Take+You+There.PNG" width="211" /></a></div>
<i>I'll Take You There</i><br />
Wally Lamb<br />
Hardcover, 272 pages<br />
Harper<br />
A review copy of this book was provided through <a href="http://www.tlcbooktours.com/" target="_blank">TLC Book Tours</a><br />
Harper Collins Purchase Link:<br />
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062656285/ill-take-you-there">http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ill-take-you-there-wally-lamb/1123890053?</a><br />
Barnes & Noble Purchase Link:<br />
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062656285/ill-take-you-there">ean=9780062656285&st=AFF&2sid=Goodreads,%20Inc_2227948_NA&sourceId=AFFGoodreads,%20IncM000004://www.harpercollins.com/9780062656285/ill-take-you-there</a><br />
<br />
I've been an ardent fan of Wally Lamb since his first novel, <i>She's Come Undone</i>. Lamb's writing is a touchstone for me: I love his complex, layered plots, the slow unfolding of the character's lives and histories, the dense psychological complexity of his stories. My two favorite Lamb novels are <i>I Know</i> <i>This Much is True</i> and <i>The Hour I First Believed</i>. Each of those books plumbs the depths of trauma and ends with a sense of redemption. In that sense <i>I'll Take You There</i> is a "typical" Wally Lamb novel.<br />
<br />
Despite that similarity, this latest Wally Lamb novel surprised me. First of all, there is a supernatural angle: the protagonist, Felix Funicello, is a film scholar who runs a movie club in an old vaudeville theater, and it is in this theater that Felix encounters the ghost of a pioneering feminist director, Lois Weber. This plot device was slightly jarring for me at first, but as I read on I became more comfortable with Lois and the other ghosts who popped in and out of the novel. Felix takes a trip into his own past over the course of several weeks, courtesy of Lois, who shows Felix ghostly "movies" of his own childhood....movies that he can enter and exit at will.<br />
<br />
Much of the plot revolves around Felix's childhood memories, which are often painful, especially when it comes to his relationship with his sister, Frances. Felix's family members are keeping a secret, and in Wally Lamb novels (and often in life) secrets usually come out, eventually.<br />
<br />
Although there is a male protagonist (and narrator), <i>I'll Take You There</i> focuses in on women: their history, their obstacles, and the many ways in which women have had to bear a heavy burden for their gender. Felix's sisters, his mother, his feminist ex-wife Kat, and his new feminist daughter Aliza all have prominent roles in the narrative.<br />
<br />
The film metaphor worked on some levels, and I kept waiting for some kind of surprise ending or epiphany or metaphor that would make the idea of Felix watching films of his childhood click into place for me. But it turned out to be a device that fit into the character's life and evoked a sense of nostalgia....but no weird revelation like I expected. My favorite scenes in the book were the childhood scenes from the "movies" of Felix's life, and the very last page, where the book came together for me in a very satisfying way.<br />
<br />
I didn't realize until I finished <i>I'll Take You There</i> that a previous novel features Felix and his family (<i>Wishin' and Hopin'</i>). Since I enjoyed the book without reading the previous book, I don't see why other readers won't. I found this novel to be lighter in mood and texture than Lamb's other books (although there is definitely darkness here too). Readers who enjoyed Wishin' and Hopin' will probably also like <i>I'll Take You There</i>; devoted Lamb fans will find much to love in this newest novel.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-e_tYun4-dP_CWtAgoADJE13US4EH4aWh6ZIfIs4pcbOC3VH37H-9pxbZK_R8zPiEu5RNG3sGNYUl2SyM9_EeaQnJ1M-MZiLCAM3AQm1Ywk6DqG66f_8tAW4u0S_lyl8D1PFnnRN2vrE/s1600/tlc+logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-e_tYun4-dP_CWtAgoADJE13US4EH4aWh6ZIfIs4pcbOC3VH37H-9pxbZK_R8zPiEu5RNG3sGNYUl2SyM9_EeaQnJ1M-MZiLCAM3AQm1Ywk6DqG66f_8tAW4u0S_lyl8D1PFnnRN2vrE/s1600/tlc+logo.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-45577320175433781582016-10-18T18:52:00.000-07:002016-10-18T18:59:34.584-07:00Review: Descent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2IzSUZJDDeu_8Q6c824mV-R9SKUJknMJ-5o5ZVqKNEm7adUJUIQqm8Ci7eQCdHZ5B4fxhVdlaIX71wQKU-i-D9B0DVisuwCC5-xz_TFWoJRjvECrnuNWbG09PizpdsWCWMWcU3pTx2_P2/s1600/Descent.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2IzSUZJDDeu_8Q6c824mV-R9SKUJknMJ-5o5ZVqKNEm7adUJUIQqm8Ci7eQCdHZ5B4fxhVdlaIX71wQKU-i-D9B0DVisuwCC5-xz_TFWoJRjvECrnuNWbG09PizpdsWCWMWcU3pTx2_P2/s320/Descent.PNG" width="239" /></a></div>
<i>Descent</i><br />
Tim Johnston<br />
paperback, 387 pages<br />
<br />
<i>Descent </i>is every hyperbolic adjective a book reviewer ever fell back on: riveting, compelling, enthralling, achingly lyrical. I'm almost at a loss for words to explain why I think this book is so good and why you should read it--but I'll try.<br />
<br />
Tim Johnston takes a situation and a premise that is naturally compelling: the Courtlands, an ordinary family from Wisconsin, are visiting the mountains of Colorado in one last family vacation before oldest daughter Caitlyn heads off to college. Caitlyn, a gifted runner, goes off with her younger brother Sean in the early morning hours to explore the mountain roads and paths: Caitlyn is running, and Sean is riding a mountain bike. While their parents are back at the hotel room, a sinister stranger in a jeep runs over Sean, injuring him severely. He then persuades Caitlyn, against her instincts, to get into his jeep to go for help. It is as if she disappeared into thin air.<br />
<br />
What makes <i>Descent</i> more than just a thriller (although it is thrilling) is all that makes literary fiction <i>literary</i>. Johnston creates a sense of place that is artful, and adds so many layers of meaning to this beautifully crafted novel. He captures the beauty, the danger, and the isolation of the mountain landscape. And his plot turns not just on the mystery and absence of Caitlyn's disappearance, but also the fissures that develop into chasms within the family that is left behind.<br />
<br />
Angela and Grant Courtland are trying to rebuild a damaged marriage when their daughter disappears. The distance that opens between them after their daughter's kidnapping is both geographic and emotional. Grant gives up his contracting business and moves to the Colorado mountains to continue the search--even after three years pass, he is no closer to healing, closure, or acceptance. Angela goes back home to Wisconsin with Sean, who never fully recovers from the injury to his knee and leg. Eventually he becomes a restless nomad, haunted by guilt and anger.<br />
<br />
There is absolutely nothing predictable in the resolution to this book. Caitlyn, while victimized, never becomes a victim. She's one of my favorite characters in this layered and subtle book: she is fierce, smart, and totally believable. Johnston achieves something really special in <i>Descent</i>: he creates a page-turner that is also a sensitive meditation on families, chance, and fate.<br />
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-38333437615955434112016-10-16T16:57:00.002-07:002016-10-16T16:57:07.908-07:00Sunday Salon:: After Matthew<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ8hpYB2zKJX25cGMxE4ISRijs6y0-PbXY3pRZ05NCxIUFCDi5dDJPm-yR3GccbE0dDQhDkBldhw4004KYpFupuI_IbYGG5FReDwMNaZJOA9MbGeXutyU-Ru2J1Y1YCeo6zvr5qhpOQB6/s1600/A_small_cup_of_coffee.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ8hpYB2zKJX25cGMxE4ISRijs6y0-PbXY3pRZ05NCxIUFCDi5dDJPm-yR3GccbE0dDQhDkBldhw4004KYpFupuI_IbYGG5FReDwMNaZJOA9MbGeXutyU-Ru2J1Y1YCeo6zvr5qhpOQB6/s320/A_small_cup_of_coffee.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4xtYaLd9lxmqu9NaE9a84fDCezlRfEufpyVYlo_t5TSxQXkv4ZjVAoCT3jh0A8sJl7u-02I9Hbz41rilEjgmmqbjGqZTyclat5s7lCWV9qDc1FqEitO_aXE-pXdfheTKB_AmZZDkEzDQ/s1600/Sunday+Salon+Sun.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4xtYaLd9lxmqu9NaE9a84fDCezlRfEufpyVYlo_t5TSxQXkv4ZjVAoCT3jh0A8sJl7u-02I9Hbz41rilEjgmmqbjGqZTyclat5s7lCWV9qDc1FqEitO_aXE-pXdfheTKB_AmZZDkEzDQ/s1600/Sunday+Salon+Sun.PNG" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
On October 4th I was having a normal school day, more worried about grading deadlines than the hurricane that was apparently barreling toward us all along. The next morning I was on the highway, headed toward the Charlotte, North Carolina area, having hastily prepared to be away from home for a few days. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I brought school work, my computer, and plenty of books. As it turned out, I spent much of my "hurrication" glued to social media, getting updates about the hurricane. Waiting and wondering was definitely the most stressful and difficult thing. I spent time with my friends and family, and tried to take my mind off the threat of Hurricane Matthew, but knowing that a hurricane is hurtling toward your home is not a good feeling. Especially since my husband had decided to stay home.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
What happened: on Friday night and into early Saturday morning, Matthew slammed into Hilton Head Island, where I live. The complex where I live (everything in Hilton Head is called a "villa" but our home is part of what looks like a very ordinary apartment complex) was nearly unscathed. We didn't have electricity or water for about a day, but there was very little damage, not even flooding. Other parts of the island were not so lucky. Parts of the island were totally devastated, and the dock where my husband earns his living was completely destroyed.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The evacuation order wasn't lifted for our country until Monday, and Hilton Head Islanders didn't get the okay to return until Tuesday afternoon. I left on Wednesday morning, a full week after I first evacuated. I can't even begin to express the relief I felt on getting home and actually seeing for myself the totally intact building where I live. And my totally intact husband.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Our island is a beautiful place, and part of the beauty comes from the many, many trees--some of them gigantic, ancient live oaks. Now there is a symphony of chain saws as workers cut up the many fallen trees. My overall feeling is a sense of gratitude: things could have been so much worse.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Tomorrow I will see my students for the first time in almost two weeks. Some of them may have lost their homes, or had their homes damaged. Some of them may have lost clothing, furniture, or school supplies in the hurricane or flooding. Some of their families may have taken a financial hit from the expenses of evacuation. It's going to be a challenge to get back to work and pick up where we left off. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
What did I read during this time? Not as much as you might expect. I finally finished my reread of <i>Crime and Punishment</i>. What an emotionally and psychologically intense book! It is definitely one of my favorite classics, but it took me a long time to read. Part of that was due to teaching and reviewing responsibilities. But I also think that <i>Crime and Punishment</i> requires a level of attentiveness and focus that not all books demand.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I did get a chance to delve into Jim Burke's book <i>What's the Big Idea? </i>It's really difficult to find time for professional development reading when I'm in the midst of teaching, so it was nice to have time to read this excellent book. I got lots of great ideas and instructional strategies for my teaching.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
After <i>Crime and Punishment</i>, I thought I would try <i>Descent</i>, which is billed as an "enthralling thriller." So far I'm really liking it, and the writing is very good.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Back to school tomorrow....this should be interesting. How was your week? What are you reading?</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-70240761101391380972016-10-11T03:52:00.002-07:002016-10-11T03:52:43.353-07:00Running From Matthew<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg06yuJzxkN4iCS04qfHyug45YzBWPYhCJkwgWO8PAh9R7F6hep1iSoqQpdYrFsd47_DNxQymRNMAQ3vFQz8nfSEvVWWXLx5bMRzW0m1Ro-SAQLst8Fvb_gkpWk01tgWxfJk854_52XdJEE/s1600/Hurricane+Matthew.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg06yuJzxkN4iCS04qfHyug45YzBWPYhCJkwgWO8PAh9R7F6hep1iSoqQpdYrFsd47_DNxQymRNMAQ3vFQz8nfSEvVWWXLx5bMRzW0m1Ro-SAQLst8Fvb_gkpWk01tgWxfJk854_52XdJEE/s320/Hurricane+Matthew.PNG" width="318" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
How It Started</h3>
<div>
Last Tuesday I was having a fairly normal school day. Hurricane Matthew was well out on the periphery of my consciousness. I was thinking about planning, grading, deadlines, and delivering instruction. In between teaching and duties, I started to hear rumors about mid-morning. Hurricane Matthew was on a course that would possibly impact our area. Several people came to tell me that they had heard South Carolina governor Nikki Haley was going to order an evacuation of coastal South Carolina, and that school would be cancelled for the rest of the week. I started texting my daughter (she's living upstate on her own) and making plans. By third block we still hadn't heard anything official, but there were rumors flying about. Some of my students were scared or worried, and some of them were texting their parents. I teach all seniors this year, and many of my students had never had to evacuate for a hurricane. The last evacuation we had in this area was in 1999. By the end of third block we were openly discussing the possibility that there wouldn't be school for the rest of the week, and I was pleading with my students to bring their copy of <i>Frankenstein</i> if they had to evacuate. We were kept in suspense literally until the last minute: Nikki Haley had her press conference at 3:00, and at 3:30 the information that we were under evacuation order was public. Our school day ends at 3:40, and the announcement was made over the school loudspeaker at 3:39.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Getting Out</h3>
<div>
I live on an island, accessible by a single bridge, I had texted my husband, but when I called him at the end of the school day, he was in the midst of preparing to secure the boats he's responsible for: he works for a small, family-owned company that offers boat tours and dinner cruises. My first job was to secure a rental vehicle, which wasn't easy, even though I had reserved one earlier in the day. My daily commute is made in an Acura that has 203,000 miles on it---not the car you want to take on a long and arduous journey. The car rental place was in a state of panic, with the phone ringing continuously. Somehow I drove away in the last available car. I give my mother all the credit for this one: she taught me tenacity and a certain kind of authoritative attitude. When I left the car rental place there were more than a dozen island visitors or residents waiting in line, hoping that a car would be returned before the place closed.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When I got home I started to pack because Matthew was a category 4 storm, and I wasn't going to hang around to see what it would do to our little island. It was a surreal experience, and looking back I don't think I was thinking all that clearly. I remembered my medication, books, and phone chargers, but I didn't pack a single pair of shoes. I walked out wearing an old pair of flip-flops that I wear around the house. At the last minute I ran back in and grabbed one sweater.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My husband was already committed to staying the next day to work. They have a very small fleet (five boats) and he and a few other employees spent most of that day (evacuation day) moving the boats from the commercial dock to a spot between two small islands. They secured the vessels, removed electronics, dropped anchor, and hoped for the best. That took the entire day (mandatory evacuation for the area started Wednesday at 3:00 p.m.). Miraculously, the boats are apparently okay. A local captain did a post-hurricane trip around the area and reported that the boats look good.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Wednesday morning I left Hilton Head at 8:00 a.m. It was a horrible feeling. I hated leaving my husband behind. I knew he had to work, and I knew he still had a vehicle and could leave if he wanted to. But my husband is from the U.S. Virgin Islands, where there is no place to evacuate: there is no bridge! He's been through a major hurricane there, and he's physically strong and a survivor. Still, it was a bad feeling leaving him behind.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Because I left so far ahead of the official evacuation order, I avoided much of the traffic. I did hit a big traffic jam on I-26, as this is where all the Charleston evacuees were. A drive that should have taken less than four hours took five, but I count myself lucky. I reached the Charlotte, NC area by 2:00 p.m.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
My Word of Advice</h3>
<div>
Evacuate. If you possibly can, leave. There are no material belongings that matter more than your safety and your life. Leave as early as you can, preferably before the official evacuation time. Traffic will only get worse. I think one reason people don't leave is that they dread being caught in the evacuation traffic, or they are afraid they won't be able to get back when they want to. But if you don't leave, you may be stuck in place for days or even weeks. There will be no power, no water, and no access to food or water. Every gas station in my area was out of gas by Thursday. Many stores were out of water. Then, after the hurricane hit, there was no electricity to run gas pumps or stores anyway. ATM machines were empty.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
The Worst of It</h3>
<div>
The worst part was the waiting. My husband was alone in our apartment. He didn't want to leave and kept assuring me that he would be fine. Horrible images ran through my head, and I became instantly addicted to social media. I watched the hurricane move toward our coastline, and it was excruciating waiting and wondering. I was on the phone with my husband constantly quizzing him about who was still there at our apartment complex, and urging him to leave.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
When the Hurricane Hit</h3>
<div>
The hurricane made landfall on our island on Friday night through the early hours of Saturday morning. At about 4:00 a.m. it got intense, but somehow our building made it through the storm intact. I think this is because we are on slightly higher ground, and because our building doesn't have any trees right next to it. Hilton Head has a natural beauty that comes from an abundance of vegetation, including beautiful old live oaks and other tall trees. But our trees are all well away from the building.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
The Next Day: Silence</h3>
<div>
Thank goodness my husband kept cell service throughout the ordeal. The community where I teach, a few miles inland, is just getting some cellular service. My husband had no water, no electricity, and no contact with the outside world. The fire stations had evacuated the island on Thursday. He was truly on his own. Since I had internet access, I became my husband's contact with the outside world. I was on social media constantly, and locals formed an informal network that was really kind of amazing. A surprising number of people stayed on Hilton Head, and they were sending videos out relatively early. I was giving my husband reports about when fire and rescue personnel returned to the island, where one little grocery store was open on the island (they had no power, but brought locals in a few at a time--shopping by flashlight, cash only). There was no power or water on the island the first day, but by that evening, my husband had power. I still can't believe it, but I'm so relieved. If I was unable to talk to him it would have been awful, and he had no way to charge his phone. Note: get an extra phone battery and a car charger.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Patience</h3>
<div>
It takes time for things to return to normal.When a hurricane lands on your community, things aren't going to return to normal right away. Fortunately, we had no loss of life in our area. Things can be replaced. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There were trees everywhere on Hilton Head. Roadways were entirely blocked throughout the island. A few intrepid islanders posted videos that showed the destruction.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's been a week since I evacuated. They only started letting people back into our county a couple of days ago. I still can't go home. The roadways had to be cleared, and fire stations and the local hospital had to be restored. Tomorrow afternoon they will begin to let people back onto the island. From what I understand, cars started lining up on the bridge yesterday. I'll wait one more day.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Firefighters Are Awesome</h3>
<div>
As soon as the firefighters returned to the island they started going door to door checking on people. They stopped by on Sunday, and were back again yesterday. They chat with my husband and offer him water and food. They'll be back again tomorrow.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
People Love Their Normal Lives</h3>
<div>
My friends and colleagues ended up everywhere: Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio. Lots of people went to Augusta, Macon, Atlanta. Charlotte is full of evacuees. My sister and her family were in Charlotte, having evacuated from Charleston. I got to have lunch with my Charleston family, and dinner with Hilton Head friends all in one day. But everyone is ready to get back to their normal lives. People are anxious about their homes. Those who are able to get back cry tears of reliefe.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Evacuation is Expensive and Strenuous</h3>
<div>
Have a plan. Really. If you live paycheck to paycheck, evacuating can be incredibly stressful. It can hit you so hard in the wallet. I was lucky: lucky to have a regular paycheck, lucky to have a safe vehicle to use, lucky to have a place to go. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Fun Stuff I Did During My Evacuation</h3>
<div>
I watched Netflix (don't have time for that during the school year). I caught up on <i>Luther</i>, watching two seasons in two days. I read, but not as much as I expected to. I'm almost finished with <i>Crime and Punishment</i>. I bought a book (one!) because a trip to the bookstore was inevitable. But mostly I was on my computer, anxiously looking for news of how things were going back at home. I was on the phone with my husband constantly. If his phone had gone out it would not have been good. If there is a next time, I hope we will be together, because being separated for this amount of time is not good for either of us.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
What I Learned</h3>
<div>
It's the people in my life that matter. I wasn't worried about my stuff. Well, okay, I worried about my books. I'm happy that the library I accumulated over decades is intact. The rest of it--just doesn't matter.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The friendships and family relationships I have sustained me through this ordeal. I kept in constant contact with friends and family, and that is what kept me going.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I really hope I never have to evacuate again, but I learned a few things about how to do that, too. And next time I will pack at least one pair of shoes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Going Home</h3>
<div>
I hope to be going home on Wednesday. I may kiss the ground.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Gratitude</h3>
<div>
We are so fortunate to live in a place with the resources and infra structure to handle weather emergencies when they happen. Haiti was completely devastated by Matthew, and had a horrifying loss of life. Friends of ours were part of the recovery operations after the earthquake, and the schools they helped build after the earthquake are gone. It's heartbreaking. We are lucky, lucky, lucky. Our actions need to reflect that. We should give from our abundance.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Nikki Haley handled the evacuation and public safety issues from the hurricane amazingly well,</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My students and I will be back in the classroom next week, Together.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
How did Hurricane Matthew affect you? Have you ever fled a natural disaster?</div>
bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-22885921742075934112016-10-06T15:26:00.003-07:002016-10-06T15:26:35.551-07:00Review: News of the World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvPnXfUH3wUM7LV0Z2cLFtckF3PYbjQV7cXjrx4zF9g5B9_-Wr7pIM35OTbkgkfLsq_OXV78FKYM_GdJrzM5I_xOKn3erQfYd-pNVVfjIkrm-gRlO4jgzi25aVjjlHbcZ0Q02_vzp7-eM8/s1600/News+of+the+World.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvPnXfUH3wUM7LV0Z2cLFtckF3PYbjQV7cXjrx4zF9g5B9_-Wr7pIM35OTbkgkfLsq_OXV78FKYM_GdJrzM5I_xOKn3erQfYd-pNVVfjIkrm-gRlO4jgzi25aVjjlHbcZ0Q02_vzp7-eM8/s320/News+of+the+World.PNG" width="209" /></a></div>
<i>News of the World</i><br />
Paulette Jiles<br />
hardcover, 224 pages<br />
William Morrow<br />
A review copy was provided through <a href="http://www.tlcbooktours.com/" target="_blank">TLC Book Tours</a><br />
Purchase Links:<br />
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062409201/news-of-the-world" target="_blank">Harper Collins</a><br />
<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/news-of-the-world-paulette-jiles/1122221517?ean=9780062409201" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a><br />
<br />
Paulette Jiles is best known as the author of <i>Enemy Women</i>, but I have the feeling that <i>News of the</i> <i>World </i>will gain Jiles even more attention. The <a href="http://www.nationalbook.org/" target="_blank">National Book Foundation</a> just announced the finalists for the 2016 National Book Award in Fiction, and <i>News of the World</i> is on the list.<br />
<br />
<i>News of the World</i> is a historical novel, a meditation on the strange phenomenon of Indian captives who return as changed people, and a love letter to the power of story. The narrative follows Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a veteran of the Civil War who travels Texas reading the "news of the world" from newspapers, to paying customers. Kidd is stoic, wise, a messenger (his most cherished memories are from his Army years when he was a solitary messenger, carrying essential news). He is traveling and reading the news in Wichita Falls, winter, 1870, when he makes a strange bargain For a single gold coin he will take a strange and wild girl, once held captive by Kiowa Indians, back to her only living relative in San Antonio.<br />
<br />
Johanna is ten years old, and was taken captive by the Kiowa at six. Her immediate family was murdered; her only living relatives are an aunt and uncle she probably can't remember. She has forgotten English, and wants desperately to be returned to the Kiowa and her adoptive Indian mother She wants no part of dresses, shoes, or Captain Kidd.<br />
<br />
Jiles creates the feel of post-Civil War Texas--a state with dangerous raiders, violent political disagreement, and criminal gangs. It is through this dangerous territory that Kidd must transport a distrustful and unwilling child.<br />
<br />
This is one of those rare novels with a central character who is convincing, complex, and yet uncompromisingly moral. As Kidd gets closer to his destination, he and Johanna begin to build trust and understanding--just as he is about to hand her over again to unknown and perhaps untrustworthy strangers.<br />
<br />
<i>News of the World </i>blends artistry and beautiful prose style with gritty humor and cultural insight. As I read, the contemporary writer I was most reminded of was Cormac Mcarthy: Jiles has a similar style (fluid, seemingly effortless sentences), but with a slightly less portentous touch. I thought about the wonderful novel <i>True Grit</i> too; rarely has a novelist created a believable, unsentimental, and realistic relationship like the one between Johanna and Captain Kidd.<br />
<br />
Jiles also writes with sensitivity and insight about the strangeness of the returned captive; forever changed by life among the Kiowa, unimpressed by houses and things, and with the courage of a warrior.<br />
<br />
This is one of the best historical novels I have read; it wears its learning lightly, but the book is steeped in history. Fans of Cormac McCarthy, or readers interested in Texas history will find much to love in <i>News of the World</i>, but so will those who love story, or who simply want to be reminded that there is good in the world.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm5UNRSWiZP0JfR5LVyGiUEjzY7cBr4_f6Bc_tkZOe9ECvX4ibNH8pIL9xNsdyh0QeEDaG0QL_PVSzxwD5iBT04BBbpYV6-I-4o-Qtl4d8uxA7qqwRFW_7r3ztKBL9wljsPRG57MSPnigu/s1600/tlc_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm5UNRSWiZP0JfR5LVyGiUEjzY7cBr4_f6Bc_tkZOe9ECvX4ibNH8pIL9xNsdyh0QeEDaG0QL_PVSzxwD5iBT04BBbpYV6-I-4o-Qtl4d8uxA7qqwRFW_7r3ztKBL9wljsPRG57MSPnigu/s1600/tlc_logo.png" /></a></div>
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-50250182738877712612016-10-03T13:18:00.002-07:002016-10-03T13:18:20.323-07:00Social Justice Book Club: Men We Reaped<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCuYpBYNXvdhFqieK_PqPLseHAMyQppeqkr4b-lYHuZpoX63sn7nZYXC8hVnarV51riOqDLPuMrD0Tdbdkuj3GZMn2qE5YZKSvLAOEj2Br5G53ofklautcELSTKGbYoCSnY-xPkprok5tJ/s1600/Social+Justice+Book+Club.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCuYpBYNXvdhFqieK_PqPLseHAMyQppeqkr4b-lYHuZpoX63sn7nZYXC8hVnarV51riOqDLPuMrD0Tdbdkuj3GZMn2qE5YZKSvLAOEj2Br5G53ofklautcELSTKGbYoCSnY-xPkprok5tJ/s1600/Social+Justice+Book+Club.PNG" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKjSohCWFsRB2_zid1gQ0PB8KzqnTUprPVdvOFrhv4SIgRMLBj2CErrDsQIAvwksoxbtXLkJxWZWDs59m6k-BA7hWWrxjQJmvWzsVc29BN6jAe_Zze6cYTebhU9B67aKhfTmuvZ3r-kQqO/s1600/Men+We+Reaped.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKjSohCWFsRB2_zid1gQ0PB8KzqnTUprPVdvOFrhv4SIgRMLBj2CErrDsQIAvwksoxbtXLkJxWZWDs59m6k-BA7hWWrxjQJmvWzsVc29BN6jAe_Zze6cYTebhU9B67aKhfTmuvZ3r-kQqO/s1600/Men+We+Reaped.JPG" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The October selection for the <a href="http://www.entomologyofabookworm.com/2016/09/social-justice-book-club-men-we-reaped.html#more" target="_blank">Social Justice Book Club</a> is <i>Men We Reaped</i> by Jesmyn Ward. Click on the link to join up.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Jesmyn Ward is the author of <i>Salvage the Bones</i>, and the editor of the recently released <i>The Fire</i> <i>This Time</i>.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
I'm hurriedly posting this at the end of a long school day. I'm a high school teacher in Bluffton, South Carolina, and I'm interested in the intersection of education and social justice. For two years my colleague and I team-taught American Literature (me) and U.S. History (her) with a focus on civil rights and social justice issues. I proposed the course when I realized how little my students knew about the history of the civil rights movement.<br />
<br />
I've already read Men We Reaped once, but I never feel as though I've really read a book until I've read it twice. I wanted to participate in the Social Justice book club before, but I could never quite get my act together. I'm hoping to be active on twitter and this blog as we read this gorgeous and devastating book.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-8808990717846126802016-10-02T17:22:00.001-07:002016-10-02T17:22:15.962-07:00Sunday Salon: A Fresh Start in October<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ8hpYB2zKJX25cGMxE4ISRijs6y0-PbXY3pRZ05NCxIUFCDi5dDJPm-yR3GccbE0dDQhDkBldhw4004KYpFupuI_IbYGG5FReDwMNaZJOA9MbGeXutyU-Ru2J1Y1YCeo6zvr5qhpOQB6/s1600/A_small_cup_of_coffee.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ8hpYB2zKJX25cGMxE4ISRijs6y0-PbXY3pRZ05NCxIUFCDi5dDJPm-yR3GccbE0dDQhDkBldhw4004KYpFupuI_IbYGG5FReDwMNaZJOA9MbGeXutyU-Ru2J1Y1YCeo6zvr5qhpOQB6/s320/A_small_cup_of_coffee.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4xzBMBv0_Zx0U1J5H_kCkt_tkf70e5xoMOjtAi3jbItwW587A8wC_FyLH8a6kV9PuV_12VNNQ1ZpPCvadu1r2xEeph-5WyKrbG4_9XA_eIYVRkpQ1LsaYy0eWFU1p3_P2AMw5vn7l1qF/s1600/The+Sunday+Salon+2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4xzBMBv0_Zx0U1J5H_kCkt_tkf70e5xoMOjtAi3jbItwW587A8wC_FyLH8a6kV9PuV_12VNNQ1ZpPCvadu1r2xEeph-5WyKrbG4_9XA_eIYVRkpQ1LsaYy0eWFU1p3_P2AMw5vn7l1qF/s320/The+Sunday+Salon+2.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
August and September were a little too busy for me. I read, and I read a pretty impressive number of pages, but I felt pressured.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In October:</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In October I want to try to read slowly and deeply. I want to refresh and reset my intentions for my classroom practice; worrying about and stressing over deadlines, duties, and grading kind of sucked all the joy out of my life, especially in the last month.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Mini-Rants:</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Here's my teacher mini-rant: sometimes grades feel like a false currency. Why should we trust the currency of grades when they don't seem to reflect real learning? Look at the increase in the number of As awarded at all educational levels, including college. Does this increase in the number of As awarded to students reflect an increase in learning? Are students demonstrating that much of an increase in mastery and proficiency? Just asking.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Here's another thing: why are we still reflecting the factory model in schools? John Frederick Taylor was the inventor of "Taylorism" a so-called "scientific" method of managing workers in which tasks were broken down into small increments. Taylor prized efficiency and speed, and there is no room for collaboration in his methods. That's where I feel we still are in education. My school day is managed for me, and nearly every minute is controlled by administration, leaving little to no time for me to collaborate with colleagues.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Reading:</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In reading: I'm still working my way through <i>Crime and Punishment,</i> teaching <i>Frankenstein</i> and <i>Lord of the Flies</i>.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I think I have one more review scheduled. Then I really want to pick something for sheer pleasure....Maybe something by David Mitchell, since I loved <i>The Bone Clocks</i> so much.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Social Justice Book Club:</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Kerry of<a href="http://www.entomologyofabookworm.com/" target="_blank"> Entomology of a Bookworm </a>has started a Social Justice Book Club, and I'm so excited for a reread of Men We Reaped. This is one book I feel really deserves a rereading. The prose is beautiful and heartbreaking; the memoir is devastating, gorgeous, truthful. The kick-off is tomorrow, but I encourage anyone interested to get on board with this book club. I was so disappointed that I didn't get to participate in the last selection, The New Jim Crow.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Interested in signing up? Here's the link for the sign-up: <a href="http://www.entomologyofabookworm.com/2016/09/social-justice-book-club-men-we-reaped.html#more" target="_blank">Social Justice Book Club: Men We Reaped.</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Are you reading anything amazing right now? How was your September?</div>
<br />bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-236334828969414641.post-52790954485824829402016-09-29T08:07:00.003-07:002016-09-29T08:15:49.439-07:00Review: Mercury<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFj9CgcLBn0Vw1JAYrd5EfXuKBhHQNLKC4h-_ORKaxE2BvJ8h2ImE178qiyRcXyLhPIeOPRkF31c0dPFV3MdV-2uzf-aHzn6SNiZkOiwDWqlN6O-wADQ0y9PfgmKO8o78A7CPSJdQrainD/s1600/Mercury.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFj9CgcLBn0Vw1JAYrd5EfXuKBhHQNLKC4h-_ORKaxE2BvJ8h2ImE178qiyRcXyLhPIeOPRkF31c0dPFV3MdV-2uzf-aHzn6SNiZkOiwDWqlN6O-wADQ0y9PfgmKO8o78A7CPSJdQrainD/s320/Mercury.PNG" width="227" /></a></div>
Mercury<br />
Margot Livesey<br />
Hardcover, 336 pages<br />
Harper<br />
A review copy of this book was provided through <a href="http://www.tlcbooktours.com/" target="_blank">TLC Book Tours</a><br />
Purchase Links:<br />
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062437501/mercury" target="_blank">Harper Collins</a><br />
<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mercury-margot-livesey/1123199212?ean=9780062437501" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a><br />
<br />
There is a loaded gun at the center of<i> Mercury</i>. As writer Anton Chekhov famously warned, a story that contains a loaded gun must eventually allow the gun to be fired, or the gun has no place in the story. Margot Livesey does not violate Chekhov's rule in her newest novel.<br />
<br />
Livesey, author of many other novels, including <i>The Flight of Gemma Hardy</i> and <i>Eva Moves the Furniture </i>is originally from Scotland, although she has lived and taught in the United States for many years. In <i>Mercury</i>, one of the narrators is a Scottish immigrant; Donald is an optometrist and former eye surgeon who has settled into a seemingly happy life in a suburb outside Boston. His wife, Viv, is American, an optimist and dreamer, who believes that she can still do something big with her life. After a career in finance, Viv has settled into a less demanding job managing her best friend's stable, and the couple seem to have a life that works: two young children, liberal values, an egalitarian marriage. The only grief in their lives is the sadness and loss that Donald still feels after the death of his father, who suffered from Parkinson's disease.<br />
<br />
Yet into this happy and almost complacent life come secrets, silent yearnings, and distance. Donald has donned what Viv calls his "astronaut's suit" and she feels shut out from his emotions. And Viv has fallen in love with a beautiful powerful horse--named Mercury--who she fancies will redeem her youthful dream of success in the world of horse shows. As Donald and Viv slowly orbit away from each other, the little secrets they keep from each other become betrayals.<br />
<br />
The novel is divided into three parts, with the first and last sections narrated by Donald, while Viv tells her own story in the middle section. The theme of blindness (spiritual, moral, actual) is introduced through Donald's profession, and through the character of Jack, a blind classics professor who is Donald's close friend. Livesey is especially good at depicting friendships--both the friendships of Donald and Jack, and Viv's friendships with female friends (her best friend Claudia, Mercury's owner Hilary). Livesey also captures the odd dynamics of friendship among couples. The network of friendships and work relationships is artfully drawn, and Livesey creates fully realized characters who are sympathetic (some more so than others). Donald, despite his reserved nature and obvious flaws, turns out to be almost entirely sympathetic, even when he is making horrible decisions, The same can't always be said of Viv, although Livesey gives Viv her say.<br />
<br />
Mercury turns out to be a novel about moral decisions, and finding out that right and wrong are not always as obvious as we might have thought. What happens when you must choose between two people you love? What happens when you discover that you are not as morally correct as you once thought?<br />
<br />
<i>Mercury</i> doesn't provide easy answers to these questions, but it does offer very human answers. I appreciated this novel for the moral complexity of the situation, and because the characters and situation were quite believable and real. I'm not sure this book qualifies as a thriller, mostly because it is more character driven than plot driven. But the narrative does push toward an act of violence that can't be taken back, and both the event and the aftermath are complex and devastating. There are no easy answers in <i>Mercury</i> but the questions are ones that most readers will find compelling.bibliophiliachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15495943887513443615noreply@blogger.com4