Reading Frenzy

2007-01-09T14:58:00.000-05:00

A to Z Challenge

It's been a challenge just to come up with this list. Some of these are from my book club, some are in my tbr stack, and some I'll just have to get hold of. Looks like I have a great block of time to read next week (picture me, sitting the deck of my room at the Good View in Guandong, China, sipping whatever they sip over there). I'll take A, D, F, L, R and S -- and maybe a few more if I can find them in paperback in the next couple of days. I do reserve the right to amend these titles.

Alternatives to Sex - Stephen McCauley
Bonesetter's Daughter - Amy Tan
Confessions of a Memory Eater - Pagan Kennedy
Doctor's Wife - Elizabeth Brundage
Eat the Document - Dana Spiotta
Fried Eggs with Chopsticks - Polly Evans (1/22/07)
Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
Intuition - Allegra Goodman
Juniper Tree Burning - Goldberry Long
Kommandant's Girl - Pam Jenoff
Lisey's Story - Stephen King
Mohawk - Richard Russo
Nowhere City - Alison Lurie
Obsession - Jonathan Kellerman
Piece of Cake - Cupcake Brown - 1/28/07
Quartet in Autumn - Barbara Pym
Rain Line - Anne Whitney Pierce - 1/25/07
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
Thirteen Moons - Charles Frazier
Undead and Unwed - MaryJanice Davidson
Vanished - Mary McGarry Moris
Worst Hard Time - Timothy Egan
XXX - Wendy McElroy
You Suck - Christopher Moore
Zoia's Gold - Philip Sington

Eat, Pray, Love

2006-11-10T09:45:00.000-05:00

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Picture yourself. A journalist, living in New York City. Devastated by 9/11, a nasty divorce and a crushing follow-up romance, you get an offer to spend a year away. To spend months learning Italian and savoring the pastas and pizzas in Italy, traveling to India to stay in an asram for meditation and communion with the sacred to refresh the soul, and finally to Indonesia, to balance the two. How fast can I pack?

Elizabeth Gilbert did just that, and the result is a lush, funny, warmhearted memoir of her time with the people and places and magic she experienced. At the beginning of her journey she was in a dark place, deeply depressed, and through the people she met, and the reconnection with her deepest self, she immerges reborn, and refreshed, with a new zest for life and love. Warm, funny, infectious and insightful, this is a memoir/travelog you'll never forget.

This book transformed my daily drive, as I listened to the audio version which the author herself read. I'm going to buy myself a hard copy, and a few extras for holiday gifts. AND, she's coming to my area in December, I can't wait!

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

2006-10-19T18:52:00.000-04:00

Before you start reading The Thirteenth Tale, carve out a long afternoon, or a weekend to devote to it. Savor the prose, lose yourself in the gothic overtones. Enjoy it. This was my mistake--life and my lack of ability to focus kept interrupting my reading, and this is a book to be read leisurely, to be savored like a fine meal and good wine.

Getting past the fact that I undermined my opportunity to fully indulge myself, let me say that there's a lot to appreciate about this book. The cover, and even the inside cover is beautiful. The atmosphere created is pretty close to flawless. The writing is lush and gorgeous:

"There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic."

It's got all those points that make it classic gothic. But I did have a few issues. I thought some of the characters--particularly the twin sisters--could have been more fully developed. The ending felt a little rushed, and the plot a bit formulaic, the ending a bit unrealistic.

I'd probably give it 8 out of 10 stars. Definitely I'd like to reread it, but next time on a dark and stormy night, in a soft cushy chair, in front of a crackling fire, with a cat at my feet.

And if you read it, let me know what you thought. And don't miss the author's website: http://www.thethirteenthtale.com/

2006-08-13T09:48:00.000-04:00

Talk Talk by T. C. Boyle

When Dr. Dana Halter, a deaf teacher, is stopped for a traffic violation, her life spins out of her control when she is handcuffed and jailed for a slew of serious crimes, none of which she committed. A victim of identity theft, she enlists her boyfriend Bridger to help her deal with unbelieving authorities, an unsympathetic boss, and when no one seems serious about going after the real crook, she talks him into helping her track him down.

The thief is Peck Wilson, a career criminal determined to live the good life the easy way with assumed identities and stolen fortunes. And finding him turns the search into dangerous territory.

These three characters are definitely not cookie cutter, one dimensional characters. Dana is smart, assertive, prickly and doesn't suffer fools well, especially those that have preconceived opinions about deaf people. Bridger, the weakest of the three, is a digital film editor who imagines himself as one of his superheroes coming to the rescue of Dana. Peck, who has managed to take on the persona of an upper class doctor--not practicing--and who knows fine wine and cuisine, drives luxury autos--lives in upscale housing with his unsuspecting lover and her daughter in Marin County on his victims' dime, or rather dollar. He has definite anger management problems, and sees himself as the victim here, pursued by Dana and Bridger, and he's just as prepared to seek revenge against them as they are determined to stop his crime spree.

I really enjoy Boyle, this book reminds me there are a few of his books I haven't read yet. Put this one on your list.

2006-08-13T09:22:00.000-04:00

The Ruins by Scott Smith

Two couples, vacationing and partying in Cancun, meet a German tourist whose brother has disappeared into the jungle to an archaeological site. Heading out to the Mayan ruins to help their new friend find his sibling sounds like an adventure to write home about, so the five of them plus a Greek tourist who speaks virtually no English head out for a day trip. After an uncomfortable journey, fighting bugs and heat, the lark turns into horror for the five travelers, and the mosquitos and humidity they endured on the way there are nothing compared to what they do find.

Well, be prepared to suspend your disbelief. Smith does a pretty good job of exposing each of the players strengths and weaknesses, and how they relate to one another, and how they hold up under terror. It's a bloody and macabre tale, a definite page turner.

2006-08-04T12:45:00.000-04:00

Come Back: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Through Hell and Back by Claire Fontaine and Mia Fontaine

Claire Fontaine escapes with her daughter from an abusive home life with her husband, but not before he manages to sexually abuse Mia. Claire and Mia undergo therapy at the time, but she's warned that when her daughter reaches adolescence, many of the issues will resurface. And they do, Mia turns to drugs and self mutilation, and finally, heavily addicted to cocaine, she runs away from home to escape from the pain. Her mother and stepfather manage to track her down, and send her to a boot camp in the Czech Republic. When that school is closed down, she is sent to another camp in Montana which helps these teens deal with the pain and shame that cause them to try to self-destruct. At the same time, parents also take part in group therapy to help them understand not only their children, but themselves.

The book alternates between Claire and Mia, as they each descend into hell, and finally start their road back to wholeness and health. The book seemed to deal with the past and present honestly, and thoroughly, and it was interesting to me that it showed the different methods that were used to break through, based on the experiences and personalities, strengths and weaknesses that both children and parents possessed. Mia was fortunate to have parents that found the right program for her, as well as for them, and to be able to afford it as well. This avenue might not work for all teens, but Mia was one of the lucky ones. This is a book I'll be thinking about for a long time.

2006-08-01T16:53:00.000-04:00

How Elizabeth Barret Browning Saved My Life
by Mameve Medwed

Abby, an almost graduate of Harvard and owner of an antique booth in Cambridge, feels like life is passing her by. Her mother has recently died, her ex-fiance wrote a tell-all book, her last boyfriend dumped her, and her business is looking a bit shabby. Life takes a turn when another antique dealer catches sight of a chamber pot that she inherited from her mother and he talks her into taking it to the visiting Antique Roadshow. There she learns that the pot belonged to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and has a value of $75,000.00. Before she can enjoy her windfall, her ex-best friend, who was the daughter of her mother's partner, sues her for ownership of the pot.

There's not a lot here about EBB, the book's mostly about Abby's unresolved issues with her friend, her ex-fiance and her choice of career. It's an enjoyable read, especially if you love looking for finds at flea markets and antique shops, and if you're familiar with Cambridge and Harvard, that's an added bonus. The writing is witty, and just when you're about to strangle some of the characters, they come through.

Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst

2006-06-24T12:01:00.000-04:00

Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst

This is just the thing for anyone suffering withdrawals as reality tv has taken a summer hiatus. Lost and Found follows contestants as they wing around the globe, solving clues and collecting items--including parrots--on their scavenger hunt, with cameras recording their every move. Pairs include a mother and teenage daughter team who have recently gone through a heartbreaking experience, a newly married Christian couple who've renounced their homosexual lifestyle and are out to spread the word, two former child stars hoping to rekindle their careers, and two middle-aged, recently divorced brothers. Throw in a host who has all the warmth of Anne Robinson of Weakest Link and who's trying to get each couple to expose secrets and dirty laundry on camera, and you have an entertaining, and often thoughtful, fastpaced read.

A Student of Living Things by Susan Richards Shreve

2006-06-24T11:08:00.000-04:00

A Student of Living Things by Susan Richards Shreve

Claire Frayn lives with her family in Washington D.C. in the post 9/11 era, sometime in the not too distant future. Life is bleaker, there are more natural and man-made disasters, and terrorism is an every day event, however Claire and her family have mostly avoided suffering the stresses of the city. That changes on the day her brother is shot on the steps of the library of George Washington University.

The family begins splintering in the aftermath of Steven's murder. He'd been involved in some fringe groups and had written some politically unpopular pieces that seems to indicate this was a political assassination. Claire, a postgraduate biology student, meets a stranger who claims to have been Steven's friend, and draws her into the search for Steven's killer.

A timely tale, certainly not a good harbinger for what life could be like ten or so years from now. However, it is timeless in its depiction of grief and family ties, love, revenge and forgiveness.

Dirty Blonde and The Devil Wears Prada

2006-06-19T17:39:00.000-04:00

Dirty Blonde by Lisa Scottoline

Fast-paced, page turner tale of newly appointed judge Cate Fante, whose latest case between a Hollywood producer and the script writer who claims his story was stolen opens up Cate's sordid personal life and results in several murders. Good cops, bad cops, a love story of course, suspense, chases and a rather implausible main character makes this a fun read. Actually I listened to this one, and Barbara Rosenblat's reading brought the book to life.

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

Andrea Sachs has just graduated from college and accepted a job as assistant to famed magazine editor, Miranda Priestly in the hopes that a year of working with the fasion maven will open doors, hopefully to The New Yorker. She quickly finds that her new boss is, well, the devil in Prada and the job totally takes over Andrea's life. A fun read even if you don't care very much about fashion. The movie trailers with Meryl Streep look delicious which was my main reason for picking this one up--can't wait!

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

2006-06-18T09:01:00.000-04:00

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

A classic mid-1800's mystery about the theft of a famous diamond from a Hindu shrine, which finds its way to England and is given as a birthday gift to Rachel Verrinder on her birthday. The diamond, bad luck for all who come into ownership, disappears that night from Rache's room, and is no where to be found. In the course of the story there is heartbreak, death and murder, suicide and finally, love and romance and the answer to the mystery.

There are different narrators in the story, the old faithful butler Betteredge who loves Robinson Crusoe, Miss Clack the religious zealot who stashes tracts in each room, Mr. Bruff the rather dry attorney, and mysterious Indians weave around the tale.

Interested in reading this? Set aside some time, it's a slow and methodical read which can be a bit frustrating to those of us used to speeding through a book and skimming the less captivating parts. But maybe, just maybe, it'll convince you to go pick up Robinson Crusoe, of which Betteredge says "I have found it my friend in need in all the necessities of this mortal life."

This Book Will Save Your Life by A. M. Homes

2006-06-12T18:54:00.000-04:00

This Book Will Save Your Life by A. M. Homes

Novak is a wealthy day-trader living in Los Angeles, well tended by a housekeeper, a nutritionist and a personal trainer. Divorced and separated by thousands of miles from his his son and his exwife, whom he still loves, he suffers a panic attack and intense pain. After eons of being holed up in his Hollywood Hills home, he finds himself in the emergency room in a local hospital, and it's his wakeup call to the emptiness of his life. Suddenly Novak finds himself connecting with fellow Angelinos, among them a friendly donut maker, a homemaker in crisis in the grocery store, a famous reclusive neighbor, and with each new friendship he finds himself opening up more and more to life and people around him, and that ripple spreads into and enriches their lives.

Ultimately, his teenage son travels to L.A. and brings all his pent up rage and baggage. They begin to bond and work out the anger and angst and Novak moves from a life wealthy in bank account, to a life wealthy in relationships and friendships.

Critics seem to have a love/hate relationship with this book. Personally, I loved it. It was sweet, funny, thoughtful, and filled with everyday people you pass on the street but don't take time for. And Novak finally learned the joys of taking time for people, and was all the richer for it. Will it save your life? No, but it might make you think a bit about where you are and where you could be.

Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart

2006-06-10T08:20:00.000-04:00

PERFECT CIRCLE by Sean Stewart

This urban fantasy follows 32-year-old William "Dead" Kennedy (DK), so named because of his love of punk/alternative music and because he sees dead people. Set in Texas, DK is a high school drop out who has never pulled himself together, he moves from deadend job to job, mourning the loss of his marriage and trying to stay in touch with his smart and funny daughter, while having run ins with the ghosts around him, both friends and foe, good and evil.

Except for the part about the ghosts, that sounds a bit dull. And this book is anything but. It's creepy, witty, dark, hilarious, fresh, haunting, and all over the place. Memorable characters, unforgettable ghosts, great Houston descriptions of people and places.

I don't remember where I found this author, who was born in Texas but grew up in Canada. But he's a gem of a find. Thank you, whoever steered me toward Mr. Stewart!

Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger

2006-06-09T08:18:00.000-04:00

Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger

After Ridley Jones rescues a young boy and receives her 15 minutes of fame, this New York journalist receives a note and a picture that throws her whole identity in question. She bears a striking resemblance to the woman in the photo, and the note asks if she could be "my daughter." A second note arrives, along with an old newspaper clipping, reporting the violent murder of the woman in the pic. Ridley is now on a quest, through the streets of New York City and parts of New Jersey, to find the sender and the truth behind the note, and the men in her life either help or hinder her search: Jake, a handsome and mysterious new neighbor, her brother Ace, a junkie living on the streets, her exfiance, Zack who is ever-lurking and overprotective, her father who denies that she was adopted, her mysterious and deceased Uncle Max, and a sleezy attorney.

This is a pretty well crafted suspense tale from a new novelist. My favorite parts were the descriptions of New York and its inhabitants. I liked the main character, she's gritty and not always perfect, the new boyfriend was a bit formulaic, her brother the drug addict is a great character. A good, fast paced leisure read, with interesting twists and turns.

Digging to America by Anne Tyler

2006-06-08T10:11:00.000-04:00

DIGGING TO AMERICA by Anne Tyler

Two couples and their extended families meet at the Baltimore airport in 1997 as they wait for their adopted Korean babies. The families couldn't be more different, Bitsey and Brad Donaldson are a combination of yuppy and hippie (natural foods, cloth diapers) while Sami and Ziba Yasdan along with grandma Maryam are upper class Iranians (Sami was actually born in the U.S.). Bitsey and Brad have a huge and noisy extended family along with them, with buttons and banners and video cameras in comparison to the quiet and contained three Yasdans.

The families form a friendship as the result of welcoming their new Korean babies together, and the book tells of their growing affection and appreciation of one another as well as stumbles as a result of the different cultures, through a series of parties and get togethers. Sami and Ziba are anxious to be seen as Americans, and give their new daughter an English name, Susan, while Bitsey and Brad retain the Korean name, Jin-Ho. Much of the story surrounds Maryam, who outwardly attempts to fit into American culture while inwardly craving a solitary and customary Iranian lifestyle. When Bitsey's mother dies, her father and Maryam, two people who couldn't be more different, forge a rocky relationship.

This is a quiet book--there's not a lot of plot--more of it centers around encounters between the two families. It's a thoughtful look at the difficulty of being a stranger in a strange land, and the problems and rewards of two very different cultural families colliding and bonding.

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue

2006-06-05T09:55:00.000-04:00

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue

In this lyrical and magical tale of two children, 7-year-old Henry Day is stolen by changelings and becomes Aniday, the newest member of the tribe. The eldest changeling morphs into a duplicate of Henry, and takes his place in Henry's family, in the real world. The novel begins with this switch which takes place in the 1950's, somewhere in the northeastern United States. Neither the former Henry Day, or the new Henry Day are comfortable or happy in their new roles.

Aniday, now destined to remain a childlike creature, longs for the life he lost while bonding with his new family in the woods and the tunnels beneath the woods. His closest friend, Speck, introduces him to the library at night, and slowly reveals the story of Aniday's lost family. And in a parallel story, the new Henry Day struggles to fit in while remembering a life before the changelings, as a child prodigy who's love was the piano. He builds a new life, with love and family, but is forever haunted by the childhood he's stolen, and the one that was stolen from him in a life before he became a changeling. He never really feels like he belongs, and the fear of his deception being discovered and his true identity revealed is always with him.

This is Keith Donohue's first novel, and what a book it is. The author based his story on the poem of William Butler Yeats, "The Stolen Child." Not only a book about childhood and parenthood, but also about living as an outsider in life. I think this book is destined to be an important work.

"Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping
than you can understand."

Leisure Reading

2006-05-30T13:51:00.000-04:00

I've so lost track of what I've been reading, and trying to remember is just too difficult at my age.

The Necessary Beggar by Susan Palwick. Thumbs up.....kind of reminded me of The Sparrow although not quite on that par. Fantasy book, in a realistic setting in the Reno, Nevada area, in the not too distant future.

Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult. Thumbs up.....At this point you know there's usually a twist and I figured it out. I enjoyed the graphics and think it added to the story line.

Mary, Mary by James Patterson......Thumbs up........I'm not a huge Patterson fan, and haven't read him for awhile, but this is a pretty good Alex Cross mystery.

A Coyote's in the House by Elmore Leonard. Thumbs up......yes it's a kid's book but I listened to it in the car and loved the story, and Doogie Houser does a great job reading. A lot of fun.

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. Thumbs up......Can this guy turn a phrase or what? Amazing story, quirky characters. Loved it.

My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman. Thumbs up.....Smart, witty, interesting and I loved the college setting and typical politics.

Once Upon a Day by Lisa Tucker. Thumbs up......IMHO Lisa Tucker gets better and better. Two story lines, characters that change and grow, really liked this one and didn't want to quit til I turned the last page.

Cage of Stars by Jacqueline Mitchard. Thumbs up.......this author does family catastrophies and the aftermath well. Makes me glad my life is so uneventful, knock on wood.

We Are All Welcome Here by Elizabeth Berg. Thumbs up......maybe not my favorite Berg, but good. A coming of age story, with a little bit of Elvis. And a reminder of what polio was like--and no, I'm too young to remember.

Well that's as much as I can remember for now. No thumbs down, those I quit after a few pages and wiped from my memory, what little of it there is.

Next on the agenda:

Digging to America by Anne Tyler
Kiss Tomorrow Hello: Notes from the Midlife Underground....by Kim Barnes

Flying in Place by Susan Palwick

Perfect Circle by Sean Stewart
The Rock Orchard by Paula Wall
To Hell with All That by Caitlin Flanagan
The Last of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez
Halfway House by Katharine Noel

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

That's all folks. Happy Reading!

The Necessary Beggar by Susan Palwick

2006-04-19T16:40:00.000-04:00

Reality Show Addicts

2006-04-03T23:55:00.000-04:00

Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst

Okay, I confess. I haven't read this. It doesn't even come out til mid-June. But how can those of us addicted to reality shows resist?

"Parkhurst's lauded debut, The Dogs of Babel (2003), which centered on a man struggling to come to terms with the death of his young wife, struck a chord with readers, and her follow-up, a humorous and touching send-up of reality shows, is bound to please as well. The novel focuses on several characters competing on an Amazing Race-like reality show called Lost and Found, where teams of two travel from destination to destination following enigmatic clues and collecting various items in hopes of winning the game. Laura wants to connect with her sullen teenage daughter, Cassie, after a traumatic experience highlighted the distance between them. Justin and Abby believe they have cast off their homosexual urges in favor of a traditional Christian marriage, but the game offers unexpected tests for their resolution. Carl and Jeff are two middle-aged, recently divorced brothers looking for adventure. Juliet and Dallas are former child stars seeking to recapture fame and willing to do just about anything to achieve that end. Emotional confrontations, suppressed desires, and unexpected connections surprise the various contestants as they continue to play a game that is starting to disgust them. Thoroughly original and inventive, peopled with engaging characters, and just plain fun, this second novel deserves to be as big a hit as the reality shows it genially pokes fun at." -- Booklist, starred review

Request for purchase, no doubt about it!

9/11

2006-04-01T13:30:00.000-05:00

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran Foer

It still seems like 9/11 was yesterday, a public grief as well as a private one that just hasn't healed yet. So this book has been in my tbr stack for almost a year, and finally I picked it up.....and also borrowed a copy of the audio book. Sometimes a combination of reading both can compliment one another, and I found that to be the case here.

Oskar Schell is a precocious 9-year-old whose father was one of the casualties of the attack that took down the twin towers. Oskar is bright, funny, inventive, exasperating, and incredibly sad--and more than anything he wants to fix this one thing that can't be fixed. He carries a terrible secret, on the day of the bombing he arrived home first, and heard the many calls his dad made, and before his mom could hear the tape, replaced it. Later, he finds a vase in his dad's closet with a strange key and the notation "Black" and begins a quest to find the owner of the key, and make this connection with his dad.

Interspersed through the Oskar tale, is the story of his grandmother and grandfather, who had survived the World War II firebombing of Dresden, and found each other in NYC, only to be separated when his grandfather, who couldn't speak following the German bombings, left his grandmother when she was pregnant with his father.

Oskar is a character that grows on you; his frustrations and quest becomes the reader's. It's a heartbreaking yet heartwarming novel that brings across the pain of loss and the working toward gradual healing.

Girls of Tender Age: A Memoir

2006-03-30T16:40:00.000-05:00

Girls of Tender Age by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith

In this stunning memoir, Mary-Ann Tirone Smith tells of growing up in the 1950's in a working class, French-Italian family in Hartford, Connecticut, characterized by the first line: "Here is how my father describes our socioeconomic level: Working Stiffs."

In the 1950's in Hartford, life was not always easy for Mary-Ann. Her older brother, Tyler is autistic and an idiot savant, neither of which were defined or understood. All they knew was that he was crazy and self-destructive, and much of his care fell to dad. Mom, who barely held onto her own sanity, worked outside the home and found other pursuits to keep her away. The household had to be kept quiet or Tyler would fall into rages and begin chewing his wrists.

Life takes a pivitol turn when Mary-Ann is in fifth grade. A classmate is sexually assaulted and murdered by a serial predator in their neighborhood, and as was so common in the fifties, the crime was swept under the carpet by worried parents and not allowed to be spoken of by anyone, including their teachers. In stark contrast to today, there were no grief counselors, no explanations, and no healing process, and Mary-Ann buried the murder and loss of her friend along with part of her childhood years. Later, a college professor, and then the murdered girl's brother are instrumental in Mary-Ann's decision to write this memoir and find justice for Irene. Highly recommended--this is going to go down as one of my favorites.

Shakes, Rattles and Rolls

2006-03-27T18:30:00.000-05:00

For Whom the Minivan Rolls

by Jeffrey Cohen and

Rattled by Debra Galant

Who knew there was so much going on in the New Jersey suburbs? Lots in common in these two books, stay at home parents thrown into sleuthing roles, quirky characters, crooked businessmen--and women, and my favorite parts of each book- sons with interesting ISSUES. Good starts for both these first time novelists.

Night

2006-03-22T10:54:00.000-05:00

Night by Elie Wiesel

What is there to say? Except that everyone should take the time to read, or better yet, listen to this. It should be required reading for every high school student.

"I decided to devote my life to telling the story because I felt that having survived I owe something to the dead. and anyone who does not remember betrays them again. "

"A destruction, an annihilation that only man can provoke, only man can prevent. "

"Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil. "

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. "

"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference. "

"I have not lost faith in God. I have moments of anger and protest. Sometimes I've been closer to him for that reason. "

----- Elie Wiesel

Wise words from a man who truly knows about indifference, hate, life and death, and faith.

Culinary Catastrophes

2006-03-20T13:55:00.000-05:00

Don't Try This At Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Cooks and Chefs

Disasters with food, with fellow chefs, with waiters, with owners, not to mention disasters with customers--this book probably covers it all. If I'd read it before our last dining fiasco, when we noticed the waitresses were all huddled in the corner whispering and none of the customers had been served although we'd all been sitting for over an hour, we might have been spared a bad meal and an ultimate confession that there'd been a kitchen fire and the chef had been burned--because we would have recognized some of the signs of "culinary castrophes" and hightailed it out the door.

My personal favorite was the vignette by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger's entitled "Our Big Brake." The Two Hot Tamales chefs were en route, in Los Angeles, in rush hour, with buckets of hollandaise in the rear of their very old, very grubby Datson station wagon to a benefit dinner when a car ran a stop sign and they were forced to brake, quickly --

"We heard the unmistakable spash of 10 gallons of hot buttery emulsion being deposited in the disgusting, fish-scented foot wells behind us. Some of the sauce seeped through the space between our seat backs and seats, catching us on the rear, and as the warm hollandaise soaked through to our butts, we looked at each other in horror: "Oh. My. God."

And it gets worse.......Fun and entertaining read, especially if you're a foodie.

Mark Twain Library

2006-03-16T19:15:00.000-05:00

This morning I set off to find the bucolic little town of Redding, Connecticut for an ILL library meeting at the Mark Twain Library. Aside from picking up some great tips, one of the librarians gave us the grand tour and history of this beautiful little library and enticed us with items from the Mark Twain Library Store. She also gave us the history of the library:

The last few years of his life, Mark Twain was living a rather lonely life in NYC and his publisher sent biographer Albert Bigelow Paine to spend time with him, gathering information for a book. Paine and Twain, no rhyme intended, became fast friends, and Paine told Twain he needed to get out of the city and move to the country--and talked him into moving to Redding, Connecticut where Paine himself lived with his wife and children. Twain wouldn't move until the house was built and furnished down to a cat in a basket on the hearth, and the day he finally came to Redding all the townspeople came down to the train station to meet this famous author and welcome him. The home was on several acres on a hilltop that looked all the way to Long Island Sound.

Twain wasn't happy that there was no library, so he began giving talks, collecting money for that purpose and donated his personal library to the town--a small chapel on a dirt road was the first library. Later, in memory of his daughter, Jean, he donated funds for the building of a permanent library and it was originally named after her.

Today, the original part of the library holds cases of the original collection no longer lent out but available to scholars and others. Much of the library is circular, and many of Twain's famous quotations are muraled at the tops of the walls. Beautiful original stone pillars are in the entry way. And, as an added bonus, there was a gorgeous display of hooked rugs hung throughout the library. All in all, a lovely way to spend the morning.

One of the quotations on the walls of The Mark Twain Library:

"My works are like water, the works of the great masters are like wine, but everyone drinks water."

A Little Aging Chick Lit

2006-02-23T12:15:00.000-05:00

Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie

Got an hour or two? Just want to relax, be amused, escape? Among the over 40 crowd? This may just be the ticket.

From the publisher, "Nina Askew has always wanted a puppy, but her ex-husband had always refused. Following her divorce and facing her fortieth birthday, she heads to the pound in search of a cute, cuddly, perky puppy to cheer her up. But instead she is drawn toward an older, midsized, seemingly depressed mutt - too big for her apartment, too melancholy for her state of mind, but she can't help but adopt him anyway. With Fred now in her life, everything seems to change - her priorities, her attitude and, unexpectedly, her love life when Fred brings Nina's much younger neighbor, Alex, into the picture. Despite all the waving red flags, Nina allows herself to consider the possibility that maybe somehow he'd miraculously be interested in an older woman with a depressed dog."

Cute, and you'll love Fred. Alex isn't too bad either.

Technorati tags:chicklit, jennifercrusie

currrent reading

2006-02-21T11:30:00.000-05:00

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman

Emelia Greenleaf is not always the most likable character. After all, she was the other woman (even though it was a bad marriage), she finds her stepson irritating (he is), and she's depressed after the loss of her infant daughter (who wouldn't be?). But I thought the writer developed interesting and imperfect characters who stumbled, fell, and picked themselves up and were better for the process. It's a pretty acurate view of this strata of New York professionals and a love letter to Manhattan and Central Park. I loved it......and interesting enough, reader reviews range from loved it to hated it on Amazon, and not many in the middle.

Apparently Waldman ruffled a lot of mommy feathers when she wrote in a Salon column that she'd put her husband first over her children--author Michael Chabon--and that she worries how women make kids the center of their universe and freeze out their husbands. Maybe some of those mommies are taking a crack at her through their reviews--and maybe not--maybe they just didn't like it.

Check it out for yourself. As for me, I've just started one of her mommy track mysteries. Witty and fun is my first impression.

Another Book Club Book

2006-02-01T16:36:00.000-05:00

Dinner with Anna Karenina by Gloria Goldreich

Five Manhattan friends share their love of reading and books as well as their private lives in this book--another novel about a book club.

Except for the cover and some of the book discussions in this novel, I wasn't all that impressed. You spend much of the time trying to figure out why one of the characters has separated from her husband--and the answer isn't all that convincing. The characters don't seem to like each other all that much and there's a lot of envy going on between them. But back to the cover, it's worth it to have this book sitting on your bedstand, it's a totally engaging cover.

Dealing with C when it's someone you love

2006-01-30T19:14:00.000-05:00

After the Christmas holidays, my husband and I flew out to California to spend some time with my mom and my sister. It wasn't the easiest visit, my sister has been in the middle of a chemo and radiation regimen after being diagnosed with colon cancer.

It was hard to know just what to say-- I've been struggling trying to find the right words since she found out this summer that she had cancer. Cancer Etiquette by Rosanne Kalick, is told from the perspective of a cancer survivor who has heard and remembered some of the worst lines imaginable, and has some pretty good tips on what to say, and when to say it, for friends, relatives and physicians.

Livestrong: Inspirational Stories from Cancer Survivors is a book I'm going to send to my sister. These are powerful and uplifting stories that cover everything from dealing with friends and family to working with physicians and insurance companies. The stories are unforgettable, and the process of dealing with diagnosis, treatment and survivor are so inspiring coming from those who have fought this battle. The final message is that with all its pain and heartbreak, something wonderful and life-enriching can emerge.

Oh what a tangled web

2006-01-30T17:37:00.000-05:00

Whew.....cobwebs everywhere, dust bunnies in the bookshelves. It's pretty obvious I've been neglecting this place. And, I've lost track of what I've read--on the plane, in the car and in bed.
Racking my brain a bit.....

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

I'm wondering if Frey has fallen off the wagon after all the brouhaha and scandal surrounding this book--and I'm wondering what percentage of libraries have reclassified this as fiction after the disclosures of Smoking Gun. I'll admit that I was taken in, and I'm regretting those tears I shed at the end of the book.

Poor Oprah. First that insufferable Jonathan Franzen who couldn't bear to have his literary book be associated with the popular crowd or her name, and now interviews with an author who apparently never learned the meaning of true and false, fiction and nonfiction. Or then again, maybe he just went by the old adage, "never let the truth get in the way of a good story."

A quirky meme

2005-12-08T23:50:00.000-05:00

Drats, I usually resist doing these things but Denise made a big issue so here it is. If you read these, you can see I'm NOT quirky at all, unlike Denise who take butt shots and Adrienne who smells books (do you think she can tell a book by its smell?)

1. Thank heavens there aren't many sidewalks around here. When I walk down a sidewalk with grids my mind starts chanting the hopscotch pattern: One Two Three Fourfive Six Seveneight Nine--over and over.

2. When I was a kid, about five years old, I could name every single vehicle on the road, make, model and year. My uncle used to take me out riding just so I could amaze him.

3. I have a geographic tongue. I can't eat more than a little bit of tomatoes or strawberries without it swelling. I've tried to use it all my life as an excuse as to why I don't like green veggies but no one ever buys that.

4. Bedtime: the closet doors must be closed and the window next my side of the bed must be open, even if it's just a crack. Who knows what's hiding in the closet--I certainly don't want anything peering out at us, and I need the fresh air or the room is claustrophobic.

5. When I read a scary book, I peek at the back page to see the names of the characters still there. I don't read the whole page, I just don't want to get attached to someone who's going to die on me halfway through.

Okay, I'm going to tag Shelly, Em, TW (a backatcha since she loves posting stuff like this), Beth (no blog but feel free to post here) and Rayeellen since it doesn't look like D found her.

All in the Family

2005-12-05T17:53:00.000-05:00

BREAKFAST WITH TIFFANY by Edwin John Wintle

All parents should have an Uncle Ed to turn to when our kids hit the teen years and the going gets rough.

Tiffany is having a tough time living in a blue collar Connecticut town--she and her mom are clashing big time and mom is one step away from installing her in a home for troubled teens when Uncle Ed comes to the rescue. Edwin, a gay 40-year-old man living in Greenwich Village, has a full life in the city. He lovingly and anxiously takes in his favorite niece, enveloping her in his life and gamely dealing with all the pitfalls that come with a precocious and talented teen--problems with school and friends, drinking, drugs and general teenage malaise.

This is a touching memoir--makes me glad my daughter is past this age--and my son just about.....Can't wait for the movie!

Not Your Usual Dragons and Demons

2005-11-22T16:41:00.000-05:00

YOU SLAY ME by Katie MacAlister

"All Aisling Grey had to do was deliver a centuries old, gold dragon statue to her uncle's client in Paris, but instead she finds the woman murdered and a strange, sexy man lingering nearby. Drake Vireo claims to be with Interpol, but before Aisling can verify this, he, along with the statue, disappears. Now the French police's prime suspect in the case, Aisling must figure out who really killed the woman and exactly where Drake disappeared to with her artifact. Scouring Paris' occult community for clues, Aisling, armed with a crabby demon in the shape of a Newfoundland dog, finds herself not only mixed up in murder and magic but also tangling and tangoing with a sexy dragon. Graced with MacAlister's signature sharp wit and fabulously fun characters, this paranormal romance is wickedly sensual and irresistibly amusing." -- from Booklist

Tacky but fun, I listened to this on my twice daily 30-minute commute, read by Barbara Rosenblatt--she's pretty amazing at doing voices. Not the book if you're looking for substance, but quirky, amusing and often raunchy--get ready to suspend your disbelief and just go along for the ride.

A good storyteller

2005-11-21T19:05:00.000-05:00

THE DIVIDE by Nicholas Evans

It must be something in the water. To go from reading book after book, week after week--to struggling to get through even one. And all around me, people are complaining that they've got the same problem. Could it be something in the water? Ecoterrorism? Speaking of which....

It was wonderful to pick up a book with a great story line. Maybe not great literature, but nevertheless, an intelligent tale with likeable, yet fallible well-developed characters. The Divide opens with the finding of the body of a young woman in a frozen creek in the Montana wilderness, and the discovery that she was wanted for murder and ecoterrorism by the FBI. The author takes us back in time to the breakup of a marriage and the disintegration of a seemingly perfect family. The ripple effects of the marital betrayal and subsequent division of the family proves devastating. Yet Evans brings the story full circle, and there is understanding, love, forgiveness and healing.

What if?

2005-11-21T18:56:00.000-05:00

THE BRIGHT FOREVER by Lee Martin

On a warm summer evening in a small town in Indiana, 9-year-old Katie Mackey, sets out on her bike to return books to the local library and disappears. The town drops everything to search for the the pretty, sunny and well-liked child of one of the most affluent families in town, and suspicion soon falls upon two men, one a local handyman, the other a bachelor teacher and her tutor.

The author uses the voice of four different narrators to look back on the events leading up to and following Katie’s disappearance thirty years ago, and examines the choices they made back then that changed their lives forever. Back and forth the reader goes, trying to decide who was at the heart of the crime, and not until the final few pages is the truth revealed.

While comparisons have been drawn to The Lovely Bones and Mystic River, my feeling is that it’s not quite up to their level. The characters could have been more finely drawn, with more background…..I didn’t quite buy the final premise. A good read, although definitely disturbing.

Jeepers Creepers

2005-09-28T12:24:00.000-04:00

Creepers by David Morrell

Remember sitting in the dark with a flashlight reading something that scared you out of your wits? Psycho—read in a strange basement in Seattle when I was about 15 was terrifying…..Some of Stephen King’s books made me awfully uneasy: Cujo, The Shining, Pet Semetary. And when I first moved to Connecticut and read Dan Simmons’ Summer of Night I think it was the combination of dark days and old buildings that resembled the descriptions in the book that gave me nightmares.

Just a few miles from here an old psychiatric hospital that has been empty for years. Since its closing there have been tales of “explorers” searching out abandoned rooms and tunnels looking for ghosts. So when this book crossed my desk I had to take it home even though this could have been the wrong week since I’m by myself mostly, but I didn’t get the scare I thought would. Great cover, great premise—five urban exploreers set off on a dark and stormy night to explore an abandoned boarded-up hotel set for demolition and run into “danger, terror and death,” but it didn’t fulfill its promise. More gore than scare maybe--and ultimately unsatisfying. But hey, it got good reviews, maybe I wasn’t as much in the mood as I thought.

Plowing through family conflicts

2005-09-27T13:06:00.000-04:00

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian : A Novel by Marina Lewycka

84-year-old Ukranian immigrant widower, Nikolai is in love--with a large breasted, 36-year-old gold-digging Ukranian whose visa in England is about to expire. Love and marriage transpires and the comic battle is on to separate them by Nikolai's warring daughters, Nadezhda and Vera before Valentina either murders their father or wrings every last cent out of the old man who she has bullied into submission.

Underlying this witty tale is the story of a family that survived atrocities in Russia, and of secrets that are better buried. It is the story of two sisters who come to understand their differences and the reasons behind them. The author was born of Ukrainian parents in a refugee camp in Germany at the end of the war, and grew up in England. She's a natural writer, and this first book won the Orange Prize 2005 and was a nominee for the Booker Prize.

On the road again.....

2005-09-27T11:12:00.000-04:00

No, not Kerouac, although maybe that would be a great idea, I've never read it. Now that circumstances have changed and I'm driving an hour a day, I've finally succumbed to books on disc and I'm loving it.

Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art by Gene Wilder

My knowledge of Wilder started with Gilda Radner, so it was wonderful to travel along his life for some insight of what makes up this funny, insightful and genuinely nice man. It was a great view of what it was like to be in the movies and in theatre, and of his struggle with his inner demons, his battles with cancer--both his own and Gilda's--and his takes on his fellow actors--none of it meanspirited.

Loud and Clear by Anna Quindlen

Maybe because I REALLY like Anna Quindlen, this book spoke volumes to me. In this selection from columns from the New York Times and Newsweek, she covers topis from motherhood to 9/11, from Harry Potter to the problems of abuse in the Catholic Church. Her writing is clear and concise, and the only problem in listening to her in the car is you can't stop and write all those excellent lines down. At the end you just wish you could call her up and say "let's have lunch."

Next time I'll just have the piece of cake

2005-09-14T07:49:00.000-04:00

"The chief excitement in a woman's life is spotting women who are fatter than she is." ~ Helen Rowland

JUST DESSERTS by Patti Massman and Susan Rossman

Did I really order this? It did show up on my desk at the library under my request, so I had to have gotten the title from someone......After a week of reading about Nazis and infidelity and betrayal, I figured, what the heck.

Southern Californian housewife Diana Lowe is 50 pounds overweight and saddled with a husband who is repulsed by her--and leaves her for his assistant. Diana, who'd already begun watching her diet when the first notes of marital problems surfaced, cuts fats in earnest and the weight sheds in spite of her addiction to a particular brand of candy bars. Life suddenly changes as she gets down to a size 6 and finds a gorgeous and ravishing new body--she travels to Europe, is courted by a wealthy playboy and a gorgeous masseuse and finds a new career. Does her husband come back? Does she want him or the handsome, successfull, supportive, famous next door neighbor who's been her friend through thick and thin (pun intended). Take a guess.

Library Journal says, "One-dimensional, jet-setting characters, wooden dialog, tedious dissertations on calculating dietary fat, and designer everything make this effort irritating reading, even for fans of the genre." That about covers it.

Serial Killer in Nazi Germany

2005-09-13T11:43:00.000-04:00

STRAIGHT INTO DARKNESS by Faye Kellerman

Axel Berg, a homicide detective with the Munich police department is on a desperate search for a serial killer who attacks beautiful young women. Berg has to contend with Nazi Brownshirts, a boss who wants someone--anyone--charged with the murders, preferably a Jew, violent political rallies, and his own unstable personal life complete with wife and family and a Jewish mistress. Anti-semitic sentiments abound--at home, at the police department and generally through the city. Hitler is at the beginning of his rise to power and violence agains Jews are becoming the everyday occurance.

Kellerman, who usually writes contemporary mysteries about an L.A. cop and his orthodox wife, took a side road on this novel. The darkness of this time plus the unsettled and helpless feelings that some Germans felt in dealing with the rising hatred for Jews comes through effectively in this book.

What a tangled web

2005-09-13T10:10:00.000-04:00

Envy by Kathryn Harrison

Will Moreland, a New York therapist leaves his wife at home to attend his 25th college reunion. It becomes quickly apparent that a lot is happening—he’s estranged from his famous twin brother, he meets up with an old flame who may or may not have had his baby, he’s still very much in mourning for his dead son and he and his wife are having difficulty connecting in the wake of this. In a confrontation with an ex-girlfriend at the reunion, she makes the comment, “You are an excellent example of why it is that people think shrinks are nuts.” She may be right.

Will spends a lot of time obsessing about just about everything in his life, and at times his thoughts and actions frustrate the heck out of the reader. Throw in a missing brother whose actions caused far reaching ripples so many years ago—some of which are just coming to light--and you have a mesmerizing look at a complicated family. Did I find it compelling? Well, mostly.

Parental Angst

2005-09-03T15:01:00.000-04:00

"The first half of our life is ruined by our parents and the second half by our children. " ~ Clarence Darrow

Breaking Her Fall by Stephen Goodwin

I picked this book up at Costco and read the back cover, and there was no way to leave the store without this book in my basket:

"On an ordinary summer night, Tucker Jones picks up the phone expecting to hear from his fourteen-year-old daughter Kat. Instead it's another parent who reports that Kat is not, as promised, at the movies, but at a party--and makes a shocking allegation about her activities there. Furious, Tucker races to the party to find Kat already departed. But his interrogation of the teenage boys still present doesn't end until one of them crashes into a glass table top. In a second, Tucker's rage turns to remorse. Soon he is under arrest. He could easily lose his home and his business. But, most importantly, will he lose his daughter?"

Goodwin captures the parental fears that we experience when something goes profoundly wrong in our children's lives. He's the mother hen, wanting to keep all harm from his daughter--and son--and he learns the hard way that it's just not always possible to keep our children safe. It's a complex book, lots of subplots, and the reader delves not only into Kat's world in the aftermath, but into her father's life as a single dad and his relationships with his mistress and his best friend as well as her mother's story. It brings home the fact that the world us fifty-somethings grew up in is not the world of today.

Untraveled Territory

2005-09-03T13:43:00.000-04:00

"Why this is very midsummer madness." ~ William Shakespeare

"Magic Street" by Orson Scott Card

I hadn't heard the term, "urban fantasy" until just recently, maybe because I read so little fantasy, but I loved "Ender's Game" so I picked this one up. Magic in modern cities, what an interesting concept. Besides, our bookshelves are lined with Terry Brooks, R. A. Salvatore and Robert Jordan as my husband is a major fan, so what the heck, thought maybe I'd be able to engage in a little fantasy over the dinner table. But this is a far cry from Shannara, I think.

Take a black, upper middle class neighborhood in Baldwin Hills, California and a little Midsummer Night's Dream and you have a fascinating mix of coming of age story, dreams and fairies, and the triumph of good over evil. Since I'm not particularly adept at suspending my disbelief, this isn't going to become my new addiction, but it was definitely fun--just wish I'd run through Shakespeare's play before reading it.

Chick lit or chick flicks?

2005-08-21T19:14:00.000-04:00

"If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question?" --Lily Tomlin

When my daughter was a toddler and I had lots of time as a sahm (yeah, right), a new neighbor gave me a bag full of Harlequin Romances. Even though I was a voracious reader, I'd never read one of these. And damn if I didn't sit and read every one of them, kicking myself after the first one. Because they were there. Because I tend to read anything at hand. Because I kept thinking they were going to get better. Chick lit really is a much better read than those old harlequins, but I think maybe I'd like them a lot better if their popularity hit about twenty years ago--give or take.

These days I don't read too much chick lit, once in awhile I pick up one that everyone raves about just to stay in the loop. Maybe I'm just too old for the genre, although I have to admit I loved Good in Bed......But a close friend and the library director talked me into two this week that, well I wish had stayed on the shelf, or at least gone to someone totally addicted to the these books. On the other hand, I'm a sucker for chick flicks. Next time I'll wait for the movies.

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophia Kinsella

From Booklist:

"Samantha Sweeting, an ambitious lawyer on the fast track to becoming a partner at her prestigious law firm, is horrified to discover an overlooked memo on her desk that ends up costing a client 50 million pounds. In a daze, Samantha hops a train and finds herself in the country. She walks up to the first house she sees and knocks on the door, intending to inquire about the nearest hotel, but Trish Geiger mistakes her for the new housekeeper. Still in shock, Samantha decides to go along with Trish and her husband, Eddie's, mistake, despite the fact that she has no domestic skills. Happily, she is aided by the handsome gardener, Nathaniel. He helps her forget about her London law firm..."

Ummm, sure. I could see that happening.

Must Love Dogs

by Claire Cook

From BookPage:

"In an age of whiny novels about 30-something "singletons" whose sole goal in life seems to be snagging a decent man, Must Love Dogs is a refreshing antidote. Yes, 40-year-old Sarah Hurlihy is edging back into dating after a particularly nasty divorce, and yes, she wants to meet the right man. But author Claire Cook flips the same tired story upside down, serving up a hilariously original tale about dating and its place in a modern woman's life. "

Okay, a little older heroine, but the wacky family and the "settle for" ending lost me.

Poverty is Alive and Well

2005-08-17T23:04:00.000-04:00

“The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied...but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing. “~John Berger

“It is a tragic mix-up when the United States spends $500,000 for every enemy soldier killed, and only $53 annually on the victims of poverty.” --Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

Most of us know the basics of this NY Times Bestseller first published in 2001 in which Barbara Ehrenreich chronicled her three months spent earning mimimum wage and her attempt to survive in three American cities in Florida, Maine and Minnesota. It has continued to be a topic of discussion--for example it is San Jose State Unversity's Selection for the 2005 Campus Reading Program. But knowing the general story line is not the same as reading this book which gives the reader a first hand view of what it's like to work at jobs that demean and exhaust workers trying desperately to make ends meet and keep a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs. Will you ever look the same at the Wal-Mart clerks, the Denny's waitresses, the people you see everyday who struggle and are stranded in entry level jobs? Not likely.

According to CNN Money last year, "The number of Americans living in poverty jumped to 35.9 million last year, up by 1.3 million, while the number of those without health care insurance rose to 45 million from 43.6 million in 2002." Poverty figures have been on the rise since this undercover expose was written. Compassion challenges us to do what we can to effect change. A little more compassion would go a long way.

Heroes and Villains

2005-08-17T10:35:00.000-04:00

"When it comes to the point, really bad men are just as rare as really good ones." -George Bernard Shaw

Speak Softly, She Can Hear by Pam Lewis

Pam Lewis' first novel catches you from the very beginning and doesn't let you go until you turn that final page. Her character has both the terrible misfortune as well as the amazing good luck to meet both men of George Bernard's quotation. I can't wait for her next novel.

From the book jacket:

“New York City, 1965: At Spence, the exclusive Manhattan girls' school, shy, overweight scholarship student Carole finds herself drawn into an unlikely friendship with charismatic, pedigreed Naomi. On a dare, Carole and Naomi make a pact to lose their virginity before graduation. Enter Eddie, a slick Upper East Side prep school dropout, expelled from a half-dozen private schools on the East Coast. Eddie is handsome, fatally charming, and more than willing to help the girls accomplish their goal. But something about him is not quite right -- his overly familiar way with Naomi, his hair-trigger temper, the stories that just don't add up -- and on one bitterly cold holiday weekend in an isolated cabin deep in the Vermont woods, a horrifying twist develops in the girls' plan. Before the night is over, a stomach-turning secret is sealed between friends, setting in motion a series of events that will have dire and far-reaching consequences.

Sweeping across decades, moving from New York to Vermont to California and back again, Lewis tells an utterly gripping, psychologically nuanced tale of friendship between two very different women, of the life-changing burden of a secret, the lies we tell others to save ourselves, and the lies we tell ourselves when the truth is too painful to accept.”

So many books, so little time, a really overused line but......

2005-08-16T09:37:00.000-04:00

Books to the ceiling
Books to the sky.
My pile of books
Are a mile high.
How I love them!
How I need them!
I'll have a long beard
By the time I read them.
-Arnold Lobel

As I sit reading the literary tome, "Undomestic Goddess" by Sophie Kinsella, a quick check of email reveals that the 2005 Man Booker Prize long list nominees were announced. Oh dear.

"Saturday" by Ian McEwan
"Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
"Arthur & George" by Julian Barnes
"The Sea" by John Banville
"Beyond Black" by Hilary Mantel
"A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian" by Marina Lewycka
"The People's Act of Love" by James Meek
"The Accidental" by Ali Smith
"The Harmony Silk Factory" by Tash Aw
"All for Love" by Dan Jacobson
"On Beauty" by Zadie Smith
"Shalimar the Clown" by Salman Rushdie
"Slow Man" by J. M. Coetzee
"In the Fold" by Rachel Cusk
"A Long Long Way" by Sebastian Barry
"This Thing Of Darkness" by Harry Thompson
"This Is the Country" by William Wall