Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Among the Mad

Among the Mad (Maisie Dobbs, #6)Among the Mad 
by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think this was my favorite Maisie Dobbs so far. She is working with Scotland Yard, in a consultant capacity, which opens up possibilities of the plot in a way that the earlier novels lacked. There was a definite thread of sadness in this story, but the kindness and grace of Miss Dobbs keeps the heartbreak at a manageable level.
I am counting this towards the Historical Fiction Challenge as it was written in 2009 and is set at the turn of the year 1932. 


Friday, March 1, 2024

February Book Report

January 2024, NYC
I finished 7 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

“A person was like a city. You couldn't let a few less desirable parts put you off the whole. There may be bits you don't like, a few dodgy side streets and suburbs, but the good stuff makes it worthwhile.”
― Matt Haig, The Midnight Library

Here is my progress toward various goals and challenges:

 Here are the books I finished in February 2024: 
  1. Things to Look Forward To by Sophie Blackall (3-stars)
  2. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (4-stars)
  3. I Think You're Wrong, But I'm Listening (4-stars)
  4. An Overdose of Death by Agatha Christie (3-stars)
  5. Be the Unicorn by William Vanderbloemen (3-stars)
  6. Nightwood by Djuna Barnes (3-stars)
  7. Fabulous Feathers and Fillers by Sue Nickles (4-stars)
I didn't have any good February pictures so I picked one from a trip I took last month to visit my sister. 

I ended up abandoning my Classics Club spin title (Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne) and am currently reading 5 different books. I expect to finish all but one of those (War and Peace, which I am reading slowly, but am liking) in March.

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Nightwood

NightwoodNightwood 
by Djuna Barnes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Barnes wrote this novel in the 1930s and it is mentioned as both an influential novel for many "modern" writers of that vintage (Faulkner, Joyce, Eliot, etc.) and a classic work of lesbian fiction. The book centers around a woman named Robin Vote and the impact she has upon the lives of various people. Most of the book is set in Paris and the point-of-view shifts from character to character, but always circling around Robin. 
In his introduction to the novel T. S. Eliot says:
"What I would leave the reader prepared to find is the great achievement of style, the beauty of phrasing, the brilliance of wit and characterisation, and a quality of horror and doom very nearly related to that of Elizabethan tragedy."
That seems like an accurate description. I enjoyed this book, although I found it hard to follow at first. The structure was very well suited to the tone of the tale being told and the language was striking.
"If I should try to put it into words, I mean how I did see her, it would be incomprehensible, for the simple reason that I find that I never did have a really clear idea of her at any time. I had an image of her, but that is not the same thing. An image is a stop the mind makes between uncertainties." (p. 111)
This book is on my Classics Club list


Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Love in the Title

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is a love freebie in honor of Valentine's Day. I am going with "Books I Have Read with Love in the Title."

  1. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
  2. Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
  3. The Republic of Love by Carol Shields
  4. No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym
  5. To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey
  6. Love Among the Chickens by P. G. Wodehouse
  7. The Love Prescription by John M. Gottman and Julie Schwartz Gottman
  8. Love, Lies, and Liquor by M. C. Beaton
  9. Falling in Love by Donna Leon
  10. Notes on a Killing: Love, Lies, and Murder in a Small New Hampshire Town by Kevin Flynn and Rebecca Lavoie




Saturday, February 10, 2024

I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening)

I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political ConversationsI Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversations 
by Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I found this book to be thought provoking and filled with useful questions to consider about how my actions and beliefs affect the conversations I have about politics. 

One of the things the authors talk about here is the importance of bringing your whole self--beliefs, experiences, values--to your political conversations and allowing others to do the same. We are not talking to "political positions" but to actual complex people. I was struck by the fact that my experience of reading this book was an opportunity to exercise this skill. The authors are both Christian women whose faith is a big part of who they are. This is very much a part of the way they view the world and how they approach conversations. At first I was a bit put off by all the faith-based parts of the book, but as I read I came to see that they brought value and nuance to the points being made. I had been reassured that these were women I wanted to hear from early on (page 18 to be exact) when the phrase "Because you cannot have too much Abigail Adams..." was used.

Another part that really resonated for me was the chapter 'Find Your Why' where Simon Sinek is quoted:
"For values or guiding principles to be truly effective they have to be verbs. It's not 'integrity,' it's 'always do the right thing.' It's not 'innovation,' it's 'look at the problem from a different angle.' Articulating our values as verbs gives us a clear idea--we have a clear idea of how to act in any situation."
The divisiveness that has infected our country is a huge problem that cannot be solved with a single book. I recommend this book, however, as an excellent way to consider how you are personally contributing to the divisions or helping to bridge them.

Thursday, February 1, 2024

January 2024 Book Report

January 2024, Manchester, NH
I finished 11 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

"I still live by the Southern Lady code: If you don't have something nice to say, say something not so nice in a nice way. For example: 'Your Instagram is beautifully curated' is Southern Lady Code for 'Your real life must be a hotter mess than spaghetti and meatballs in a clothes dryer.' But I would never write such a message in your comments. My thoughts on your business are not the world's business." --Helen Ellis, Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge

Here is my progress toward various goals and challenges:

 Here are the books I finished in January 2024: 
  1. An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear (4-stars)
  2. Death in Print by G. M. Malliet  (4-stars)
  3. Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy (3-stars)
  4. Congratulations, The Best is Over by R. Eric Thomas (audiobook, 4-stars)
  5. Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge by Helen Ellis (4-stars)
  6. The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld (3-stars)
  7. Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit (4-stars)
  8. No Good Tea Goes Unpunished by Bree Baker (audiobook, 3-stars)
  9. Jamaica Inn by Daphne DuMaurier (4-stars)
  10. The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel (3-stars)
  11. Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant (5-stars)
A good start to my reading year -- a nice mix of books and several 4-star reads!

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant

Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining AloneAlone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone 
edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have been on a bit of an essay binge lately and this title (which was added to my TBR as part of NonFicNov) fit right in. There wasn't a dud in this collection of essays by various writers on the theme of dining/cooking alone. 
My favorites were:
  •  'Wild Chili' by Dan Chaon which begins in his childhood home in Nebraska where his Mom makes a chili much like the one my Mom made in my childhood home in Nebraska. I have also made my Mom's chili my own over the years, but in a very different direction than Chaon went.
  • The short story 'The Year of Spaghetti' by Haruki Murakami. He is one of my favorite writers and this short piece was very typical of his work.
  • 'The Legend of the Salsa Rosa' by Ben Karlin which was a multi-part story, complete with footnotes, and was very funny. Also, the recipe sounds delicious. 
  • 'Potatoes and Love: Some Reflections' by Nora Ephron. It was full of lines I want to remember--possibly all of them. I will share just one quote:
"Nothing like mashed potatoes when you're feeling blue. ... The problem with mashed potatoes, though, is that they require almost as much hard work as crisp potatoes, and when you're feeling blue the last thing you feel like is hard work. Of course, you can always get someone to make the mashed potatoes for you, but let's face it: the reason you're blue is that there isn't anyone to make them for you. As a result, most people do not have nearly enough mashed potatoes in their lives, and when they do, it's almost always at the wrong time." -- N. Ephron, 'Potatoes and Love'



Tuesday, January 30, 2024

New-to-Me Authors

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is "New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023"

  1. Katherine J. Chen (Joan)
  2. Ada Ferrer (Cuba: An American History)
  3. Tan Twan Eng (The House of Doors)
  4. Tony Hillerman (The Blessing Way)
  5. Pico Iyer (This Could be Home)
  6. William Kent Kruger (The River We Remember)
  7. Evan McHugh (Pint-sized Ireland)
  8. Cal Newport (Deep Work)
  9. Mary Norris (Greek to Me)
  10. Samantha Silva (Mr. Dickens and His Carol)

Monday, January 29, 2024

Jamaica Inn

Jamaica InnJamaica Inn 
by Daphne du Maurier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really liked Rebecca, then I started My Cousin Rachel and couldn't get into it so I was not sure how reading Jamaica Inn would go. I ended up really enjoying it. 
"The coaches avoided Jamaica Inn, hidden in the harsh Cornish moors not far from the coast, for its name was evil, and no man knew what it's dark shutters hid. Yet it was to Jamaica Inn that Mary Yellsn went when her mother died, to join her aunt Patience and the man her aunt had married, Joss Merlyn, the landlord of the Inn. Only too soon was she to learn the full tale of its horror, though she stayed beneath its roof because of her aunt, so lovely once, so battered and haunted now." --Goodreads blurb
Like Rebecca this story has a female narrator who doesn't really understand what is happening around her but figures it out as the book goes along. It also has a similarly dark and gothic tone. The characters, both our heroine and the people around her are complex, interesting people. There were several points where the story took a turn I didn't see coming and it was very skillfully crafted.

After reading the book I watched the 1939 movie which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and introduced Maureen O'Hara. I thought it was fairly dreadful. The story is much simplified from the one in the novel, characters are added and totally changed,  and all the suspense is sucked right out of the story by beginning the movie with an event that happens about 3/4 of the way into the book. 

Written in the 1930s and set in the 1820s this book is on my Classics Club list and I am also counting it toward the Historical Fiction Challenge and the What's in a Name Challenge (double letters in the title).
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