Bookmarkings

fall is for reading

2011-09-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

First let me say that I have joined some of the cool kids, (or maybe I am feeling just somewhat un-stodgy) because I have been living in Neverwhere during my commutes the past week. What's more the master himself has been doing the narration.

When I am not there it is 1920s Berlin, a City of Shadows, which was not a pleasant place at all. A Franklin has woven a thriller involving Anna Anderson the alleged Romanov survivor, and a trail of madness she creates.

Recently I finished Gladwell's The Tipping Point - funny how I have recently heard references in media more since it has come to my attention. It's is not so much groundbreakingly new but full of interesting perspectives. Isn't that what the best books do? Make you think and look at life differently?

And, Picasso's War - is a thorough exploration of the impetus, creation and history of his masterpiece Guernica (which is pronounced gair-NEE-kah) Not totally sure of the timelessness of the painting, it is less that 100 years old. But I do know that images in books or online in no way do justice to a work like this, especially one this large. Yeah, seeing Pollock's work in person at the Tate Modern taught me that.

I am considering the Electric Michelangelo and Colum McCann's Zoli next but who knows? I think Harry Dresden is calling me.

A moratorium, maybe

2011-04-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

My shelves are bulging, I can't find what I want and sometimes I stumble across a book I forgot I owned.

So I have resolved to stop or drastically decelerate my acquisitions, and try to prune. A select few will go to A's or her Robert's Christmas box, some to the Online Paperback exchange site and a few just to Goodwill because they are dated (but not too much).

OK, but what will do to celebrate the semi annual educator's sale at Borders? Hmm, not the blowouts that A and I would do, but something special. :-)

Since Christmas I have read a few that I promptly turned to the Paperback Exchange people and several have been snapped up quickly. Salvage, I could not get more than a third of the way through and gave up. It went quickly, must have been on someone's wishlist. Wish them luck.
I also finished Holy Fools by Joanne Harris and The Painted Kiss, an imagined bio of one of Gustav Klimt's close female friends. Neither can I recommend.

I have finished most recently, Horseshoes and Holy Water (I think that is the name) It had great potential but Mefo Phillips really isn't very good at writing, just recording. But it got snapped up immediately on my exchange site. Then I went back and finished Boorstin's series of essays, Cleopatra's Nose. Lots of food for thought without being too discursive and heavy.

I am now working on an art related thriller that A picked up for me The Art Thief. A fun read, it seems, not at all heavy, but not insultingly fluffy either.

Story time

2010-09-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

I went through a reading slump recently. It just seemed to take me forever to get through a volume - of my own choosing of course. But now I leaped through a few light reads to get back into a nice rhythm. No heavy non-fiction at the moment.
Recent books include - Tethers End by Margery Allingham, Second Horseman by Kyle Mills, School of Essential Ingredients, The Sidewalk Artist, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and now Oliver Twist.

I know the characters from the musical we performed in high school, but not the book, oddly enough. Like his other books, David Copperfield comes to mind, it takes a few pages to get used to the style, the extended sentences and wordiness, but there are fewer characters to sort out. But what strikes me most right now, about one third through the book, is the very black and white-ness. I get the class thing - you just did not cross the class lines. BUT Dickens is painting a very stark picture of morality. If you did one crime, petty or major, your soul was painted dark forever by society. Perhaps this will evolve as the story unfolds. We will see how much room Dickens allows for forgiveness and redemption on an individual level.

adrenaline rushes

2010-04-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

The big-time thriller is not a reading genre that I want to cultivate, but I did get sucked in recently to Kyle Mills's work. It started with a review that I read of Fade. I picked it up (cheap), buzzed through it and passed it on, but it was an exciting trip. Next is Second Horseman.

The Slavs and their detectives are usually so dour and dreary. Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall - sooo depressing. I liked Smilla's Sense of Snow but Hoeg hasn't really come up with anything since that has caught my attention. But - I have recently caught up with the Reykjavik mysteries by Arnaldur Indridason. Started with Jar City and then I found a whole slew at BookCloseouts.

I have been getting a lot of my reading direction these from Powell's Daily Dose. When I have no time for browsing online or in the store, this daily email has taken me down some unexpected paths.

and the stack keeps growing

2010-04-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

as the tired old saying goes, "so many books, so little time"

Recent months have included some memorable, some not, some that are just plain fun.
Fun includes Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories by Jean Shepherd. Shepherd is the comic mind behind the classic movie "A Christmas Story" or as Anissa and I refer to it "Ralphie." He was a radio, cabaret personality for years, so this begs to be read aloud, or at least to imagine it being read aloud. Although it is a memoir written as an adult looking back, he views this as a child and teenager, with little reference to the world situation at the time, only as it applied to him and his world. And even though his memory is selective, the detail and tone are painfully and sweetly on target - funny for those who remember that vanished innocent world, and even those who experience only through the movies or these pages.

Meanwhile I have started reading Knucklehead - another memoir written for gr 4-7. It, too, is best read aloud, between fits of laughter. What else could you expect from the creator of "The Stinky Cheese Man"?

Foundation Trilogy

2009-07-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

I am nearly finished with Asimov's Foundation Trilogy. I was well into it before I began looking at Amazon's reviews. Yes, we all know it is an award-winning science fiction classic, but is it worth reading? Can it still be appreciated either as an ancestor to current works or stand on its own?

Amazon (any yahoo that chooses to log on) has lots of naysayers (as an aside, one deranged soul claimed that Sgt Peppers was antiquated pap compared to Michael Jackson's genius. Another claimed that Wee Sing Silly Songs was Christian propaganda that should never be allowed near impressionable, yet free-thinking children)

Anyway I take these reviews with a grain of salt. And while the trilogy has its flaws it is a remarkable and enjoyable product of its time. I am not enough of a fan of science fiction to appreciate its place in the galaxy but as a good yarn, it was time well spent. I am not sure how soon I will reread it, though.

In the meantime, I have gotten sucked into two Dresden Files books, and the first of the Outlander series. Guilty pleasures. I do love a good storyteller!

Gilead

2009-04-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

A book that almost begs to be read aloud. Robinson's use of language is so authentic and umm, lyrical at the same time- I am not sure that is the word I want but it is close. I usually read for the story, but Gilead does not have a plot. It is the voice of an old man, a preacher who is trying to capture and write his memories - which are pretty much his only legacy to his small son. He meanders a bit, even repeating himself, just like an old person would do.

I am surprised how the book does hold your attention. Now you would think an old preacher would be pretty dull and stuffy, especially since he came from a whole family of them. However, the conflict between his father and grandfather, is intriguing, in fact an interesting reflection of the times.

I am sure the idea of reflecting on the precious and fleeting qualities of this world as one prepares to leave it, have been explored by many before. That's OK, the author manages (so far) to keep the voice real, something that can be tough when tackling a topic that is not part of everyday conversation.

Mental grist

2009-02-16T12:33:00.000-08:00

Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel - first impressions. He does not claim to have the answers - but he is willing to ask the questions. A scientist applying scientific inquiry to history. No, it makes sense.

The conquering, Western (racist) theory holds that primitive people are just genetically inferior -maybe not even human - case closed. This giving the conquerors perfect right to take whatever they want. Diamond sets out a whole different perspective. He posits that the development of civilizations is influenced most strongly by the environment.

Heart of the Country

2008-11-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

Hmm. I am alternating between rereading the Levendeur series and a volume on my shelf long ignored - Heart of the Country, by Greg Matthews.

I have now reached the halfway point of the latter. I don't know - I thought I was fairly open-minded but this book is described as a "gritty narrative"and that is putting it mildly. There is absolutely nothing attractive about the land or people of mid-19th century Kansas in this book. I know the West has been romanticized and whitewashed to the point of nausea, but this is too far the other direction. I have held out on books before, hoping it will get better. Sometimes it never happens (Barcelona, by another Australian, Robert Hughes). Even when the anti-hero gets treated poorly, I just thought, "You are such a jerk, you deserved that!"The story has improved just enough to keep me interested.

Seeing Sarah

2008-11-17T13:08:00.000-08:00

I dragged Robert down to see Sarah Vowell. Neither he or I had been to the Orpheum in ages, I know I had not been since it was still a regular movie theater in '70.

It is a beautiful building but still a bit shabbier than I expected. And Sarah, she was a hoot as I expected. Dressed very plainly, black slacks and top. Sorta awkward, a bit self-effacing but a sharp wit.

Several of Butler's English faculty, but no history ones that I could spot. Jim Erickson - seeing him takes me back to the days when I danced on the edge of Wichita's news media.

I never thought I would do this, but I actually bought a copy of Vowell's latest book and stood in line to get it autographed. Oh, why not? :-)

I won't miss this one

2008-10-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I missed a chance to hear Barbara Neely speak up at Wichita State. Now I find that Sarah Vowell, will be downtown at the Orpheum on Wednesday. If Robert can't go, I will just go alone!

Feeling virtuous

2008-09-08T09:11:00.000-07:00

A few things I weeded out this weekend:

Billy Graham's Angels
An RD collection of condensed books
Brokaw's Greatest Generation all to Mom
501 Spanish Verbs to Erin if she wants it.

Of course this does not really match the amount of books that manage to find their way IN through the front door, but I am trying to stave off the need for more shelfspace.

R & I ended up at Barnes and Noble for a spell, and I did not come away with anything from there either.

I have pulled out Heart of the Country - it has sat unread on my shelf for years - maybe deservedly so, but I will find out. In the meantime, I am rereading all of the Catherine LeVendeur books so I can read the last two I have never read.

I want to try my hand at papermaking sometime so my two of my last purchases have included books on the subject -on sale of course. I found a blender stuck in a drawer in the basement which will help to further the cause.

A note- on my last order from bookcloseouts.com the copy of 101 Poems that may save your life had 16 blank pages (only 86 poems not 101!). They graciously sent me a replacement at no charge.

Summer interlude

2008-07-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

And so the summer winds down. I still have to configure the fall course with its new text so I can't steal much time to reading for pleasure.

I finished Lee's Last Days. Although he is painted a bit too perfect, I have a new appreciation for this Southern hero. Well, it is just a bit annoying that he wanted his daughters around him and even after his death none of them found a life outside the bosom of the family.

I am impressed with his brief career as a visionary educator. Some of his ideas, like a journalism school, were way ahead of their time.

For pleasure I finished the last part of the Agnes Browne trilogy, - comic but not his narrative is oddly rough. It feels more like a string of anecdotes that do not tie together very well.

Into summer reading

2008-06-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

One natural segue in my library, to Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation, is Lee's Last Years. OK, I have a number of Civil War-related volumes. Not by any means comprehensive, but those that suit my fancy and curiosity. When it comes to military tactics and strategy, I am left cold. Politics are a challenge, but the personal human side is what engages me.

Anyway, Lee's Last Years provides a close look at Lee's life after the surrender at Appomattox. Six chapters in it seems to be balanced. Of course, it will be interesting to see how that dreadful period of Reconstruction is addressed.

What I have learned or confirmed so far:

Lincoln's assassination and the surrender occurred within days of each other.
Arlington National Cemetery rests on Lee's family property, well, his wife's property. And she never forgave the Yankees for confiscating it and burying their dead there.

Spring reading

2008-05-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

It has really been a challenge squeezing in the time to finish a book lately. I am nearly finished Allingham's Pearls before Swine. As I mentioned earlier, I resolved not to start another mystery collection; I will either get them used and trade or check them from the library.

I am amazed at the sophistication of her work, especially compared to Christie's. I could whip through a Christie in a few hours, even a Maigret did not seem to take too long. This book is only about 200 pages and it is meatier, more complex and to me, a whole lot more interesting. Perhaps she was not as popular for those reasons - Christie appealed to a much wider audience. I suppose you could compare her somewhat more to Dorothy Sayers' work.

I should also get back into Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation. It is nonfiction on serious subjects the first three assassinations of American presidents, but she is such a hoot.

Just for fun

2008-04-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

Before I begin another work of nonfiction, I am relaxing with the last Maigret I will pass on. (I resolved to thin those and the AChristies, and to not begin collecting another series). Honest. I picked up an Allingham at Bookaholic. (I think they are mostly out of print here in the US). I will them read and return to Bookaholic. May just have to pick them at library (IF they carry them).

I have simultaneously begun Tim O'Brien's July, July. OK, he writes much on the Vietnam Era. This deals with the era and people my age - well close, anyway. I first read his Going after Cacciato, one of his earliest but not his best known work. I think I also purchased The Things They Carried as an Audible book. But I am so behind on listening, I don't remember. :-(

Gaining perspectives

2008-04-13T07:07:00.000-07:00

I read fiction because it feeds a part of my soul.
It can be an escape, or travel to another world. Or an illumination or recognition of a part of me that I had ignored.

I read nonfiction for different reasons. I am selective because I do not believe that nonfiction is necessarily the truth, and I hate having to make that distinction as it can interfere with the pleasure of learning something new.
And it bothers me that I can not absorb the factual part of everything I read.
Well, I recognize that nonfiction can give me new perspectives, and illuminate the rest of my life and ideas I encounter and re-encounter daily.
Case in point, an 'old' (1982) but singular overview of the Society of Jesus. Being Catholic I know a little about the Jesuits, but like the average person, I probably have more reputation and hearsay in my knowledge than solid information. Barthel's The Jesuits sheds a bit more light on this order of priests. Surprisingly, though when all is said and done, he doesn't really confirm or deny many of the rumors or accusations that create their mystique. He even admits that there is an issue with denial and being unable to confirm because of security reasons.

And, I found it disconcerting that lots of 'facts' and interesting ideas were thrown out with no development or support of them. And, he also mentions several times that his mss was reviewed by a Jesuit. So how objective could he be - really? Sadly, I don't see that Barthel has published much else on the subject.

Anyway, the book has served to raise my sense of awareness about the Counter Reformation and disdain for the early 20th century Popes particularly in regard to Germany. (The author is German.)

And I can appreciate the dilemma of identity crisis. They were founded as a militant missionary order, and the Church currently embraces a more ecumenical stance. What is the Jesuits' current raison d'etre? Will we ever know?

birthday celebration

2008-02-26T09:56:00.000-08:00

not my birthday but A's.
I sent her package off to the land of ice and snow. The requisite items are expanding.
Selected new/used books - this year's selection includes D. Parker bio, three Holmes/Russell mysteries (which she has read but needs for her collection) and something different - J Harris's Five Quarters of an Orange.
Plus the annual birthday card featuring the toddler A. (I am learning to scan damaged negatives) AND a selection of specially designed bookmarks. I redid the ones I made a year or two ago, but this time I sealed them with clear packing tape. I included a true geek bookmark - two layers (sticky side together) of duct tape, embellished with the proper tassel. I can just see her rolling her eyes.

After Christmas

2007-12-26T18:58:00.000-08:00

This week is going to be a balance of getting ready for class and reading, hopefully some creative stuff and a bit of reorganizing and cleaning.

A was good to get me books that were on either end of my book list - newer additions and ones that are getting dusty from being there so long. Although I am reading Cokie Roberts's Founding Mothers, I just had to begin the long-awaited Mourning Raga, the very last Ellis Peters volume I wanted to acquire. A claims they scoured Charing Cross looking for it but ended up getting it on Amazon. We both feel that Amazon is OK, but the greater charm is browsing and finding a book on a shelf to page through and savor, and greet as a long-awaited friend.

Only one volume for my Robert but he has been fascinated by the possibilities that lie within the pages of Forbidden Legos. ;-)

I think we are going to ship the new bookcase to the kids. I don't think R & I are up to another road trip to Minneapolis right now, and a UPS bill is considerably less pricey than the road trip.

I am already preparing my shopping list to Powells next month. Qualifying items must be used, hard-to-find or tuned to my own book aesthetic. You know what that is - the subject, often the author, the writing style, even the the type and layout and cover (yes, you can judge a book) all contribute to that aesthetic that sense of what you will enjoy.

Fall reads

2007-09-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

The Borders sale is coming again, this time without A. :-(
I have just reread Montana 1948. It is spare and beautiful. I can hear his voice, I know the time and faces, the people are just like many I knew as a kid. The values, the accepted roles, the phrasings are familiar. Then as the story is played out you can feel the shock because it is so believable, as safe and ordinary as the lives were - the unthinkable was just below the surface.
(A different kind of storyteller altogether, Hitchcock spun his web of terror by telling stories about ordinary people as well.)

The Borders splurge

2007-03-26T18:39:00.000-07:00

A and I don't really need to go to this sale - the Borders spring break sale for educators - 25% off. We can get books cheaper at Amazon, and the selection, obviously is much better. But it is a tradition she and I have shared for nearly 5 years and most likely we will not be able to repeat it, unless I go visit her during spring break.

She was excited and found some books she really wanted. I found an small atlas, inspiration from The Cake Doctor and a Collage Sourcebook and the missing books from a medieval series. Oh yes, and a lovely book by William Zinsser, On Writing Well that I have heard about lately.

We both agree that the DVDs and CDs are overpriced, but we had a great time.

My current read is a bio of Martha Gellhorn, and hopefully I can get through Osa Johnson's I Married Adventure before it is due. I am still listening to Daughters of Britannia. Strong women, indeed!

Audible volumes

2007-03-05T07:09:00.000-08:00

I find that I am not listening to books as quickly as I did. But once I get the FM tuner working correctly in my Saturn that should change.
I did not realize that Prose's A Changed Man was supposed to be a satire, but on reflection, yeah I can see that.
I have started a non-fiction work, Daughters of Britannia, It is a look at the lives of the women - wives mostly who accompanied British diplomats and officers at the height of the Empire.

Transformation and evolution

2007-03-05T06:39:00.000-08:00

My Robert built me two beautiful mission style oak bookshelves this winter. It is the first time in three years (at least) that books are not stacked on the floor.

I have purchased so many books lately and filled in the holes of collections that my passion for collecting has slowed a bit. I am beginning to look critically at what is on the shelves and to consider a bit of restraint and pruning.

The books on my list tend to be more obscure and expensive so I will buy fewer when A and I go to Borders later for the educator appreciation sale.

I went to Bookaholic yesterday to look for a world atlas - since I am reading a geography primer. The only one they had was not bad - being a National Geographic edition, but I was not prepared to spend 32.50 on a used half-price volume. I was also annoyed because they are evidently overstocked and would only take about a third of the books I brought in to trade. Guess I will see if I can trade online or donate at Christmas.

Current reads: finished L.R. King's Keeping Watch, now reading Why Greenland is an island, Australia is not and Japan is up for grabs, the aforementioned geography primer. In the meantime I need to read the latest Jane Austen mystery before we go to Springfield. A started it and left it behind so I should get it to her. Next in the queue is a bio of Martha Gelhorn.

Great online find: bookcloseouts.com Not as focused as Daedalus or inclusively trashy as Hamilton but some great finds - I spent 35.00 on 7 books - some that were flat hard to find new or used, some surprises. True, you can find a great price on used copies of almost anything through Amazon, but unless there is a pressing need I do not usually go that route.

There is no pattern...

2006-11-06T19:02:00.000-08:00

I grab chunks of time to read. There is no rhyme or reason to what I consume. For a while I was reading Maigrets just so I could bid them farewell, and head them to Bookaholic.

It is tough to read anything serious if you can only read in spurts. I may just have to abandon or totally restart my reading of The Seekers. I have to absorb and understand, and there aren't any long uninterrupted period in which I can do that, or even want to, these days. Maybe it's just the subject for now.

My shelves are mounting with other volumes that beckon. I realize that many of the books I have had on my wish list for so long have taken residence here. I picked up and have become absorbed with Lahiri's The Namesake. Why I have become interested in India-American writers recently, I am not sure, except that their names have topped many recommended and commended lists in the past few years.

Cleaning house

2006-09-25T08:36:00.000-07:00

I have determined to thin out the library a bit, rereading the Maigrets and sending them off to Bookaholic. I know Simenon was quite a change from the popular Christies of the era, but neither the plots, or characters really seem to want me to revisit them. It is a bit better to visualize Paris, having my own memories of last fall, but still, it is hard even to know what decade they depict without looking at the copyright.

Now that the studio is almost ready to move back into, my poor homeless books can be pulled off the floors of the other rooms. Maybe even new bookshelves! Maybe.

One of these days I may even coordinate my wish lists, both written and virtual (Powells, Amazon, and more temporary and spontaneous, Hamilton and Daedalus.)

I am looking forward to the fall sale at Borders. It is not as not much fun without A but it is still a good reason to splurge.

And speaking of splurges, I sprang for an ipod and subscription to audible.com. I am trying to be very selective and pick books that I probably would not read. It is a bit hard to describe, a good listen is subtly different from a good read, especially one that you might want to go back and revisit. I started with Jeanette Walls's The Glass Castle. Parts of it just make my hair stand on end (oh, wait, it already does stand on end) - two parents who were so supremely self-centered, and negligent, yet instilled values that (I think) enabled their children to survive and become mature, reasonably sane productive adults. (Thank you, Sonja for the recommendation)

Squeezing in reading time

2006-04-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

For many reasons, I haven't been devoting much time to reading, not as much as I would like anyway; it isn't time, maybe more a lack of discipline and focus.

I am nearly through with The good, the bad and the difference. A New York columnist examines ethical questions posed by his readers. It is interesting, and thought-provoking, although I do not agree with all of his conclusions. He is distinctly a New Yorker, Jewish, a man who does not appear to be a parent. Actually I think the questions themselves and what they say about us today, are as intriguing as his responses.

*Sigh* I am still not finished with The Seekers, but each time I delve in I learn bits and pieces more about my cultural heritage (Western, Catholic) and how our traditions, ideas have evolved as they have. OK, I did not take Western Civ when every other Jayhawk had to, but would I have appreciated it? I doubt it. So, it is illuminating now.

Oh, yes, I have been treasuring Vreeland's Life Studies. How very special they are! She imagines the contemporary ordinary people whose lives are touched by a variety of Impressionists and post-Impressionists - van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Morisot, Cezanne, Modigliani, Renoir and more. The stories are sometimes sad, but always moving.

Spring reading

2006-03-23T18:50:00.000-08:00

I am settling back into Boorstin's The Seekers. So far it has been an illuminating overview of the origins of our great thinkers and great ideas of the Western world. All those concepts we just take for granted - the structure of our universities, the roots of the ways we think and believe. How much we owe all those 'dead white guys.'

I have been intrigued with philosophy for some time - I don't know much about it, it sounds abstract and dry (a negative) but I know that I like to see the big picture - to understand the background of things, and see how they all fit together - (a plus). So this book should provide me with a frame of reference and spark to explore some more.

Borders has their spring educators appreciation weekend, and a stack of books followed me home. I had the sense this time to go with a specific list - which helped.

I finished Teacher Man about two weeks ago. It was a startling find at Bookaholic - it has only been out a few months (still in hardback) and I picked it up for about 6.50. Anyway he is a good storyteller, that is his strength, not necessarily a great writer. In this his third book his self-deprecation was starting to get annoying though (you made it, you are a Pulitzer Prize winning best-selling author, OK, Frank?)

Reflections

2006-02-04T15:12:00.000-08:00

Eats Shoots and Leaves is a hoot. A funny bewailing of the lack of attention to punctuation. The author does not really divide it this way, but there is the punctuation lapses that really confuses ordinary communication, and there is the fussier stuff that I think 95% of English-writing people do not really understand. She addresses both. I never completely understood the use of colons or semicolons and I think my writing skills are pretty decent. Well, it was fun in a dry, witty way.

In The Seekers, Boorstin remarks on how Socrates and Plato deplored the written word. The dynamics of the spoken word, they claimed, is the true source of knowledge. I assume they meant the exchange of ideas, rather than a one-way bucket-into-brain transfer. What would they think of art, of any our media today??

Sharing

2006-01-20T18:06:00.000-08:00

Jeannie has asked to borrow a copy of Imitation of Christ. I will try to find one of her own this weekend or just let her borrow mine.

I think Kalli would like to read The Phantom Tollbooth since she was kind enough to loan me Eats Shoots and Leaves and she is an secondary ed English major.

I will make it through the Marquez's stories yet. Plus I am absorbing, however slowly, Boorstin's The Seekers. I get distracted by brain candy and SuDoku, of course, but as long as the breaks aren't too long I feel OK about it.

I am thinking about going through the Maigrets and with a once-through read, moving them out of my collection. I can't really convince myself to really like them enough to keep them around.

Holiday fun

2006-01-01T20:01:00.000-08:00

OK, I finally finished Breach in the Wall. It had long lost its charm but I wanted to make it through. It ultimately did widen my perspective of 20th century China, which was pretty narrow from the start.

Took the Borders gift card and a coupon, plus a stack of volumes to "recycle" at Bookaholic to add to the charming fun I got for Christmas. Anissa took inspiration from my wishlist, to find books I might like. Yay! Instead of feeding each other food to express our love, we give each other books to feed our psyches!

Newest (unpurchased) find -Vreeland's Life Studies

Children's books forever!

2005-12-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

On her Christmas wishlist Anissa expressed a desire for a beautifully illustrated edition of The Secret Garden. At 23 she still maintains a love for the books she loved at 9. That's my girl!

One discussion in the house a few weeks ago centered on my own library. She told me she would donate it. "Libraries are so personal," she reasoned, implying that my tastes do not match hers, adding that she would have no room. Robert intervened; there would be at least one room in their house dedicated to books he insisted. OK, I said I will leave the books to Robert then to make sure they stay in the family.

What's on your wish list?

2005-11-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

I have filled in a lot of gaps in my own library the past year so the hard-to-find list is getting shorter - and more expensive.

P.D. James has a new book coming out. As she advances in years, I always fear her current one will be her last. And, Frank McCourt has one that may be worthwhile. Tis was a disappointment, but it seems that a passage of his writing that attracted me to him related to his teaching years, which is the subject of his latest memoir, Teacher Man.

Team of Rivals looks interesting, a study of Lincoln's team-building skills with his cabinet of bitter political enemies. I am waiting patiently for Diamond's Collapse to appear in paperback, or remainders. The same with Mark Helprin's The Pacific and other stories. I find my interests moving to language and logic, too. Even some poetry.

The design books I eye (aye!) are so pricey but maybe someday price won't matter (or maybe it always will no matter how much disposable income I have) Just like Schama's Rembrandt's Eyes. $35 for a paperback. Ouch!!

Nourishing the brain

2005-10-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

Oranges! What a lovely book! I know, no one can quite believe that McPhee wrote a book about nothin' but oranges. Lots of lore, and anecdotes, facts too about liquid sunshine. Changed my attitude a bit about 'artificial' handling or the fruit (wax, coloring, gassing). Of course, I know that there is another side. Books like these become dated- it was finished in mid-60s, and it makes me wonder how much things have changed since then. It is really an interesting profile of a fruit industry that on one hand is so... managed- a science with its mechanization, chemistry etc. and on the other hand is so vulnerable to weather and nature itself - pooh- the trees are all hybrids, one type of stock grafted onto another. And the seeds will produce who knows what???

Now I am on to a charming portrait of China, Shanghai in particular, The Breach in the Wall. The author is a Westerner who grew up as the daughter of a tea merchant in China. So far I am particularly intrigued with her brief non-scholarly, non-political description of China and its relationship with the rest of the world. She waxes a bit rapturous at times, but hey, it is her story so she should be able to tell it the way she wants. I am sorry it has taken me so long to dust it off. OK, so the jacket is ugly, she has managed to draw me in at last.

Book juggling

2005-09-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

My reading lately is done in snatches. That is OK for Hemlock at Vespers a collection of Sr. Fidelma stories, a bit more difficult for the Colette biography. Dense with info as many good bios are, the narrative gets a bit hard to follow if you keep have to backtrack and figure out who is who. But so far, it is worth the effort.

In a rare flash of decorating with personality - I pulled out my collection of bookmarks and arranged them in a basket on top of a bookcase. :-)

I may be skipping the October sale at Borders, partly because I have been too indulgent lately, partly because their selection has been disappointing the past year or so.

Book buying in London!

2005-09-26T18:38:00.000-07:00

I know how blasted heavy books can be to lug around. So I tried hard not to buy, but Anissa insisted we hit the used bookstores in Charing Cross. She knows my weaknesses too well.
First quick round found a Simenon quartet, and one Farrell volume I had been seeking. The second a few days later rounded up more brain candy- Michael Jecks, Peter Tremayne and the other two parts of the Farrell trio. Anissa wheedled the latest Russell/Holmes books. Yum. Actually the venerable Blackwells bookstore was a bit disappointing in its selection, but then I was trying to be very focused on some older hard to find whodunnits. Not enough time or luggage space to do it all.

Oh what did I read there? Robert's Necromancer got finished in Paris even though neither Anissa nor I are completely sure why it ended the way it did.

I read Simenon's Little Saint- "one of his favorites"??? I should know better- I have not really liked any of his works that do not feature Maigret. I wanted to read it to get a snapshot of Paris. Unfortunately his work is not anchored in a time period so it is hard to visualize.

For brain candy I read Jecks's Belladonna at Belstone. A fine distraction. That is what traveling and books are all about, aren't they?

Outward bound!

2005-08-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

Can't leave home without good reads. Light stuff works well, both literally and well, literally. I suppose I could go and pick up something at Bookaholic that I don't mind leaving behind. Hmm.

I am nearly finished with Women Who Wrote the War. Terrific anecdotes. It is good to remember that the professional paths women have access today have not been paved too long ago. In its epilogue, the author noted that the terrific impact the war correspondents did not really reverberate until two generations later.

Anissa took off with the next book I was going to read, so I picked up the Colette bio Secrets of the Flesh. Someone once wrote that no one evoked Paris like Colette so her image will be fresh in my mind when I arrive. In my CR days The Vagabond made an impression and I have enjoyed the settings of her works but I just can't connect with her characters, and while it might have bothered me at one time, I am OK with that now.

Tangled threads

2005-08-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

Anissa and I both feel a bit lost and cranky if we can't escape into reading. Her extremism finds her taking books into the bathtub. In desperation, I have found myself reading almost anything in print put in front of me. In one printmaking class at KU, one fellow classmate got a charge out of finding me reading the newspapers that protected the worksurfaces.

Newby's life in Tuscany is a soothing summer escape, although his (requisite) Italian terms throw a jolt into the narrative, especially if you are only able to pick up the book a few pages at a time. His strength is the ability to evoke environment, however rustic, so that the reader is filled with such longing. I am surprised, though, that he just brings the book to an end without much ado, - just a litany of who died, they left, goodbye, the end.

I have moved on to Marquez's collected short stories. Not good light reading, lots of voices of people observing the twilight after death. They are arranged in the order of creation, so it will be interesting to see how his work changes with time.

Sidetracked

2005-07-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

Eric and Wanda have been left to their own devices for a bit in their small place in Italy. But it won't be for long, as my own European plans proceed!! Ka-ching, we spent the money on plane tickets, train tickets from London to Paris and back, and the London hostel. The Paris lodgings are yet undecided.

I have picked up The Women Who Wrote the War, - female war correspondents, primarily World War II. Wonderful, gutsy, women all so different in their styles and approaches.
(Aside: I rarely use the word 'unique' - one of the most abused words in the English language - I find if I do, I am being lazy, not willing to find more appropriate modifiers bah!)

I found three great additions to the library- the second Thursday Next, the latest Michael Jecks, and The Granny, which completes Brendan O'Carroll's trilogy. Happy dance for brain candy! And Robert loaned me another highly recommended cyber-punk sci-fi piece in exchange for One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Hitting the road

2005-06-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

Paul Theroux's The Great Railway Bazaar was my first introduction to travel writing. His fiction is uneven, very uneven but his travel writing is hypnotic. I also have a fondness for Eric Newby - sometimes a bit wordy but toughing it out for his dry humor is worth the effort.
Right now, I am discovering his Small Place in Italy, a spot not much different that the one Under the Tuscan Sun. I like approaching travel with a sense of light-hearted adventure. Especially since something goofy or weird, always seems to happen to me, and so it seems with Newby.

2005-06-25T16:02:00.000-07:00

Finished with muses for now.
What a bunch! Prose's selection - the various roles her lineup played is intriguing. At first I thought the idea of a muse is a bit contrived, but it makes a good premise. Several of her choices, particularly artists, were not necessarily first rate- it is hard to take the pre-Raphaelites very seriously, and Yoko and John? Well we are talking about the roles of muses in *various* lights. The book has sent me scurrying to investigate some of the more interesting women, Lee Miller and Lee Salome-Andreas.

Just finished a loan from Robert via Anissa- a cyperpunk fiction piece- Idoru. A pleasant surprise, really.

Muses and more

2005-05-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

I like to read introductions to books just to get a feel for what inspired book or just an overview. Sometimes they drag on so long that I just skim and move on. The intro to Lives of the Muses is so well written that the length seemed of no consequence. Well, it drew in some of my favorite topics, art, storytelling, strong women. Familiar figures and new ones- I am looking forward to a great read!

I dropped by Bookaholic with notebook in hand- whoohoo! I found three books on my hard-to-find used list! One has been on the list so long I had given up and taken it off. The Bookaholic freaks are gradually getting back in my good graces, even though I am still annoyed that they don't take my books either because they have too many of the same title or it is a title that too obscure to sell. Bah to them, hello Goodwill

Muses

2005-05-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

I just finished The Artist's Wife, a fictionalized account of Alma Mahler. She made a career as a muse to Mahler, Gropius, Klimt and more. She even attempted the same with a priest who, unfortunately, was sent to Dachau. Not a particularly admirable woman, but fascinating. I don't know a whole lot about Vienna's Golden age or the revolutionary work that followed its decay, and the book gave some interesting insights. It has also piqued my interest in the role of the muse- I plan to follow up soon with Francine Prose's Lives of the Muses, which includes Mahler as one of its subjects.

I would like to integrate the role of art people such muses, collectors, critics, curators into AR100 but I am not sure how that aligns with the outcomes.

Correction- Prose's book does not profile Mahler but should give an interesting counterpoint to the variety of roles muses can play. Are there any male muses?

Moving on

2005-05-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

Finally I finished The Name of the Rose. Bleah! Overrated, overlong. Big fuss over the role of humor in theology. Throwing in all this Latin just to look profound. Brother William was cool but his horny little sidekick was annoying. OK.

Carol Higgins Clark cannot write. Mama Higgins Clark can spin a good tale, even though the characters are always rich, beautiful, refined, and live in Connecticut or New York. Baby H.C. cannot tell a story, draw anything but cardboard characters, unbelievable dialog, one page chapters!? OK, CHC and Eco are permanently off my reading list.

In the meantime I found a yummy novel, The Book of Salt to savor (pun intended). Novel of a Vietnamese cook working for GertrudeStein and Alice B. Toklas. The language is so seductive and lush.

Detour

2005-04-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

I have been continuing my way through Name of the Rose, but I got distracted (deliberately) by one of Margaret Frazers's medieval detective books' The Clerk's Tale' With series I tend to become interested in following character development as much as plot. Dame Frevisse was beginning to annoy me in this one (but not as much as little Miss Perfect in Tremayne's Irish nun/lawyer series) but I suppose it was because she truly disliked the victim.

Ladies Night at Finbar's Hotel and more

2005-03-31T17:47:00.001-08:00

Following his success with Finbar's Hotel, a novel composed of uncredited chapters written by contemporary Irish writers about a seedy Dublin hotel, Bolger has returned to the newly remodeled scene with stories by Irish women writers. I don't know them well enough even to begin to guess who wrote which. It doesn't matter; the idea just tickles me.
Anyway I have devoured the seven stories this week, one I have even reread. They are united by the themes of adult women, many well educated, who deal with family, the ghosts of their past, their uncertain future. Some are almost painfully recognizable within my own sphere of experience.

I am working my way through Name of the Rose. It is an enjoyable but slow read. The Latin gets in the way a bit, so does the Church politics - ouch- Reminds me that the politics exist even today as the speculation about the new Pope and the high profile of Cardinal Law illustrates.

Whore's Child

2005-03-31T17:47:00.000-08:00

I absorbed this book of short stories by Richard Russo, during breakfast this week.

I really began to read short stories of all sorts when I was introduced to them formally in high school and college. D.H. Lawrence, Saki, O. Henry, the masters. I continued because the length was so much more manageable when I got too busy to read longer works. Actually my love of short works goes back to high school. Magazines before the 70s seemed to have a lot of great short fiction. I have strong memories of short stories from American Girl (a Girl Scout publication) and Seventeen magazine in the 60s.

Anyway, I recognize what a difficult form it can be. And Russo does it so well. Generally I do not like to analyze work, I don't try to anticipate what the author is trying to do. I just like to shut up and go along for the ride.

But the stories are so elegantly formed, something to hold up to the light and admire. The sounds, sights, thoughts all resonate with me. And, they seem so intensely personal, so much about himself. Granted a writer, professor, are often characters, but it goes beyond that. The experiences, emotions, are not ones he has imagined but ones he knows firsthand.