Tag: january

Eddie and the Cruisers

gr4c5Leave a comment

Kluge, P.F. Eddie and the Cruisers. Viking Press, 1980.

Reason read: Kluge’s birth month is in January. Read in his honor.

If you think about it, the premise for Eddie and the Cruisers is pretty simple. A year out of college, in 1958, Frank “Wordman” Ridgeway joins the band Eddie and the Parkway Cruisers. Front man Eddie is a charismatic and ambitious singer who knows his music is going to make it big. For awhile Eddie is right. He’s got the talent. He’s got the looks. He’s got the girl. Like all creatives, Eddie’s demise comes when he takes his music in another direction and his listeners don’t understand; worse, they hate it. Eddie rages into the night and has a horrible accident, ending his life. Back to narrator, Frank Ridgeway. Twenty years later, Frank is an English teacher and has put Eddie and the Cruisers far behind him. That is, until he starts hearing Cruisers songs on the radio and he is visited by a reporter wanting to know about recordings that went missing – Eddie and the Parkway Cruisers tape recordings from “that” night. Memories come flooding back and all of a sudden Wordman needs to know what happened to the rest of the band. More importantly, where are those tapes?
While the novel takes a dark and ominous turn towards the end, I enjoyed Frank’s naïve narrative. It truly was a coming of age story for the Wordman.

Author fact: Kluge wrote a bunch of books and I am reading seven of them for the Challenge.

Book trivia: Kluge is clever. There are a bunch of sly references that people might not get: Gary Gilmore. Do people even know who he is anymore? And who will get the “Fairly Ridiculous” reference? I only did because I went to the Teaneck Ridiculous (as apposed to the Madison campus Kluge referred to in the book).
Additional (obvious) book trivia: I think everyone knows Eddie and the Cruisers was made into a movie of the same name. I actually got to see it for the first time last weekend! And! And. And, there is a sequel…Eddie Lives! Great googly moogly!

Music (and you know there is going to be a lot): “Auld Lang Syne”, “Ballad of Davy Crockett”, Barry Manilow, Bee Gees, Bill Haley, Billy Eckstine, Bo Diddley, Bobby Freeman’s “Do You Want to Dance?”, Buddy Holly, Captain and Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together”, Carly Simon, Charlie and Inez Foxx, Chuck Berry, Coasters’ “Searchin'”, “Young Blood”, Debbie Reynolds’ “Tammy”, Del Vikings, Diana Ross, Dinah Washington, Donna Summer, Drifters’ “Ruby Baby”, Elvis Presley’s “Teddy Bear”, “Love Me Tender”, Eddie Cochran, Everly Brothers, Fats Domino, Frankie Laine, Frankie Lyman’s “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?”, Funky Company, Gene Vincent, Glenn Miller, Gogi Grant, Howlin’ Wolf, Ike Turner, Ink Spots, Isaac Hayes, James Brown, James Taylor, Janis Joplin, Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Whole Lotta Shaking Goin’ On”, Jim Croce’s “I Got a Name”, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Reed, John Denver, Johnny Lee, Johnny Mathis, Jose Feliciano, Judy Garland, Kay Kyser, Kris Kristofferson, LaVern Baker, Lee Andrews and the Hearts’ “Teadrops”, Leonard Warren, Liberace, Linda Ronstadt’s “Blue Bayou”, Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally”, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Mills Brothers, Muddy Waters, national anthem, Nolan Strong’s “The Wind”, Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay”, Pat Boone’s “Love Letters in the Sand”, Paul Anka’s “Having My Baby”, “Peggy Sue”, “Purple People Eater”, “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”, Ray Charles’ “Moonlight Gambler”, Rod Stewart, Roy Hamilton’s ” Ebb Tide”, Roy Orbison, Rufus Thomas, Russ Colombo, Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come”, the Stones, “Stranded in the Jungle”, “Sunday Kind of Love”, Teresa Brewer, “When the Moon Hits Your Eye Like a Big Pizza Pie”, Wayne Newton, and Woody Herman.

Eddie and the Cruisers Songs: On the Dark Side, Blue Lady, Down on My Knees, Far-Away Woman, Fast Exit, It’ll Happen Tonight, Leaving Town, Some Kind of Loving, These Oldies But Goodies Remind Me of You, the Tide, and Call On Me.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter “P.F. Kluge: Too Good To Miss” (p 139).

Atomic Habits

gr4c5Leave a comment

Clear, James. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results. Penguin RandomHouse, 2018.

Reason read: professional development for 2025.

Most of the advice in Atomic Habits may seem like common sense but really it is the advice that you don’t think to take. There are a myriad of tricks you can use to get ahead in life. Clear makes it abundantly easy to adopt many of them and he writes in a tone that is easy going and never didactic (he even throws in a Game of Thrones reference). Here are some of my favorites: think of getting ahead as a game, complete with competitive strategies and a well-defined playbook; reframe your why (saying “I do not smoke.” instead of “I am trying to quit.”) and you can learn a great deal by watching other successful people (what are their habits?). This last Clear advice is probably my favorite because I have always believed in what I call the Particle Theory. I honestly believe people come into your life for a very specific reason. When they leave your life as they often will, it is because you have used up their purpose or that reason for being in your life; you have gotten all that you could out of that relationship. I believe you will unconsciously pick up habits and personality traits from the people closest to you, whether you like it or not. How influential that person is to your life determines how steadfast the habit or trait will be.
If you are short on time, Clear also includes chapter summaries that are well thought out and detailed.

Favorite quote: “I sat in my car and cried as I flipped through the radio, desperately searching for a song that would make me feel better” (p 5). I have been there many times!

Music: Beyoncé.

Diaries of Kenneth Tynan

gr4c5Leave a comment

Tynan, Kenneth. The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan. Edited by John Lehr. Bloomsbury, 2001.

Reason read: Most people start a journal or diary in January; one filled with good intentions. This is in recognition of that practice.

What makes the diaries of Kenneth Tynan so fascinating is that he was a feared critic in his day but behind the scenes he was an insecure man. Outwardly, he didn’t suffer fools. Privately, even his diary entries could be scathing. The irony is that he would drop friendships when criticized…as if he couldn’t handle negativity aimed towards him. Underneath Tynan’s tough and snobby persona, truth be told, was a man who worried about appearances and cared what social circles accepted him. Example: he once did not want to attend a wedding because he did not have the proper attire, nor was he willing to rent the garb required. His diaries revealed an introspection and a strong desire to be loved by all. He loved to name-drop as if the glitterati of the day were his closest friends. In addition to being a running commentary on the who’s who of the day, Tynan tackled politics and even the philosophical concept of id, questioning what makes a soul. [As an aside, I have been bogged down by the word “my” for years. If your soul, body, and mind belong to “me” (my body, my soul, my mind), what or who is me?] His theory about Akhnaten is fascinating.
Overall, I found Tynan to be a sad individual. When Tynan’s wife reminds him of the declaration that his doctor warned against smoking – if he didn’t quit, he would be dead in five years (and he was), it broke my heart. Three years before his passing, as early as March 6th 1977, Tynan started writing about his funeral; what songs to play, etc. Diagnosed with emphysema, he was not in denial. He knew his time was limited. Like reading The Diary of Anne Frank I dreaded the coming end. Is it sacrilege to compare the two? Each journal entry nudged Anne and Kenneth closer to their demises.

As an aside, I was skeptical when I learned the Diaries of Kenneth Tynan only spanned the years from 1971 to 1980. He was born in 1927 so what happened to the rest of his diaries? Surely there was more to his life than nine years? Ah, but these were the most interesting of years!

Lines I liked, “…there is nothing more beautiful than the happy moments of unhappy men” (p 26), “Later I wrote her an appropriately corrosive letter” (p 77), and “You can accept the world; fight to change it; or withdraw from it” ( 380).
Phrases I liked, “radiant contempt” and “magnetic threat.”

Book trivia: the footnotes are helpful because it is basically a who’s who of celebrities and notables from the era. Tynan liked to name drop frequently. The footnotes also give further context or explanation to a vague comment. I have to admit they sometimes read like a gossip column, “so and so, the illegitimate child of so and so.”

Music: Adagio from Viviani’s Second Sonata for Trumpet and Organ, Al Jolson, Annie Ross, Bach, Barbra Streisand, Bartok, Beatles’ “A Day in the Life”, Benny Goodman, Carmen Miranda, Chevalier, Cohan’s “Give My Regards to Broadway”, Cole Porter, Charlie Parker, Danny Kaye, David Amram, Dinah Shore’s “Tess’s Torch Song”, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Hines, Edie Gorme, Ethel Merman, Frank Ifield, George Brassens, George Harrison, Gershwin, Goosens, Gracie Feilds’ “the Biggest Aspidistra in the World” and “Sigh No More”, Harry Belafonte, John Lennon, Kalner-Ruby’s “Show Me a Rose”, Lena Horne, Leonardo da Vinci’s Trattato della Pittura, “Lobby Song” “Mairzy Doats”, “Melody in 4F”, Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, Mick Jagger, Miles Davis, Nobel Sissle, Paul Desmond’s “Take Fire”, Puccini, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Flower Drum Song,” Ruth Etting, Salieri, Sandi Shaw’s version of “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me”, Schubert, Shostakovich’s 5th, Stan Getz, Steve Lawrence, “That Night in Rio”, and Wagner.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust from the chapter called “Journals and Letters: We Are All Voyeurs at Heart” (p 130).

Caspian Rain

gr4c5Leave a comment

Nahai, Gina B. Caspian Rain. McAdams, 2007.

Reason read: the Iran hostage crisis ended on January 20th, 1981. Caspian Rain takes place in Iran. Read to celebrate a moment in history.

Twelve year old Yaas tells the sad tale of her mother Bahar’s marriage to her father, Omid. Bahar had come from a poor family full of shame. Her mother was a seamstress who cannot sew and her father was a cantor who could not carry a tune. Why Omid would want to marry beneath him is anyone’s guess. Baha left school to get married during her eleventh grade year and not even a year into her marriage she was desperate to return to school. Iranian custom did not allow her to continue her education as a married woman. Like a child who keeps running away from home, Bahar kept trying to stretch her independence, only to be dragged back to the life of a housewife. One has to feel sorry for Bahar. The old adage is true: you do not know what you do not know. Bahar was so poor she didn’t recognize a poor gift as a snub or insult. Iranian culture states that a divorced woman is a shame upon the family. She who separates from her husband has no rights, no family, no home, no money; nothing to call her own. So when Omid starts a public affair with another woman, Bahar can do nothing but suffer the disgrace in silence. Nahai gracefully details the gender and religious expectations of life in Iran.
I think Americans have a difficult time with the characters of Caspian Rain because of the cultural divide. We cannot relate to a woman who suffers so much abuse. I know I had a difficult time with the sister who was repeatedly beaten and locked in a shed with pigeons. To escape cruelty she made the only logical decision available to her.

The best line in the whole book, “For every sin, a virtue; every cruelty, a measure of mercy” (p 229). So beautiful.

Author fact: Nahai also wrote Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith. I will be reading it in the month of June a few years from now.

Playlist: Nahai rarely mentions specific songs in Caspian Rain although there is plenty of opportunity. There is a character called the Opera Singer who tries to sing. There is a Tango Dancer who never names the songs she dances to by name. Of the music Nahai does mention: “On This Moonlit Evening”, Ringo Starr, and Doris Day.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the obvious chapter called “Iran” (p 109).

American Fuji

gr4c5Leave a comment

Backer, Sara. American Fuji. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2001.

Reason read: there is a interesting day in Japan called “Coming of Age” and it is celebrated in January as a national holiday. It is always the second Monday in January.

At first glance, American Fuji seems like a satire. The title of the book is tongue-in-cheek and the company Gaby Stanton works for is ridiculous. Gone with the Wind promises fantasy funeral services; even selling people travel to the moon to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” or the obvious “Fly Me to the Moon” for a loved one’s remains. A grieving American father came to Shizuoka, Japan, under the guise of promoting a self-help book, but really looking for answers as to why his teenage son was shipped home in a casket. Cody Thorn was an exchange student and only twenty years old. Japanese culture stonewalls his father, Alex Thorn, at every turn because he didn’t research his options before arriving. All he knew was that Gone With the Wind was responsible for sending his son’s body home so logically, he starts there. Interestingly enough, Gaby Stanton had three connections to Alex’s deceased son. She had been a professor at the University where Cody had been studying (until she was mystifyingly fired), she now works at the same funeral home that had unceremoniously shipped Cody’s body home after a motorcycle accident took his life, and her only Gone With the Wind client is the recipient of Cody’s transplanted heart. Here are some other coincidences that startled me. Alex Thorn travels to the university by himself and manages to meet the very professor who took Gaby’s job. He also meets Gaby’s British friend completely by accident as well.
Together, Gaby and Alex pair up to solve their individually mysteries. Throw in a chronic illness, corruption, the Japanese mafia, and the summer heat and cultural prejudices and there you have American Fuji. Despite being a busy book with too many coincidences, I enjoyed American Fuji.

Book trivia: American Fuji is Sara Backer’s first novel.

Author fact: according to the back flap of American Fuji, Sara Backer is a poet, essayist, and short fiction writer.

Because Gaby’s boss only speaks in Beatles lyrics, there were a few to mention. Here’s the whole playlist: Bach, Beatles, Beethoven, Brahms Fourth Symphony, “Camptown Races”, Chopin, Debussy, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon” and “My Way”, “Swan Lake”, “Hey Jude”, “I am the Walrus”, “Jingle Bells”, Karen Carpenter’s “Close to You”, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, “Revolution”, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”, “Whistle While You Work”, and “Yesterday”.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Japanese Journeys” (p 116).

Along the Ganges

gr4c5Leave a comment

Trojanow, Ilija. Along the Ganges. Haus Publishing Limited, 2005.

Reason read: In India there is a kite festival that happens every January on Makar Sankranti. It is part of Hindu mythology.

Ilija Trojanow’s adventure along the Ganges unveils a mysterious culture of mythology and tradition in India. Traversing by boat, train, and on foot, Trojanow and his companion take in the sights, smells, sounds, and textures of the Ganges and surrounding landscape. Other reviewers are correct in saying Trojanow writes in such a way that you are right with him for every mile in India. There were times when reading Along the Ganges that I was reminded of Jeffrey Tayler’s journey down the Congo in Facing the Congo. Like Tayler on the Congo, Trojanow needed protection while navigating the Ganges. A startling difference was that Tayler seemed to have researched his journey more thoroughly than Trojanow. Whereas Tayler carefully plotted his course, Trojanow admitted that he let the current take his boat wherever it wanted (and that turned out to be a mistake).
Interspersed between Trojanow’s narrative about the Ganges, he tells the story of Shiva and Parvati, the legend of the dolphin, and the divide between castes. He meets a myriad of people from all walks of life.

Line that startled me the most, “Whenever the river branched we let the current decide our direction” (p 107). In theory, that sounds like a wonderful, lackadaisical way to travel but I was surprised by the lack of research.

Author fact: Trojanow also wrote Mumbai to Mecca which is on my Challenge list.

Book trivia: It would have been great to see some photographs in this short (127 page) book.

I did not think there would be any music mentioned in Along the Ganges. It is not like Trojanow and his companion traveled with a radio. But there was! Here are the reference to musicians: Britany Spears and Michael Jackson!

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Sojourns in South Asia” (p 212).

Crazy Creek

gr4c5Leave a comment

Lampman, Evelyn Sibley. Crazy Creek. Doubleday & Co., 1948.

Reason read: When I was a child, every January I would chose a stack of books to read over the course of a year. This is in memory of that child.

In a nutshell, a young girl named Judy takes a refurbished boat out on Crazy Creek without knowing the river or how to control the boat. After she crashes the boat, two boys rescue her. Strangely enough, they have her last name. Stranger still, she recognizes one of them as her grandfather.
Confessional: when I realized how the ending was shaping up I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Wizard of Oz. I hope that wasn’t too much of a spoiler alert, but the conclusions are very similar. It also explained why Judy was never overtly homesick while away from her modern day family. She is away from her true family for a year and yet the only time she gets weepy is at Christmas, remembering their traditions.

Author fact: Lampman was born in 1908 and died in 1980.

Book trivia: Crazy Creek is not the most popular of books written by Lampman. The Shy Stegosaurus gets more attention. I’m not reading that one for the Challenge.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the introduction (p x).

Twice the Family

gr4c5Leave a comment

McGue, Julie Ryan. Twice the Family: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Sisterhood. She Writes Press, 2024.

Reason read: As a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing I get to read really interesting books. This is one I couldn’t put down.

Twice the Family is a narrative nonfiction about what it is like to grow up enduring circumstances, both unique and challenging. McGue tackles the emotional and psychological toll of what it means to be adopted in the 1950s. In those days, adoptions had their pros and cons. One good practice was keeping siblings together as much as possible. One mediocre practice was the well meaning but naïve practice of insisting adoptive parents match the orphan’s race and religion to eliminate too many questions later in life. One bad practice was to seal adoption records. A closed adoption meant people like McGue would never know the names of their birth parents or the circumstances surrounding their abandonment, for better or worse. In keeping with these practices, McGue was placed with a family with similar heritage, coloring, and religion. Her sister would go with her to this family but the twins couldn’t know anything about their birth parents. [In this day and age, with the progression of science and genealogy using DNA, McGue could probably get answers to her adoption questions, if she hasn’t already.]
McGue also delves into the mysteriously deep connection of twins, starting with what it must have been like to experience their birth. From their first breath together, McGue and her sister, Jenny, were inseparable. However, McGue doesn’t delve too deeply into the emotional repercussions of detaching herself from her twin despite their intrinsic bond. They even went to the same college and lived on the same dorm floor for a while. Only after they pledged different sororities did the twins begin to live unique lives.
While I thought Twice the Family was a highly entertaining story, I was distracted by McGue’s writing tic of ending chapters with ominous cliffhangers. After a while they reminded me of season finales of daytime television dramas. I know it is a play to keep the pages turning, but I was invested in her story without the dramatic teasers.

Author fact: McGue is also a columnist for the Beacher Newspapers.

Setlist: “All Are Welcome All Belong”, Neil Diamond’s “September Morn”, Pachelbel’s Canon, “Ave Maria”, “Happy Birthday”, “Frankie Valli’s “Love Will Keep Us Together”” and “You Are My Sunshine”.

First American

gr4c5Leave a comment

Brands, H. W. The First American: the Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. Doubleday, 2000.

Reason read: Benjamin Franklin was born in January. Read in his honor.

Any book you pick up by H.W. Brands is going to be entertaining. Never dry or boring, in First American, Brands not only brings his subject of Benjamin Franklin to living and breathing life, but also the era in which Franklin lived. Society, religion, politics, and the arts are vividly presented to the reader as the backdrop to Franklin’s life. For example, details like explaining how apprentices were not allowed to visit taverns, inns, or alehouses served to give insight into Franklin’s future beliefs. As a young man, he could not play cards, dice, or even enter into marriage. Franklin was essentially slaves with pay.
Brands also brings to light what an interesting man Benjamin Franklin became in his older years. His range of interests, his need for self-improvement, his contradictory beliefs, and his ambitions were nothing short of astounding. His goals and resolutions surrounding virtue and the way he went about trying to master his them were admirable for all mankind. Everyone knows the story of the silk kite and key, but who remembers Franklin deciding that Philadelphia needed more academia to teach the subjects that were useful to the youth? His quest for vegetarianism? His ability to change his mind about slavery?
With Franklin’s use of aliases (Silence Dogood, Martha Careful, Caelia Shortface, and Polly Baker to name a few), I wonder what Franklin would have thought about our ability to hide behind user names and criticize our fellow man for everything from the color of her skin to the way our neighbor mows the lawn.

Author fact: Even though Brands has written a plethora of books, I am only reading two for the Challenge: First American and The Age of Gold.

Book trivia: there are absolutely no photographs or illustrations of any kind in The First American. Maybe that is because we all know what Ben Franklin looks like? I would have liked to see maps of Philadelphia and Boston.

Nancy said: Pearl mentions Brands talent.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Founding Fathers” (p 91).

The Bell

gr4c5Leave a comment

Murdoch, Iris. The Bell. Viking Press, 1958.

Reason read: January is Female Mystery Month and so I am reading The Bell in honor of Iris Murdoch and her mysterious bell.

Iris Murdoch takes you into the religious world of Imber Abbey, a cloistered community of nuns. This devout group is about to receive a long awaited bell to replace one lost to magic and mystery. The Bell‘s plot focuses on a cast of damaged people living outside Imber Abbey: Paul Greenfield, there to translate fourteenth century manuscripts; his wife Dora, there because she feels obligated to stay in a loveless marriage; Michael, the leader of the lay community; Tobey, a curious man about to attend Oxford; Catherine, a beautiful woman about to entire Imber Abbey; her twin brother, Nick, there to be close to her one last time; and the old Abbess, the wise and all-seeing head of Imber Abbey.
Lurking in the background of The Bell is the legend of the original bell named Gabriel. The story goes, as Paul relayed to Dora, a fourteenth century nun was supposedly having an illicit affair but could not and would not confess to it. Because he could not punish the singular guilty woman, the Bishop cursed the entire abbey, causing the tower bell, the aforementioned Gabriel, to catapult itself (himself?) into a nearby lake. The guilty nun was so distraught by this phenomenon she was rumored to have drowned herself in the selfsame lake. When Gabriel unexpectedly resurfaces, with the help of Dora and Tobey, each character wonders what it could mean to Imber Abbey and to themselves.
Confessional: The character of Dora confused me almost as much as she confused herself. I wasn’t even sure I liked her. Extremely immature, she would make up her mind to not do something but then go ahead and the thing anyway (not buy multicolored skirts, sandals and jazz records, not go back to Paul, the abusive husband; not give up her seat on the train. I could go on). There is a dazed and confused ignorance to her personality that I found either charming or annoying, depending on the minute. Dora is described as an “erring” wife, but how errant can she with an abusive ogre of a husband? He is condescending and cruel, telling her she is not his woman of choice.

Lines I liked, “But even if she doesn’t care about her husband’s blood pressure she ought to show some respect for the boy” (p 213).
there is one scene that has stuck with me that I must share. Dora is attending the baptism of the new bell. On one side of her is her silently seething husband, Paul, who has her gripped violently by the wrist. On the other side of Dora is her former lover, a reporter there to cover the story of the bell. During the struggle to free herself from Paul’s torment, Dora drops a letter meant for a third man. The reporter is the one to successfully retrieve the missive. It is an incredibly short scene filled with tension.

Author fact: The Guardian has a number of great blog posts about Murdoch.

Book trivia: The Bell is Murdoch’s fourth novel. I am reading a total of twenty-six for the Book Lust Challenge.

Short playlist: Bach, “The Silver Swan”, “Monk’s March”, and Mozart.

Nancy said: Pearl listed all twenty-six Murdoch novels and put an asterisks by her favorites. Was The Bell a favorite? Read Book Lust to find out.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Iris Murdoch: Too Good To Miss” (p 161).

Tula Station

gr4c5Leave a comment

Toscana, David. Tula Station. St. Martin’s Press, 2001.

Reason read: I needed a book by an author from Mexico for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge. As for the Book Lust Reading Challenge, I have no idea why I picked it.

Tula Station opens with the tragic aftermath of a hurricane that took the lives of hundreds of people. Within the pages of Tula Station there are three narratives: First, Froylan Gomez’s biography for Juan Capistran, his alleged great-great-grandfather. Froylan is declared dead after the devastating hurricane, but his wife doesn’t believe it. After finding a journal, she thinks he has faked his demise to be with another woman. She wants Toscana to rewrite the journal, which tells of Foylan meeting Juan Capistran, as fiction to lure Froylan home. Second, a historical portrait of Tula and her station. Third, Froylan’s own obsession with the woman, Carmen, for whom Capistran supposedly gave up his life.
Toscana’s writing is sly. There are two Juans, two Carmens, two writers, and two disappearances. I found hints of impropriety riddled throughout Tula Station. An uncle glancing at his niece’s calf muscles, for example. Never enough to cause outright outrage. And speaking of outrage, reading this book was a lesson in patience. There were times when I wanted to create massive flowcharts to track everyone, but I refrained.

A quote to quote, “I am falling because I let you go” (p 250).

Author fact: Toscana, born in Monterey, Nuevo Leon in the north of Mexico, has been compared to Carlos Fuentes.

Book trivia: this book was extremely hard to get. No local library had it and an interlibrary loan would have taken months. Luckily, it was available through Internet Archive. This is the first book (and hopefully the last) that I read solely through IA.

Nancy said: Pearl was one hundred percent correct when she said Tula Station demands much of the reader.

Playlist: Bach, Beethoven, and Liszt.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Mexican Fiction” (p 153).

Lost Kitchen

gr4c5Leave a comment

French, Erin. Lost Kitchen: Recipes and a Good Life Found in Freedom, Maine. Clarkson Potter, 2017.

Reason read: because I was curious, plain and simple.

It all started with Finding Freedom, Erin French’s memoir about overcoming hardships to return to Maine and create one of the most sought after dining experiences in the world. It is truly a rags-to riches, triumph-over-tragedy, feel-good story. Finding Freedom led to me to television series, The Lost Kitchen and that in turn brought me to French’s cookbooks. Lost Kitchen (the cookbook) is gorgeous with just the right amount of memoir and menus. Photographs and recipes crowd nearly every single page. There is a bit of her biography in the beginning, but she glosses over the messy stuff in order to get to the endearing parts of her story: local girl comes home and makes her hometown a dining destination and here, she has shared some of her recipes with you.
Confessional: I am not interested in quail eggs, razor clams, or chicken livers. I can’t eat shrimp or grapefruit, either. What I did salivate over was anything rhubarb, fiddlehead, or parsnip. I was super excited to see the spicy tomato/tomatillo soup she made on one episode of The Lost Kitchen. She serves it as a summer soup, but I’m thinking it could even be a warm soup served with garlic croutons…

Walking After Midnight

gr4c5Leave a comment

McCoy, Maureen. Walking After Midnight. Poseidon Press, 1985.

Reason read: Elvis was born in January. Read in his honor.

Lottie Jay is supposed to be this tough, sarcastic, wannabe country songwriter. Obsessed with Elvis Presley, Time magazine, and painting her nails, Lottie leaves her husband, goes on an alcoholic bender, crashes her 57 Chevy, and survives a stint in rehab. The premise is good. Sounds exciting. I like tough as nails women as protagonists. The only problem there was nothing else to endear me to Lottie. She leaves her farmer husband after he ridicules her songwriting abilities but not before she tapes her diaphragm to the bathroom mirror as some kind of perverse voodoo warning. Weird.
the plot mostly centers on Lottie’s bad choices in men. While she is not technically divorced from her alcoholic husband, Owen won Lottie over by taking her to see an Elvis impersonator concert, but Georgie won her over by looking like Elvis. Everyone is deeply flawed so you don’t know who to root for.
I did, however, love the character of tough-as-nails wheelchair bound Matilda. “Matt” was the best character in the book. McCoy paints her as a pathetic, fat and unhealthy lesbian, but I thought she was the most believable character in the whole book.
Confessional: there were sentences that I simply did not understand. For example, “I ran out the door just as a pack of redheaded woodpeckers tumbled from the sky and spun, doing mad things all over the yard (p 85), or “They had to envy Owen and wish they would look as fun, but turning the art of Cedar Rapids into oatmeal perfume was serious business” (p 98). What? But then there the sentences that were utterly visceral that I adored, “The hyena laughing broke into sobs” (p 25), and “The train formed a big loop of experience” (p 223). I don’t know what that last line means either, but I loved it.

Author fact: Walking After Midnight was McCoy’s first novel. It is the only one I am reading for the Challenge.

Book trivia: Walking After Midnight is a super short book. It can be read in a single day if you can stand putting up with Lottie for that long. I took her in small doses.

Playlist: Marty Robbins’s “El Paso”, Patsy Cline’s “Walking After Midnight”, Glen Campbell, Mick Jagger, Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man”, Judy Garland, Ernest Tubbs, the Rolling Stones, Loretta Lynn, Carole King’s “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?”, Kitty Wells, Hank Williams, the Osmonds, the Beatles, the Doors, Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, Chuck Berry, Conway Twitty, and a whole bunch of Elvis: “RockaHula”, “Girls, Girls, Girls”, “Love Me Tender”, “Return to Sender”, “C. C. Rider”, “I Was the One Who Taught Her to Kiss”, “Don’t Be Cruel”, “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You”, “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Heartbreak Hotel”, and “Hound Dog”.

Nancy said: Pearl didn’t say anything specific about Walking After Midnight.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Elvis On My Mind” (p 79).

Book of Nothing

gr4c5Leave a comment

Barrow, John D. The Book of Nothing: Vacuums, Voids, and the Latest Ideas about the Origins of the Universe. Pantheon Books, 2000.

Reason read: January is supposed to be the month you clean the slate. A fresh start with nothing remaining from the previous year.

If you want to fill your head with trivia to use as a neat party trick, read and retain interesting facts from The Book of Nothing. There is a plethora to chose from. You can start with knowing that a guy named Al-Kharizmi came up with the practice of grouping numerals in threes, separated by commas. Sound familiar? William Shakespeare, if you read his works carefully, explores the concept of nothing in Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear. The study of nothing helped scientists to understand barometric pressure. I could go on and on.
In short, The Book of Nothing is the exploration of the concept of nothing from every angle, but with a subtle sense of humor. Don’t believe me? Read the notes section of The Book of Nothing and you’ll see. Barrow’s comments are great.
The deepest pleasure I gleaned from reading The Book of Nothing was the myriad of quotations Barrow used from every walk of life. To illustrate his points Barrow quoted philosophers, educators, historians, musicians, artists, playwrights, mathematicians, the BBC, activists, scientists, psychologists, physicists, astronomers, comedians, even a Canadian naval radio conversation (which was my favorite, in case you were wondering).

Confessional: I had a hard time slogging my way through The Book of Nothing. Even the structure of modern mathematics was mind-boggling to me. Math and science were my least favorite subjects ibn school. The only word I really felt comfortable with was Boolean.

Author fact: Barrow wrote a ton of science and mathematics books. I am only reading the Book of Nothing for the Challenge.

Book trivia: The Book of Nothing is chock full of interesting illustrations and quotations, ancient and current.

Play list: Al Jolson, the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever”, Cole Porter’s “Heaven Knows”, Queen, and Kris Kristofferson.

Nancy said: Pearl did not say anything specific about The Book of Nothing.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Zero: This Will Mean Nothing To You” (p 256).

The Royal Road to Romance

gr4c5Leave a comment

Halliburton, Richard. The Royal Road to Romance. The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1925.

Reason read: Halliburton was born in January. Read The Royal Road to Romance in his honor.

The Royal Road to Romance opens with Halliburton’s Princeton days when the mere scent of apple blossoms could distract him from his studies. Indeed, he had an adventurous spirit from a very young age and was a self-proclaimed “horizon chaser.” Later he calls himself the “devil’s pet protégé”, unable to resist the call of the road.
Halliburton was a reckless adventurer. He yielded to illegal temptations all the time. He told a stranger he was “in quest of the pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow” (p 102). For some reason he and his roommate wanted to climb the Matterhorn so badly that they were willing to lie about their mountaineering experience and hide their lack of equipment. They traveled without an itinerary; going where the fancy took them. Halliburton made impetuous decisions – jumping off a train somewhere in Switzerland because he couldn’t get a sense of the countryside by rail, breaking into the gardens of the Generalife by scaling a wall protected by thorny rose bushes, or using lies to get where he anywhere needed to go. He told one farmer he was a horse doctor so that he could acquire a donkey. After he was arrested he told a guard he was a train robber and bigamist and then stole a copy of the Short History of Gibraltar as a souvenir of his penal adventure.
Other adventures include climbing the pyramids at night, swimming naked in the Nile, trekking to the city of Ladakh where only twelve white visitors are allowed each year (because he wants to see a town that practices polyandry) and climbing Mount Fuji in the offseason, just to say he did.

As an aside, Halliburton got me to look up the painting of Lady Recamier and the champagne, Paul Roget.

Lines I loved, “How many successes are plunged into failure by not letting well enough alone?” (p 87), “…we deliberately set about finding some way to circumvent our restrictions” (p 237), and “A common tongue is not vital to understanding when there is congeniality of spirit” (p 317).

Playlist: I only noticed Beethoven mention.

Book trivia: The Royal Road to Romance was dedicated to Halliburton’s Princeton roommates.

Author fact: It is my personal opinion that some of Halliburton’s escapades were greatly exaggerated. The attack of pirates and subsequent murders on the high seas was hard enough to swallow, but Halliburton’s reaction to it seem implausible.

Nancy said: Pearl said Halliburton’s books are a bit dated.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the interesting chapter called “Where in the World Do These Books Belong?” (p 258).