Sweet September List

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The days are getting shorter. The nights are cooling down. Summer is practically all but over. It’s time to turn my attention to school and cozying up to a warm fire with a good book, or two, or three:

  1. Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman
  2. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall
  3. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury
  4. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway
  5. A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (E-book)
  6. ADDED: The Soul of All Living Creatures by Vint Virga (Early Review for LibraryThing)

Here is how the rest of year eight (only two months) should go:

  1. Andorra by Peter Cameron (November)
  2. Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen (November)
  3. Beaufort by Ron Leshem* (November)
  4. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice (October)
  5. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney (November)
  6. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter (October)
  7. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan* (October)
  8. Grass Dancer by Susan Power (November)
  9. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman (October)
  10. You Get What You Pay For by Larry Beinhart (November)

*Planned as audio books

FINISHED:

  1. Absolute Zero by Helen Cresswell*
  2. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
  3. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow*
  4. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  5. Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
  6. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler.
  7. Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  8. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser
  9. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh
  10. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  11. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  12. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks*
  13. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West (DNF)
  14. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
  15. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  16. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink
  17. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams
  18. Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
  19. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  20. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire*
  21. Dancer and the Thief by Antonio Skarmeta
  22. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall
  23. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes (DNF)
  24. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  25. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
  26. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  27. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam
  28. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  29. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  30. First Man by Albert Camus
  31. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  32. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin
  33. French Revolutions* by Tim Moore.
  34. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley
  35. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
  36. Herzog by Saul Bellow
  37. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  38. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow – attempted
  39. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman
  40. In the Graveyard of Empires by Scott Jones*
  41. Inside Passage by Michael Modzelewski
  42. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating
  43. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  44. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  45. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith
  46. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  47. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch
  48. Lotus Eaters by Tatjani Soli
  49. Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks
  50. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  51. Neighborhood Heroes by Morgan Rielly
  52. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  53. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  54. Oedipus by Sophocles
  55. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  56. Price of Silence by Liza Long
  57. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  58. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  59. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro*
  60. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  61. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart
  62. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
  63. Running for Mortals by John Bingham
  64. Seeing in the Dark by Timothy Ferris
  65. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff
  66. Thrush Green by Miss Read*
  67. ADDED: Toronto by Charles Way
  68. Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland
  69. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  70. Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook.
  71. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley
  72. Zero Days by Barbara Egbert

Poetry:

  • “Aftermath” ~ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon
  • “Romance” ~ a poem by W.J. Turner
  • “Kubla Khan” ~ a poem by Samuel T. Coleridge

Short Stories:

  • “The Huckabuck Family” by Carl Sandburg
  • “How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life” by Hannah Tinti
  • “Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
  • “Thirty Year Old Women Do Not Always Come Home” by Mark Winegardner
  • “Birdland” by Michael Knight
  • “Killer Inside Me” by Jim Thompson
  • “Down There” by David Goodis
  • “Crossing the Craton” by John McPhee.
  • “Lukudi” by Adrianne Harun
  • “The Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus” also by Adrianne Harun
  • “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” by Jorge Luis Borges

For another year:

  • Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith.

Remains of the Day

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Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day. Read by Simon Prebble. Tantor Audio, 2012.

Stevens is a dignified butler who has been given some well deserved time off from his American employer, Mr. Farraday. Mr. Farraday has also given Stevens the use of his vehicle (including fuel), urging Stevens to take a road trip. But, Remains of the Day isn’t really about the vacation of Stevens, but rather the memory lane Stevens end up traveling down. On his driving tour Stevens thinks back over his years as a butler first with Lord Darlington and then with Mr. Farraday after Farraday purchases Darlington Hall and its contents, including the servants (“the whole experience” as he says). Heavy on Stevens’s mind is his he spent working with housekeeper Miss Kenton and his strained relationship with his now deceased father. All three were employed together with Lord Darlington. I have to admit, as an emotional person, the passing of Stevens’s father and how Stevens reacts was somewhat disturbing. If you read the book, pay attention to when Stevens tells a guest the doctor has been called. The guest thinks Stevens has called the doctor for his ailing feet (for he had just asked Stevens for bandages) and Stevens lets him think as much even though his father has just died, the real reason for the call.
Remains of the Day is more flashbacks than present day story. Stevens takes you on a journey to discover what it means to have dignity. He reveals a world where being proper is more important than having sentiment. He explores the meaning of loyalty not only to an employer, but to oneself.

Reason read: This is a companion read to A Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee (which does not take place in Sri Lanka. See BookLust Twist for further details) but August is the bets time to visit Sri Lanka, or so I am told.

Author fact: This is Ishiguro’s third novel.

Narrator trivia: this is the second audio book I have listened to narrated by Simon Prebble. The first was Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

Book trivia: Remains of the Day was made into a movie in 1993 and starred Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. It received eight Academy Award nominations. Not too shabby. This is definitely one I want to put on my list to see.

BookLust Twist: Mentioned more than one in Book Lust and then again in More Book Lust. In Book Lust in the chapter called “Companion Reads” (p 65) – which is why I am reading Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee at the same time. Also, in the chapter called “100 Good Reads, Decade By Decade (1980s)” (p 179). Remains of the Day is also from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Sri Lanka: Exotic and Troubled” (p 212). Interestingly enough, Remains of the Day has nothing to do with Sri Lanka and is only mentioned in this chapter to describe the style of another book.

As an aside, I plan to go through all Book Lusts (Book Lust, More Book Lust and Book Lust To Go) to see how many books have nothing to do with the chapter they are mentioned in. I am curious to see how many books that eliminates – not that I won’t read them…

Briar Rose

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Yolen, Jane. Briar Rose. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2002.

Don’t let this book fool you. It may be young adult. It may be a quick read, but the subject matter and the crafty way in which it was written is absolutely brilliant. On her deathbed, Grandma “Gemma” makes youngest granddaughter, Becca, promise to learn the story of Gemma’s past. She claims to be the real Briar Rose. Along with her two older sisters, Becca has heard the fairy tale of Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty all her life. It’s the only bedtime story Gemma would ever tell. Now Becca believes there is some similarities between the princess and her very own grandmother. Could Gemma really be Sleeping Beauty? Keeping the promise she made to her grandmother and with the help of a journalist friend, Becca sets out to uncover the mystery. The clues take her to Poland, specifically Chelmno, Hitler’s extermination camp during the Holocaust. Becca meets Josef Potacki and the pieces fall into place. Woven throughout Becca’s story is Gemma’s bedtime story and Josef’s story of survival. The present and past mesh together to tell a deeply moving tale of courage and love.

Quote that grabbed me, “It was hard not to be sacrificed when the other man was the one in power” (p 173).

My only gripe? The brand name dropping to indicate one of the sister’s wealth. Vuitton. Mercedes. Ferragamo. The sisters themselves factored so little in the story it would have suffice to say the mink coat wearing one was extremely wealthy and couldn’t be bothered with her grandmother’s mystery.

As an aside, There was a part in Briar Rose where I was reminded of Dave Matthews, “A hundred years is forever when you’re just a little kid.” See if you can find that place in the book.

Reason read: this was thrown on the August list because I needed something short to take to Colorado with me, but ended up reading it over the weekend…just before leaving! Read in honor of a Polish Music Festival that takes place in August.

Author fact: I don’t know where to begin with Ms. Yolen. Right away, I could tell she knew my part of the world (the mention of Cabot Street in Holyoke was the first clue but Jessie’s House, School Street, and the Polish Club were dead give aways). But, once I visited her website I was blown away. She has won too many award to mention here. Just visit her site for yourself.

Book trivia: Briar Rose won the Mythopoeic Society Fantasy Award and was nominated for a Nebula in 1993.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust to Go in the chapter called “Polish Up Your Polish” (p 183).

Toronto

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Charles Rawlings-Way and Natalie Karneef. Toronto: City Guide. Melbourne: Lonely Planet, 2007.

This travel guide of Toronto is mostly black and white; a no nonsense kind of guide. It doesn’t need to show off with lots of glossy photos and trivial details. Only eight pages are dedicated to artistic shots around town and, in fact, is the only section that isn’t all that informative. The contents of the guide are well organized into various activities. If you are in town on business and only have time for finding restaurants, page 91 is where you want to start. I appreciated the little blue boxes with extra tidbits of information. In the History section (p 38) you will find a box that talks about the ghosts that haunt the Elgin Theatre and Old City Hall. Sign me up! The only drawback to this guide is the map section. Instead of a fold-out map showing the entire city, the maps are page by page like an atlas. There is overlap between downtown north and downtown south so that you can make the necessary connections but it would have been easier to have the map all on one page. But, to be fair, with everyone having gps on their smartphones, I doubt a printed map really matters anymore.

Reason read: Natalie Merchant performing in Toronto in May 2015.

Book trivia: I really enjoyed the inclusion of the subway map. Very cool.

 

Bloodlines

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Conant, Susan. Bloodlines. New York: A Perfect Crime Book, 1992.

This is one of those quick reads that you almost feel like reading over again because it goes by so fast. Holly Winter is a writer who has a column about dogs. In her spare time she trains, shows and is obsessed with Alaskan malamutes. Be prepared for overkill. Holly is extremely passionate about dogs of all kinds and loathes puppy mills. When she discovers a malamute for sale at a pet shop she just knows the dog came from a puppy mill. Only going to investigate the malamute, Holly gets caught up in a mystery when the owner of the pet shop is brutally murdered and the malamute goes missing. Holly is straight out of Murder, She Wrote as she tackles solving the crime by tangling with tough guys and other shady characters.

Confessional: I get snagged by repetitiveness. If something occurs too often *in any situation and not just books* it sticks out like a throbbing thumb to me. In this case, Holly Winter’s condescending tone when she is explaining something. Here’s what I mean. These are direct quotes from the book:

  • “You know her? If you don’t know what I knew…”
  • “Maybe you don’t know the breed.”
  • “You may not realize.”
  • “Maybe you’ll understand. If not I’d better explain.”
  • “Doesn’t everyone know this? Maybe not.”
  • “In case you didn’t know…”
  • “If you know anything about obedience…”
  • “In case you’ve spent the last two years exiled…let me explain.”
  • “Before I tell you…I want to make sure that, in case you are a newcomer, you understand something…”
  • “In case you aren’t a specialist in AKC regulations, let me explain.”
  • “You probably don’t need a translation but just in case…”
  • “You do know about that, don’t you?”
  • “You do know how to read a pedigree, don’t you?”
  • “Stranger around here?”
  • “You know what a palindrome is, don’t you?”
  • “Have I lost you?”
  • “…in case I’ve lost you…”
  • “You know what an Elkhound is?”

And the list goes on and on. It happens enough times that it sticks out to me. The more it sticks out, the more I am aware of it…and it drives me crazy.

Reason read: Dog Day is August 26th.

Author fact: Conant won the Maxwell Award for Fiction Writing in 1991. By the titles of her books you can tell she is a huge dog lover.

Book trivia: While I was bogged down by how didactic Holly could be, other people complained about how “preachy” she was about puppy mills. For some reason that was more forgivable to me. People tend to write about what they know. It’s obvious Conant has strong opinions about puppy mills so she’s going to express those opinions through Holly.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter “I Love a Mystery” (p 118).

Beirut Blues

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al-Shaykh, Hanan. Beirut Blues. Translated by Catherine Cobham. New York: Anchor Book, 1995.

In the beginning, reading Beirut Blues seems like being dropped in the middle of a multi-person conversation without knowing who is involved or what they are talking about. There is a tedium to filling in the gaps as you are reading. With “Dear —” it is obvious from the beginning someone is writing a letter. It takes a little deduction to figure out who is writing the letter and who is her intended audience. There is a lot to fill in within the lines. But, throughout Asmahan’s letters there is passionate reverberation and a running commentary on her beloved Beirut before, during and after the civil war. Most of these letters will probably never reach their intended audience and that fact adds another layer of mystery to them. One of the saddest letters to read is the one Asmahan writes to her grandmother. She focuses on her grandfather’s emotional and physical relationship romance with a much younger girl. It becomes startling clear when Asmahan sees the girl’s bruises and pictures her grandfather leaving them on his young lover. It’s a rude awakening to a different culture. Other poignant letters include ones to the war and to the land of Beirut. But, my favorite part was the end, when Asmahan has to decide whether or not to leave war torn Beirut for France to be with her married lover. It’s a scene rife with indecision and torn loyalties.

Probably my biggest gripe about Beirut Blues is the sheer number of people mentioned in Asmahan’s letters. I have kept a running list of the names dropped: Afaf, Ali, Aida, Bassam, Fadila, Fatima, George, Hayat, Hussein, Hasoun, Isaf, Jill, Jummana, Juhayna, Jawad, Kazim, Karki, Lalya, Munir,  Morrell,  Mustafa, Musa, Naima, Naser, Nizar, Nikola, Nadine, Ricardo,  Simon, Salim, the Spaniard, Suma, Safiyya, Vera, Yvette, Zaynab, Zemzem, Zakiyya (not counting grandmother and grandfather) and I know I have missed a few. To my ignorant American ears these names are confusing. For all I know they are not only the proper names of people but of places as well.

Line I liked, “My appeal, even my normal liveliness, must have deserted me” (p 64). Here’s another: “I expected some burning emotion to be rekindled between us, but the kiss ended quickly and there was no aftermath” (p 72). And another: “…instead you sing the reality you live” (p 135). Last one, “Coming to this school, having new shoes and a mother in America, seemed to put a gleam on my mind as if I had polished it with almond oil” (p 170).

Reason read: August 15th is the official Lebanese holiday Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

Author fact: Another al-Shaykh book on my challenge list is Women of Sand and Myrrh. I’m looking forward to reading it.

Book trivia: This is a book that requires a little patience to read. There is no pulse pounding plot, nor dilemma a hero must solve before the last page.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Leavened in Lebanon” (p 130).

Nickel and Dimed

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Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2001.

What started out as an idea for an article for Harper’s quickly blossomed into a full blown New York Times bestselling book. In 1998 Barbara Ehrenreich set out to research how anyone lived on minimum wage and as she put it, “the only way to find out was to get out there and get my hands dirty” (p 4). So, at a time when welfare reform was sending millions of women back into the workforce, for three months writer-by-trade, PhD educated Ehrenreich joined the unskilled labor force to see what it was all about. The emphasis of the experiment might have been on surviving the economy of 1998 but a byproduct of that experiment was the truth that the further down the class ladder one lived, the more invisible one became. Ehrenreich tried her hand at being a waitress, a maid, a healthcare aide, and a Wal-Mart associate. It’s this last position that was a real eye opener for me.
In the back of my mind I wondered how “honest” Ehrenreich’s experiment really was. No matter how terrible her situation she always knew she could escape it and at times, she fell back on her “real” life. When she had a skin ailment she used her real life connections to get medication without seeing a doctor.

Personally, I have never been homeless although I know people who were, by choice. There was a time when I was without health insurance, but admittedly, at the healthiest time of my life. I have held several jobs at one time, not because I needed them, but because I wanted to make as much money as I could. I’ve never had a job that required a drug test of any kind. For all these reasons and more I couldn’t put myself in Ehrenreich’s shoes.

Reason read: Ehrenreich was born in August.

Author fact: Ehrenreich has her own website here.

Book trivia: Considering the subject matter, you would not think Nickle and Dimed would be funny in any way, but Ehrenreich writes with such sly humor that you can’t help buy crack a smile or maybe even giggle.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Guilt Inducing Books” (p 110).

Fordlandia

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Grandin, Greg. Fordlandia: the Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2009.

This is the story of what happens when someone with a boatload of money gets a hair-brained idea: they can fund their outlandish dream but have no idea how to actually accomplish it. Henry Ford found success with his motor company and felt that this same success would translate well in a foreign country he knew little to nothing about. (After all, he had lots of advisers for that.) Suffice it to say, Ford started out with good intentions. He needed a new place to grow high quality rubber but that project quickly morphed and ended up growing into the more ambition dream of creating a civilized utopia in the wilds of an Amazonian jungle. Other well known companies set up the essentials of home away from home in places like Cuba and Mexico, but Ford wanted to create a brand new society. He envisioned shopping centers, ice cream parlors, sidewalks for the civilized townspeople to stroll upon, electricity, running water…all the comforts of middle America in a remote riverside section of Brazil. It’s ironic that Ford felt he was rescuing a vision of Americana so far from “home.” Of course, these visions were bound to fail. Ford ran into obstacles practically every step of the way. Clearing the land of massive tangle of jungle and vines wasn’t as easy as any of his advisors thought it would be. Engineers didn’t properly grade the roads causing washouts every time it rained….in a rainforest. The humidity would rust saw blades faster than the men could wear them out on the difficult bark of foreign trees. Keeping skilled labor on the job proved to be just as difficult. Diseases unfamiliar to mid westerners plagued the workforce. Prohibition wasn’t law in Brazil so those men who didn’t quit were often drunk thanks to rum boats moored on the river. Then there were the insects that plagued the crops. The list goes on. As you can imagine, all of this would lead to a breakdown. Of course this story can’t have a happy ending, but it is fascinating all the same.

Quotes I liked, “The Amazon is a temptress: its chroniclers can’t seem to resist invoking the jungle not as a ecological system but as a metaphysical testing ground; a place that seduces man to impose his will only to expose that will as impotent” (p 6),  and “At night vampire bats often worked their way past window screens to feed, and since their razor sharp incisors could painlessly pierce flesh, the Americans would sleep through an attack, awaking to find their toes and ankles bloodied” (p 197).

Reason read: Believe it or not, August is reported as the driest month in the Amazon. If you can imagine that.

Author fact: Grandin is a Guggenheim fellow.

Book trivia: Fordlandia has a bunch of really great photographs. My favorite is titled, “Making a High Cut on a Big Tree” (p 174).

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter simply called “Amazonian” (p 17).

 

Absolute Zero

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Cresswell, Helen. Absolute Zero. Read by Clive Mantle. North Kingston, Rhode Island: BBC Audio, 2007.

As discovered in Ordinary Jack the Bagthorpe family is highly competitive. When we meet up with them in Absolute Zero they have taken their one-upman-ship to a whole new level by entering as many different contests as possible. Uncle Parker begins it all when he enters a slogan competition and it snowballs from there. As each member begins to win something they become known as celebrities. Their fame grows to the point of commercials and live television. But, who knew Zero the dog would take center stage? As with Ordinary Jack hilarity ensues, especially when little cousin Daisy Parker moves on from pyromania to an obsession with water. I’ll say no more.

Reason read: Absolute Zero continues the Bagthorpe series started in July in honor of National Kids Month

Author fact: Cresswell was involved with writing television scripts and that comes out a little in Absolute Zero.

Book trivia: the audio is read by Clive Mantle and I have to admit, he had me laughing with his accents.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Best for Boys and Girls” (p 21). I should note that Pearl suggested reading all of the Bagthorpe books in the series, but since they weren’t individually indexed, per my rules, I am skipping them.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

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Maguire, Gregory. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. Read by Jenny Sterlin. New York: Recorded Books, 2000.

Maguire likes to shake things up. We all know the story of Cinderella: ugly and horrid stepsisters, raging and sinister stepmother, glass slipper, dashing prince, yada, yada, yada. Maguire unhinges these characters, as if from a magic box, and sets them down as completely different entities. I think in order to enjoy Maguire’s adaptation of any fairytale you have to throw out everything you think you know about the villain and start over. He is adamant that every “bad guy” has a reason for his or her unpleasantness. Take the wicked stepmother in Cinderella. In Maguire’s Confessions her husband has been murdered. Fleeing England with her two small daughters she lands penniless in Holland. She has to rely on the kindness of strangers to feed three mouths and she is savvy enough to know her daughter (Iris and Ruth) are too ugly to be married off to wealthy suitors. They are going to need significant dowries if they are going to attract any man at all. She might not be the nicest of mothers, but it is obvious she is trying to look out for her children and herself. Survival of the fittest. In Maguires’ tale, Iris and Cinderella (known as Clara here) are tolerated friends. They even grow to care about one another. Of course there is a prince but the twist here is that he is intrigued by ugly stepsister Iris because she is witty and can carry on a conversation, unlike the throngs of pretty girls his mother has set him up to meet.
Probably the most interesting spin on Maguire’s take on Cinderella is the commerce side of the times. The tulip trade and art world of Holland play prominent roles in the story. Real events surrounding the crash of the tulip trade and actual artists of the region are cleverly portrayed. My favorite part is when Iris takes an interest in painting and takes lessons with the Master. Turns out, she’s not half bad!

Reason read: August is National Fairy Tale month.

Author fact: Maguire has roots in Albany, New York.

Book trivia: Confessions is Maguire’s second book. The illustrations are amazing (print version, of course).

Audio trivia: Jenny Sterlin does a great job with the accents.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Fractured Fairy Tales” (p 94).

Long Way From Home

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Busch, Frederick. Long Way From Home.New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1993.

How to describe Long Way From Home? Part dark fairytale, part family drama, part commentary on mothers and adoption? All of the above. Each section of the book is separated by a familiar drawing of Mother Goose, looking quite witchy. It sets a subliminal tone. But, onto the plot: Pennsylvanian Sarah has been wanting to reach out to her biological mother for some time. An ad promising a possible reunion prompts her to abandon all common sense as well as her husband and son. Husband, Barrett, convinced he knows where she went, dumps five year old Stephen with his New York in-laws and sets off for the southwest. Meanwhile, biological mom Gloria is cooking up home remedy concoctions and getting ready to kidnap her new-found grandson. Each character is obviously searching for something other than the obvious. Each are on a self destructive path.
My one complaint? You don’t really get to know the characters well enough to understand their motives or really care. Except Stephen. Little five year old Stephen is exactly how you would expect a boy with a mentally unstable mother and a neutered father. Only grandmother Lizzie remains a solid, reliable presence in his life.

Line I liked, “You think you don’t leave a trace, she thought, and then you’re found” (p 42).

Reason read: August is Busch’s birth month. Nothing fancier than that.

Author fact: Frederick Busch was a New York man through and through. He was born there and died there.

Book trivia: Grandmother Lizzie Bean appears in two other Busch tales, Rounds (1979) and Sometimes I Live in the Country (1986).

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Frederick Busch: Too Good To Miss” (p 48).

Caroline’s Daughters

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Adams, Alice. Caroline’s Daughters. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1991.

I have to preface this by saying this was a very quick read. The characters keep you glued to the page. One of the major themes of Adams’s Caroline’s Daughters is dissatisfaction. To start with, Caroline has five daughters from three different marriages and each one couldn’t be more different from the another. The only thing they really have in common, besides their biological mother, is the need for something more in their lives. Eldest daughter Sage is a failing ceramics artist with a philandering husband. What disturbed me about her story is that everyone around her knows her husband is a cheat but no one has that conversation with her. Overweight Liza is mother to three but wants to be a writer. She is the only one who is truly satisfied, relationship-wise…at least she thinks she is (stay tuned). Fiona is a restauranteur who really doesn’t like food and can’t keep a boyfriend. Jill, as a stockbroker lawyer, is fixated on wealth so much so she has prostituted herself for the excitement and extra cash. Portia, the youngest, simply doesn’t know what she wants. Her sexuality as well as her entire life is ambiguous. True to all sibling rivalries, there is competition and jealousy among all five of them. In the midst of all this chaos is Caroline, powerless to help her daughters find their way. She has her own drama to deal with when her third husband suffers a debilitating stroke.
In addition to be a commentary on dissatisfaction, families and mother-daughter relationships, Caroline’s Daughters is a sharp look at San Francisco’s culture in the 1990s. Politics, economics, AIDS and sexuality are all common themes. It was interesting how many times Adams had a character wonder if someone in her life was gay or not.

Line that I liked, “However, despite herself she finds that she is hurrying faster, rushing against the possibility that this man could be someone she knows” (p 237). Adams is talking about the homeless, something San Francisco, as well as every other major city in the U.S., needs to address. Liza’s reaction to the homeless man is pretty typical of the wealthy.

Reason read: August is Adams’s birth month.

Author fact: There is a 1935 movie by the name of Alice Adams but it has nothing to do with author Alice Adams.

Book trivia: Caroline’s Daughters was published eight years before Adams’s death in 1999.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “A…Is For Alice” (p 1).

Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Terius

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Borges, Jorge Luis. “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Terius.” Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings. Translated. New York: New Directions, 1964.

With Uqbar being this elusive place I came to think of it as a Brigadoon of sorts. Borges opens the short story with this line, “I owe the discovery of Uqbar to the conjunction of a mirror and an encyclopaedia” (p3). But, the 11th volume of the encyclopaedia is quite the mystery. Tlon is a nonexistent country and Orbis Tertius is a planet with an unknown history. Does it really exist? The first person narrative struggles to learn more about this unusual place and has come to the conclusion it is a psychologically governed land that consists of a secret society comprised of arts and intellectuals.

Reason read: Borges was born in the month of August. Read in his honor.

Book trivia…I mean short story trivia: This is only 16 pages long. a very quick read (although I read it several times as there is a lot going on).

Author fact: Borges’s full name was Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges. Awesome name.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Travel to Imaginary Places” (p 236).

The August List

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I have no idea what is in store for August. I didn’t have any vacations planned. I didn’t have any stay-at-home plans. This was a month of wide open schedules with little to no expectation. However, and this is a BIG however, I was supposed to see Natalie Merchant twice in July. Due to illness the rest of her summer July tour dates were postponed with the promise of an attempt to reschedule. So. I thought of August. No luck, but the month did become just a little more interesting with a trip to Maine. And speaking of interesting, here’s the book list. It’s huge so I would like to think August is going to be filled with la-hazy days reading pool-side:

  1. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh
  2. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams
  3. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin
  4. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
  5. “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” a short story from Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges
  6. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch
  7. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro*
  8. ADDED: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
  9. ADDED: Absolute Zero by Helen Cresswell (to finish the series)

*Audio book Here is how the rest of year eight should go:

  1. Andorra by Peter Cameron (November)
  2. Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen (November)
  3. Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman (September)
  4. Beaufort by Ron Leshem* (November)
  5. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall (September)
  6. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice (October)
  7. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney (November)
  8. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter (October)
  9. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan* (October)
  10. Grass Dancer by Susan Power (November)
  11. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury (September)
  12. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman (October)
  13. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway (September)
  14. Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (September)
  15. You Get What You Pay For by Larry Beinhart (November)

*Planned as audio books

FINISHED:

  1. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
  2. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow*
  3. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  4. Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
  5. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler.
  6. Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  7. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser
  8. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  9. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  10. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks*
  11. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West (DNF)
  12. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
  13. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  14. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink
  15. Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
  16. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  17. Dancer and the Thief by Antonio Skarmeta
  18. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall
  19. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes (DNF)
  20. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  21. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
  22. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  23. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam
  24. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  25. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  26. First Man by Albert Camus
  27. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  28. French Revolutions* by Tim Moore.
  29. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley
  30. Herzog by Saul Bellow
  31. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  32. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow – attempted
  33. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman
  34. In the Graveyard of Empires by Scott Jones*
  35. Inside Passage by Michael Modzelewski
  36. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating
  37. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  38. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  39. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith
  40. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  41. Lotus Eaters by Tatjani Soli
  42. Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks
  43. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  44. Neighborhood Heroes: Life Lessons from the Greatest Generation by Morgan Rielly
  45. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  46. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  47. Oedipus by Sophocles
  48. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  49. ADDED: Price of Silence by Liza Long (an Early Review book for LibraryThing)
  50. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  51. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  52. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  53. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart
  54. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
  55. Running for Mortals by John Bingham
  56. Seeing in the Dark by Timothy Ferris
  57. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff
  58. Thrush Green by Miss Read*
  59. Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland
  60. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  61. Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook.
  62. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley
  63. Zero Days by Barbara Egbert

Poetry:

  • “Aftermath” ~ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon
  • “Romance” ~ a poem by W.J. Turner
  • “Kubla Khan” ~ a poem by Samuel T. Coleridge

Short Stories:

  • “The Huckabuck Family” by Carl Sandburg
  • “How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life” by Hannah Tinti
  • “Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
  • “Thirty Year Old Women Do Not Always Come Home” by Mark Winegardner
  • “Birdland” by Michael Knight
  • “Killer Inside Me” by Jim Thompson
  • “Down There” by David Goodis
  • “Crossing the Craton” by John McPhee.
  • Lukudi by Adrianne Harun
  • The Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus also by Adrianne Harun

For another year (because, as I said before, I screwed up):

  • Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith.

Ordinary Jack

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Cresswell, Helen. Ordinary Jack.New York: Macmillan Publishing, Co., 1977.

Jack Matthew Bagthorpe is one of four Bagthorpe children. He is convinced he is the ordinary one because all of his siblings have special talents or are considered “genius” except him. They are either mathematical, musical or sporty. Middle child Jack is none of these things. He (and his dog Zero) are practically ignored or shunned because of their lack of specialness. An accomplishment is a string in someone’s bow and Jack didn’t have a one. Uncle Parker is keen to Jack’s plight and sets out to make him extraordinary. Uncle Parker has decided Jack’s hidden talent will be the gift of prophecy, and later, of dowsing. The funny thing is, the Bagthorpe family come completely unglued when Jack’s “prophesies” start to come true. Of course, there is mayhem at the end. My favorite part is when Zero learns how to fetch. The family is completely dumbfounded by the event. You have to feel sorry for the dog!

Favorite line, “‘I have been given that information at least three times in the last hour and am by now in perfect possession of it'” (p 12).

Reason read: July is National Kids Month

Author fact: Cresswell also wrote for television.

Book trivia: Ordinary Jack is the first in the Bagthorpe Saga. I am only reading one other book in the series.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called ” Best for Boys and Girls” (p 21).