Author: gr4c5

I write. I read. I cook. I run. That's me, in a nutshell.

Keeping It Civil

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Klaw, Margaret. Keeping It Civil: the Case of the Pre-Nup and the Porche & Other True Accounts From the Files of a Family Lawyer. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2013.

Keeping It Civil is extremely entertaining. It’s the kind of book you can read on a one-way train ride from New Haven, Connecticut to midtown Manhattan. I should know because I just did it. It’s a peepshow into the world of relationships which are on the brink of complication. Divorce is the obvious scenario for which a family lawyer is needed but consider these cases: same-sex marriage and artificial insemination rights, to name a two. Nothing about humans or their relationships is cut and dried anymore. For example, I was surprised to learned that as a same-sex couple, you can get visit the state of Vermont and get married while you are there, but to get divorced you have to have lived in the state for a minimum of six months.

Reason read: Early review book for September.

Author fact: Margaret Klaw has been dubbed a Pennsylvania “Super Lawyer.” I have no idea what that means, but it sounds cool.

Book trivia: There is a twinge of humor to Klaw’s stories. It’s unexpected and fun.

Going Wild

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Winkler, Robert. Going Wild: Adventures With Birds in the Suburban Wilderness. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2003.

Winkler is an exceptional writer especially when it comes to the art and science of birdwatching. What makes his book, Going Wild, so interesting is that each chapter is independent of another. As he puts it, “readers can dip into chapters as they please with little sacrifice of coherence” (p x). I preferred to read the whole book straight through as a story, but I could see what Winkler meant. Another pleasure of Winkler’s writing is when you read his words you can actually feel him smiling, warming up to his subject and actually happy to be going on and on about his birding life. There is real humor in his tone.

The other element I enjoyed was the locality of most of his essays. I live near, and have visited nearly all of the locations Winkler mentions.

Quotes I enjoyed, “Cold profound enough to freeze the hair in your nostrils is something to experience” (p 19).
As an aside, I would have thought Winkler’s book would include photographs or illustrations of some sort. I was disappointed when it didn’t.

Reason read: October is a great time to watch birds, especially off the coast of Maine. The migration is underway Sept-Oct.

Author fact: Robert Winkler has been a National Geographic corespondent in additional to being a journalist published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and USA Today.

Book trivia: Winkler mentions many different places he has observed birds. His self proclaimed favorite is Upper Paugusset State Forest in Newtown, Connecticut. I think I just might have to check that out.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Nature Writing” (p 174).

Edited to add: there are two more comments I need to make about this book. First, Winkler and the movies. I am guilty of pointing out flaws in movies. I love it when I can spot an inconsistency so I have to say my favorite chapter was when Winkler pointed out the “bird” errors in different movies, especially when it comes to their songs. And speaking of bird songs – I will listen closer for the Wood Thrush since Winkler praised it so highly.

Panther Soup

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Gimlette, John. Panther Soup: Travels Through Europe in War and Peace. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.

John Gimlette is a travel writer with a flair for the historical with a bit of humor thrown in along the way. In Panther Soup Gimlette decides to retrace the European footsteps of the U.S. Army of 1944. He chooses to take Putnam Flint, a veteran of the tank destroyer battalion, “The Panthers” as his guide. Together, along with Flint’s son, they travel Flint’s path through France into Germany, starting with the seedy city of Marseille. This sets the tone for the entire travel adventure. Marseille had been described as “lethally weird,” and “a freak show for the chronically unhygienic” (p 26). Having Flint along as a guide allows Gimlette to dip into history and provide commentary on the regions as Flint experienced them in 1944.

Too many quotes, but here are a few of my favorites: “He remembered…a huge vat of Tunisian wine that it’s taken his comrades a week to drink. It was only when they had reached the bottom that they had found a dead New Zealander pickling in the dregs” (p 73), “The more you paid, the less you got; or at least you got a bigger piece of nothing” (p 92), “Clearly, to live a la Bouruinonne is to enjoy a life of red wine and cream, and to die aged forty-two under someone else’s wife” (p 100), and one more, “Over at the Beat Hotel, meanwhile, they’d written little that made any sense at all” (p 177).

Reason read: The Panthers traveled from Northern France in October 1944.

Author fact: Gimlette won the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize and the Wanderlust Travel Writing Award AND practices law (according to the back flap of Panther Soup.)

Book trivia: In addition to photographs, Panther Soup has delightful illustrations and informative maps.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Explaining Europe: the Grand Tour” (p 82).

Southpaw

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Harris, Mark. The Southpaw. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1953

From the very beginning of The Southpaw you know you are in for a treat. Just read the dedication to know why. Then, for further evidence, move on to the “Special Warning To All Readers!!!”
Henry Wiggen is a left handed pitcher reflecting on his career in baseball. Although Henry is obsessed with the game from the very beginning there is a real defining moment when, at sixteen, he replaces his father on the mound during a game against the Clowns. After that, he tries out and is subsequently signed to play for the New York Mammoths. During spring training in Florida Henry learns what its like to be a ballplayer in the big time – competition, women, egos. The only “criticism” I have of the book is that one must love baseball in order to really love The Southpaw. There is a lot of play by play action that can get a little tedious at times.

I’ve read a few reviews where people were bothered by Henry Wiggen’s uneducated manner of speech. It didn’t bother me at all. In fact, I thought it added realism to the character.

As an aside, I was a little bothered that Mark Harris used a C. Marlowe poem (“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”) but doesn’t give credit where credit is due.

Quotes to mention, “I was a terrible kid for flinging things at people” (p 25), and “But throwing a baseball and throwing a hand grenade is 2 different things, and I am at my best with 1 and scared to my toes of the other” (p 37), “That first night I had the regular blues, lonesome as the moon and not a soul to talk to” (p 137),

Reason read: The world series is in October.

Book trivia: The version I read boasted of “punctuation freely inserted and spelling greatly improved.” Whatever that means.

Author fact: According to the back of The Southpaw Harris wanted to be a ballplayer but his stature of only 5’7″ deterred him.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (p 229).

Deafening

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Itani, Frances. Deafening. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003.

This story is filled with such tragedy. In Part I Grania O’Neill is just five years old when she loses her hearing after a bout with scarlet fever. Her family is desperate to make her normal, to help her fit in the the hearing world. Her grandmother and sister devote themselves to helping her cope. When it is obvious she can’t, Grania, at nine years old, is sent away to a boarding school for the deaf. Part II covers one year. The year is 1915 and Grania is now 19 and working at Gibson Hospital. She meets and marries a hearing man, Jim Lloyd. In Part III Jim has gone to help in the war effort as a medic. The violence he encounters at this time assaults his senses to the core, but it is the thought of Grania and their love that sustains him. Part IIII (that is deliberate) covers 1917 – 1918. Jim has been gone for two years and Grania remains vigilant for his letters and watchful of the changing war efforts. The book ends with Part V, 1919 and the end of the war.  So much has changed during this time. So many people have died and relationships are forever changed. I won’t spoil the end except to say it was beautifully written. A book I couldn’t put down.

Telling lines, “What she can’t see she can’t be expected to understand” (p 14), “Words fly through the air and fall, static and dead” (p 43), “He had never known a language that so thoroughly encompassed love” (p 132), and “War ground on like the headless, thoughtless monster that could not be stopped” (p 237).

Reason read: October is National Protect Your Hearing Month.

Book trivia: Deafening was written as a tribute to Itani’s grandmother who was became deaf at 18 months.

Author fact: Deafening is Frances Itani’s first book.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Other Peoples Shoes” (p 182).

One By One in the Darkness

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Madden, Deirdre. One By One in the Darkness. London: Faber and Faber, 2003.

Three sisters have gathered at their childhood home in Northern Ireland for a visit. Cate, a journalist for a home/fashion magazine in London, is early for her annual visit; a detail that is not lost on older sister, Helen. Helen, a solicitor in Belfast, comes home every weekend, and Sally, the youngest and a teacher, already lives at home with their mother. None of the sisters are married. The story bounces between present day and the three sisters’s childhood in alternating chapters. Madden uses clever clues like the spelling of Cate/Kate to indicate past or present. When Kate became an adult she changed her name to Cate. So for chapters in the past it is Kate while for present-day chapters it is Cate. [As an aside, it reminded me of the movie ‘Sliding Doors.’ In one scenario Helen has cut her hair short and dyed in blonde while in another she leaves it long and dark. The difference helps the viewer tell the difference between the two story lines involving the same character.] Cate, Helen and Sally grew up in the 1960s and 70s during the Troubles and it’s this historical background that drives the present day story of the mid 1990s and the IRA ceasefire. There isn’t a plot to speak of, just the coping of four women after the death of the head of the household during the troubles. The only present day drama worth noting is Cate’s pregnancy.

Line I liked, “But she gained a dark knowledge that night which would never leave her” (p 130).

Reason read: I have read it somewhere that October is the best time to visit Ireland.

Book trivia: One By One in the Darkness was nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 1997.

Author fact: Madden won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 1987. The conditions of the prize? Write Irish lit (obviously) and be under 40 years of age. Interesting.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter simply called “Irish Fiction” (p 126).

Spooky October List

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The list is now down to one month! The reading year is nearly over. Here are the remaining books for November, the last month:

  1. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  2. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  3. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner

ON DECK FOR OCTOBER:

  1. Southpaw by Mark Harris
  2. Deafening by Frances Itani
  3. Going Wild by Robert Winkler
  4. One By One in the Darkness by Frances Itani
  5. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  6. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell (in audio)

FINISHED:

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
  3. Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  4. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  5. Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  6. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year. No, sorry – two years ago)
  7. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  8. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  9. Author, Author by David Lodge (audio)
  10. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  11. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  12. Bellwether by Connie Willis
  13. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist (audio)
  14. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  15. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  16. Billy by Albert French
  17. ADDED: Bit of Wit, A World of Wisdom by Yehoshua Kurland (Early Review book from LibraryThing)
  18. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
  19. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  20. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  21. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  22. Brushed by Feathers by Frances Wood
  23. Burning the Days by James Salter
  24. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  25. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  26. Cat Daddy: What the World’s Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean by Jackson Galaxy
  27. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  28. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  29. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  30. ADDED: City in the Sky by James Glanz
  31. City of Thieves by David Benioff
  32. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  33. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  34. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  35. Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  36. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  37. Difficult Young Man by Martin Boyd
  38. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  39. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  40. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  41. The Evolution of Jane by Catherine Schine
  42. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  43. Fanny by Edmund White
  44. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
  45. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  46. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  47. Flamboya Tree by Clara Olink Kelly
  48. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  49. Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Zabat Katz
  50. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  51. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  52. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  53. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  54. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  55. God: a biography by Jack Miles
  56. Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  57. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  58. Good City edited by Emily Hiestand
  59. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  60. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  61. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  62. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  63. Her by Christa Parravani
  64. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  65. Hole in the World by Richard Rhodes
  66. Home Before Dark by Susan Cheever
  67. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  68. Iliad by Homer
  69. Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  70. Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn (for LibraryThing’s Early Review program
  71. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  72. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  73. Liar’s Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis
  74. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  75. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  76. The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
  77. Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou for the Early Review Program
  78. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  79. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  80. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  81. Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  82. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  83. Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
  84. Outbreak of Love by Martin Boyd
  85. Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
  86. Path Between the Seas by David McCullough
  87. Patrimony: a true story by Philip Roth
  88. Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam
  89. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  90. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  91. Ready for a Brand New Beat by Mark Kurlansky
  92. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  93. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  94. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  95. Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
  96. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham – did not finish
  97. Star Beast by Robert Heinlein
  98. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  99. Suzy’s Case by Andy Siegel (as recommended)
  100. Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  101. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  102. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  103. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  104. This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakawila for LibraryThing
  105. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  106. True Crime: Real-Life Stories of Abduction, Addiction, Obsession, Murder, Grave-Robbing and More edited by Lee Gutkind (Early Review)
  107. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  108. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  109. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  110. When Blackbirds Sing by Martin Boyd
  111. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  112. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  113. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  114. Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
  115. Working Poor by David Shipler
  116. Year in Provence, a by Peter Mayle

POETRY COMPLETED:

  1. “Golden Angel Pancake House” by Campbell McGrath
  2. “Lepanto” by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
  3. “Listeners” by Walter De La Mare
  4. “Mandalay” by Rudard Kipling
  5. “Road and the End” by Carl Sandburg
  6. “Sea-Fever” by John Masefield
  7. “Winter” by Marie Ponsot
  8. “In My Craft or Sullen Art” by Dylan Thomas
  9. The Long Hill” by Sarah Teasdale
  10. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

SHORT STORIES COMPLETED:

  1. “Here’s a Little Something” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  2. “Big Me” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  3. “Servants of the Map” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servant of the Map)
  4. “The Cure” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servants of the Map)
  5. “In the Land of Men” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  6. “Goodbye Midwest” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  7. “Ado” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  8. “At the Rialto” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  9. “A Tiger-Killer is Hard To find” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  10. “After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  11. “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  12. “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  13. “A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)
  14. “Watson and the Shark” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)

NEXT YEAR:

  1. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow (as previously mentioned)
  2. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell (as previously mentioned)
  3. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin – I just realized this was supposed to be read way back in February in honor of Ha Jin’s birth month. How I missed it is beyond me. Ugh

A Bit of Wit, a World of Wisdom

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Kurland, Yehoshua. A Bit of Wit, a World of Wisdom: Penetrating Thoughts That Open the Heart and Stir the Soul Through Humor. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing, 2013

A Bit of Wisdom starts off a bit slowly. Before getting to the heart of the humor and wisdom there is the title page, dedication, memorials, table of contents, preface, acknowledgments, and introduction to get through. While each of these sections is not overly long I am betting many people will skip some if not all of them to get to the first chapter. Each chapter follows a format: starts with a joke and ends with a moral essay. Kurland believes education is easier through the universal language of humor. The only story I did not find a connection with was “Busted Story.” I felt it missed the mark somehow. My favorite story was “You’re Never Alone.” I could appreciate the idea that spiritual guidance is there if we need it.

Kurland previously published A Time to Laugh, A Time to Listen which sounds like another version of A Bit of Wit, a World of Wisdom.

At Home in the Heart of Appalachia

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O’Brien, John. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001.

Quite simply, At Home in the Heart of Appalachia is about family and home. However, right from the beginning you know there is a darker story bubbling under the guise of a memoir about a place. The quote on page three is very telling, “The flurry of phone calls two days ago made it clear that my presence would only add the family stress.” Later you learn that father and son have not spoken in 18 years. This is the backbone of O’Brien’s story. He weaves family memories and specific anecdotes of his dad into the landscape of Appalachia. A secondary motive is to make excuses and offer explanations for the misconceptions about Appalachians in the areas surrounding Franklin, West Virginia. Time and time again O’Brien refers to the region as “redneck” or “hillbilly” or “backward.” It is a way of life that is complicated and simple all at once.

Endearing quotes and whatnot: “West-By God-Virginia,” and “I often thought of my father that summer but did not call because of my own emotional tangle” (p 193), and “I sometimes think there is a tragedy at the center of every family that never stops reverberating” (p 210).

Reason read: The Old Time Fiddle Fest is held in September.

Author fact: At Home in the Heart of Appalachia is John O’Brien’s first book.

Book trivia: One of the best things about At Home in the Heart of Appalachia is the unique photographs. They are randomly throughout the text rather than in a chronological clump in the middle of the book.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Approaching Appalachia” (p 22).

Last Supper

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McCarry, Charles. The Last Supper. Read by Stefan Rudnicki. Blackstone Audio, 2006.

Paul Christopher is a CIA man who was raised around dark secrets. His parents smuggled Jews out of Germany via boat to Denmark during World War II when he was just a child. As a teenager he remembers he and his American father being removed from Germany while his German mother was held behind. This separation and the need to find her prompted Paul’s father to join the CIA. Following in his father’s footsteps after his murder, Paul also joins the “The Outfit.” The Last Supper spans all of the major conflicts between World War I and the Vietnam War. Stay on your toes because this is fast paced and involves many different characters who may or may not be spies.

Can I just say I love Stefan Rudnicki’s reading voice? He and his accents are great!

Edited to add: I didn’t get the opportunity to quote anything from The Last Supper because I experienced it in audio form. But, there was a few lines about running that I wanted to remember so I borrowed the book specifically so I could find the passage and quote it properly. So, here it is: “Only a bourgeois fool doesn’t know instinctively the deep spiritual meaning of running…It’s tremendously ritualistic. You put om a sweat suit and tennis shoes with funny soles that cost a hundred dollars and are all wound around with dingy adhesive tape, and you run through the public streets, dripping with sweat. It gives you shin splints and snapped Achilles tendons and wobbly knees but in compensation you build up your state of grace and these marvelous muscles” (p 288).

Reason read: the Cold War ended in September.

Author fact: According to the back of The Last Supper McCarry was an intelligence officer working deep undercover during the Cold War.

Book trivia: While McCarry wrote Paul Christopher as a series character the chronology is not based on publication. I read The Last Supper (published in 1983) before Tears of the Giraffe (published in 1974), but I don’t think it matters.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Cold War Spy Fiction” (p 61).

Light Infantry Ball

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Basso, Hamilton. The Light Infantry Ball. New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1959.

Basso takes an entire South Carolina community and brings it to life during the Civil War era though the story revolves around John Bottomley. He has been educated in the North (New Jersey) and had plans of becoming a writer when family duty obligates him to return to his family’s rice plantation. His life during this time is one of isolation because he is in love with a married woman and no one can understand his “pro-North” views. It doesn’t help that he is confused about his feelings concerning slavery. He grows more and more aware of his surrounding society as time goes on especially when it comes to the married woman. Later, after a stint in government, Bottomley finally joins the military to aid in the war. Guilt had finally gotten to him. Parallel to these life changes is the story of Bottomley’s brother and his mysterious disappearance after a murder.

Lines I liked, “He worked long, read much, and spoke little” (p 22), “…he had the sense of a door being thrown wide open and of looking into a stale, closed-off room strewn with the debris of a hundred bitter quarrels dragged across the years” (p 252-253) and finally my favorite, “War was war, yes, but even in war there were civilized standards to maintain” (p 324).

Reason read: Basso was born in September.

Author trivia: Basso wrote 15 books before his death. I am only reading a handful of them.

Book fact: The Light Infantry Ball is a prequel to The View From Pompey’s Head.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Hamilton Basso: Too Good To Miss” (p 32).

Wolves of Willoughby Chase

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Aiken, Joan. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. New York: Dell Yearling, 1962.

The premise of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase is that danger lurks outside the walls of Willoughby Chase in the form of wolves, but it also lurks within in the form of an wicked governess, a different kind of wolf. After Bonnie’s parents depart for a trip Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia are left alone with Miss Slighcarp, a vicious woman determined to make their lives a living hell. A once warm and happy home is turned into a dirty, cold prison. Just when Bonnie and her cousin think it can’t get any worse they are sent off to an orphanage. It takes some trickery and a lot of help from outside friends for the two cousins to make their escape.
As an aside, I have never lived in an area overrun with any dangerous wild animal. Bonnie’s journey to Willoughby Chase is harrowing. The threat of attack by wolves is constant and astounding, especially when one is able to get on the train through an open window.

Even though this was geared towards children I was impressed with vocabulary. there were even a few words I had to look up: crenelated, oubliette and pelisse.

Quotes I liked, “She was cordially hated by the whole school” (p 113).

Reason read: Joan Aiken was born in September.

Author fact: Aiken won the Lewis Carroll award for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.

Book trivia: On the edition I read Edward Gorey drew the cover illustration.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter “Best for Teens” (p 21).

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

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Sijie, Dai. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. New York: Random House, 2002.

This is the story of two Chinese teenage boys exiled to a remote mountain village for “re-education” during the 1970s; during the Cultural Revolution. In Part I in between bouts of grueling hard labor in the mines they meet the beautiful daughter of the local tailor. She is “the little Chinese seamstress” of the title. In Part II Luo and the unnamed narrator have a friend they call Four-Eyes. A myopic boy who has a mysteriously suitcase full of banned books. When Four-Eyes begrudgingly gives them a decrepit copy of Balzac the boys are hooked. Luo takes the forbidden story to the Little Chinese Seamstress and woos her with words. In Part III the boys grow careless with their knowledge of the forbidden books, the little Chinese seamstress becomes pregnant and life for all three changes.

Quotes that grabbed me, “The flirtation turned into a grand passion” (p 110), “After all, how could I die now, without having known love or sex, without having taken free individual action against the whole world…?” (p 114) and “The medical intervention was a success” (p 173).

Reason read: According to a bunch of travel sites September in China is beautiful. In honor of beautiful China in September…

Author fact: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is Dai Sijie’s first book.

Book trivia: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress became a national bestseller and in 2002 it was adapted into a movie.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “China Voices” (p 54).

City in the Sky

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Glanz, James and Eric Lipton. City in the Sky: the Rise and Fall of the World Trade Center. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2003.

Because City in the Sky was written just two short years after the horrific events of September 11, 2001 and the spectacular collapse of the World Trade Center towers it is easy to accuse Glanz and Lipton of jumping on the 9/11 bandwagon and capitalizing on an unprecedented tragedy. But, the events of 9/11/2001, specifically the seemingly impossible collapse of the towers doesn’t appear in the narrative until the very end – practically the last chapter. Instead, Glanz and Lipton start from the very beginning. They present the key players and historical events in a tightly written account of how the World Trade Center went from an ambitious idea to an iconic city in the sky. To read City in the Sky is to witness the conception, birth, life and ultimate death of a New York City and world icon. Just like the Rockefeller ancestors before him, David Rockefeller harnessed his ambition and went head to head with shop keepers, politicians and naysayers to build an architectural masterpiece.

Reason read: September 11th, 2001. Need I say more?

As an aside – I had to ask my cousin for clarification on this since I saw the name “Boody” several times in the index. He confirmed that my father’s second cousin was Irving Rickerson Boody. Rick’s father was Irving. The connection to the World Trade Center? Irving (senior) founded the first company to occupy the World Trade Center. Hmmmm.

Quotes that stuck with me, “But common sense does not always prevail in New york” (p 47).

Book trivia: City in the Sky includes some great photos, including one of the directory for the WTC. Boody was on the 11th floor in suite # 1103.

Authors fact: Glanz and Lipton both worked for the New York Times at the time City in the Sky was published.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Building Blocks” (p 37).

Child That Books Built

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Spufford, Francis. The Child That Books Built: a Life in Reading. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2002.

The Child That Books Built is an explanation for an addiction. Francis Spufford’s addiction. Right up front Spufford admits to his insatiable need to read, starting when he was a young child. He would explain his relationships with books as such, “Reading catatonically wasn’t something I chose to do…the stopping my ears with fiction was non-negotiable” (p 2). Once he gets his explanations out of the way he goes on to explain how all the reading he had done as a child shaped his world as an adult. Drawing on psychology and philosophy to make his points Spufford connects the world of Narnia to that of religious adoration; the Little House on the Prairie to that of family and community.

Quote that caught me off guard for its timing: “No addiction is ever explained by examining the drug. the drug didn’t cause the need. A tour of a brewery won’t explain why somebody became an alcoholic” (p 11). Wow. Wow. Wow.

Reason read: The Library of Congress National Book Festival is in September. This year it is the weekend of the 21st.

Author fact: Spufford also wrote I May Be Some Time for which he won the Sunday times Young Writer award in 1997.

Book trivia: Despite being short (only 210 pages) this book packs a punch. Be prepared.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Books About Books” (p ) and from More Book Lust in the introduction (p ix).