Sunday, June 24, 2018
Books not quite complete
I have been remiss in writing as I am trying to finish reading the last three books of the list of 100 books that Facebook put out as a challenge what seems like eons ago. 100 books and some of them, well not my cup of tea. However, I am almost finished the Ambassadors , partly finished the Golden Notebooks and barely scratched the surface of Proust. But I have been reading lots of other books and when I finally finish the three, hopefully before I have to start work again , I have decided to start a new reading list. This reading list will be based on the year I was born or close to the year for I have decided to add the three most popular books of that time period. I will not tell you the year for it is a mystery. So I will not put the copyright date on the publishing date of the book. This group of books has a lot more science fiction in it than the previous 100. I may even start a different blog as to reflect my new reading list. As soon as I finish the three I will write a brief blog. I feel like I have taken too long with this enterprise. For that I am sorry to been not as diligent in my reading or writing.
Monday, October 9, 2017
Rules of Civility: Review
RULES OF CIVILITY: by Amor Towles, published by Penquin Books in 2012. A great book, but I had to go back a couple of times to remember the front of the beginning of the book. This is why, it starts off in the 1966 New York where Katey, our narrator for the most part, and her husband are at a gallery looking at portraits taken by Walker Evans in the 1930's. As they are walking along, Eve notices a man she knew in the 1930's Tinker Grey. He is in the photo's twice. Once looking dapper and once looking disheveled. This starts Eve to remember that time and when she met Tinker.
We are zoomed back to New Years Eve 1937, Katey Kontent and her friend Eve have sneaked out of the boarding house to enjoy New Years Eve. Lovely name for our narrator, throughout the book I wondered was she ever really content. This is where they meet Tinker Grey and so the tale begins. We are taken From Winter through Fall as the main section headers, with titles throughout. There are several twists and turns in the life of Katey, Eve and Tinker. Many things I would never have thought to do, but I have never lived in New York of in the 1930's.
So where does the title come from? There is a book that the young George Washington wrote called "The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation." This is wonderfully placed in the back of the book, but it is also the motivation behind Tinker Grey, who has a copy in his drawer. I loved the list and wonder what George Washington would say today, especially when it comes to clothing and grooming. My favorite of the 110 is number 2: "When in company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body, not usually discovered." What would he think of the crotch hold?
Good book, I like all the photo's of the 1930's.
We are zoomed back to New Years Eve 1937, Katey Kontent and her friend Eve have sneaked out of the boarding house to enjoy New Years Eve. Lovely name for our narrator, throughout the book I wondered was she ever really content. This is where they meet Tinker Grey and so the tale begins. We are taken From Winter through Fall as the main section headers, with titles throughout. There are several twists and turns in the life of Katey, Eve and Tinker. Many things I would never have thought to do, but I have never lived in New York of in the 1930's.
So where does the title come from? There is a book that the young George Washington wrote called "The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation." This is wonderfully placed in the back of the book, but it is also the motivation behind Tinker Grey, who has a copy in his drawer. I loved the list and wonder what George Washington would say today, especially when it comes to clothing and grooming. My favorite of the 110 is number 2: "When in company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body, not usually discovered." What would he think of the crotch hold?
Good book, I like all the photo's of the 1930's.
Sunday, September 3, 2017
the sound of glass by Karen White: review
(I was in the middle of reading one book when I decided to read my November book club pick, not the smartest thing to do. So I am almost finished Golden Notebook, so I hope to have a blog by the end of the week.)
the sound of glass by Karen White ( and yes I realize I did not use capitals in the title, but neither did she,) published by New American Library a division of Penguin Group, May 2015. This book starts off with a plane crash, accident and a young woman afraid of her husband. Then we jump ahead 2 generations to an accident which leaves a young widow looking for answers about her husband and an inheritance of his family home in Beaufort, South Carolina. We also have a step-mother, half-brother Owen to Merritt, the second generational widow, and Gibbes the brother to Merritt's husband Cal. All these lives are weaved within a tale of abuse, suffering, hardship and mystery that gets centered around a plane crash that happened when Edith Heyward finds a note in the bottom of a suitcase that had blown up over the skies of Beaufort. This book is written in two voices one is Merritt whenever we are in a chapter about her and the second is third person narration when we are in other chapters. This is a bit confusing at first, but makes sense.
The only other thing that was really troubling in the read was the fact that each generation of abusers in the narrative were named Cal. I had to think which Cal were they talking about, but eventually I got used to it and settled in for the read. The domestic abuse in this narrative was both physical and psychological, making the woman feel less than adequate, playing on their fears, until they were lucky enough to escape, unfortunately one was through death of the woman.
Characters that I loved:
Loralee- Merritt's very young step-mother who writes down sayings in a journal for her son, some of her own and some her mother uses to say to her. She also spouts of sayings from her mother to Merritt, which annoys Merritt immensely, as she has never liked her step-mother for taking place of her mother.
Owen- the half-brother who is the only one who seems to be able to bring a smile to Merritt's face. He is very much like his big sister and Loralee loves to make the comparisons.
Okay I liked all the characters, but the two above were my favorite. Merritt for her strength to face her demon. Gibbes for his gentleness towards this new family, especially since he knew nothing about Merritt as his brother never mentioned her and vice a versa.
There are so many plot twists, some more obvious then others but still essential to the telling of the story. A good book all around.
the sound of glass by Karen White ( and yes I realize I did not use capitals in the title, but neither did she,) published by New American Library a division of Penguin Group, May 2015. This book starts off with a plane crash, accident and a young woman afraid of her husband. Then we jump ahead 2 generations to an accident which leaves a young widow looking for answers about her husband and an inheritance of his family home in Beaufort, South Carolina. We also have a step-mother, half-brother Owen to Merritt, the second generational widow, and Gibbes the brother to Merritt's husband Cal. All these lives are weaved within a tale of abuse, suffering, hardship and mystery that gets centered around a plane crash that happened when Edith Heyward finds a note in the bottom of a suitcase that had blown up over the skies of Beaufort. This book is written in two voices one is Merritt whenever we are in a chapter about her and the second is third person narration when we are in other chapters. This is a bit confusing at first, but makes sense.
The only other thing that was really troubling in the read was the fact that each generation of abusers in the narrative were named Cal. I had to think which Cal were they talking about, but eventually I got used to it and settled in for the read. The domestic abuse in this narrative was both physical and psychological, making the woman feel less than adequate, playing on their fears, until they were lucky enough to escape, unfortunately one was through death of the woman.
Characters that I loved:
Loralee- Merritt's very young step-mother who writes down sayings in a journal for her son, some of her own and some her mother uses to say to her. She also spouts of sayings from her mother to Merritt, which annoys Merritt immensely, as she has never liked her step-mother for taking place of her mother.
Owen- the half-brother who is the only one who seems to be able to bring a smile to Merritt's face. He is very much like his big sister and Loralee loves to make the comparisons.
Okay I liked all the characters, but the two above were my favorite. Merritt for her strength to face her demon. Gibbes for his gentleness towards this new family, especially since he knew nothing about Merritt as his brother never mentioned her and vice a versa.
There are so many plot twists, some more obvious then others but still essential to the telling of the story. A good book all around.
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Circling the Sun by Paula McLain: Review
CIRCLING THE SUN, by Paula McLain is published by Ballentine Books in 2015. The setting Kenya and Europe. The time starts in 1932 with the prologue but jumps back to 1904 and as the author writes " Before Kenya was Kenya...". The heroine one 4 year old who moves from England with her family to the British East African Protectorate, her name Beryl Clutterbuck.
This story is a historical fiction about Beryl Markham and the life she lived as a single, sometimes married, independent woman in the early 1900's. Headstrong and unwilling to be compromised, she left most men bewildered by her inability to be feminine or controlled. She becomes a horse trainer after years watching her father and training. She becomes an aviator and circumnavigates the world. Many misfortunes befall her, but she picks herself up and continues.
The author Paula McLain does a wonderful job with scenery and the story line, citing the many books she read to understand Beryl Markham. This research included a book that Beryl Markham wrote about herself called West with the Night, written in 1942. A book that Ernest Hemingway proclaimed as a "... really a bloody wonderful book."
I was so enthralled with CIRCLING THE SUN, that I read it in three days. It is wonderfully written from scenery to emotions that I could not put it down. It also made me want to read other works about Beryl Markham, so I purchased West with the Night which was republished in 1983, my copy is a paperback published in 2013. I will review this as soon as I finish the autobiography.
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I am still reading The Golden Notebook, but had put it aside because I needed a brief break. It will be done before August ends.
This story is a historical fiction about Beryl Markham and the life she lived as a single, sometimes married, independent woman in the early 1900's. Headstrong and unwilling to be compromised, she left most men bewildered by her inability to be feminine or controlled. She becomes a horse trainer after years watching her father and training. She becomes an aviator and circumnavigates the world. Many misfortunes befall her, but she picks herself up and continues.
The author Paula McLain does a wonderful job with scenery and the story line, citing the many books she read to understand Beryl Markham. This research included a book that Beryl Markham wrote about herself called West with the Night, written in 1942. A book that Ernest Hemingway proclaimed as a "... really a bloody wonderful book."
I was so enthralled with CIRCLING THE SUN, that I read it in three days. It is wonderfully written from scenery to emotions that I could not put it down. It also made me want to read other works about Beryl Markham, so I purchased West with the Night which was republished in 1983, my copy is a paperback published in 2013. I will review this as soon as I finish the autobiography.
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I am still reading The Golden Notebook, but had put it aside because I needed a brief break. It will be done before August ends.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
2nd book mentioned in previous blog: Review of THE NIGHTINGALE, by Kristin Hannah
THE NIGHTINGALE, by Kristin Hannah, published by St. Martins Press in 2015. The book is set in France during WWII and is the story of two sisters, family, french resistance and German occupation of France. The book encompasses the whole time period of the war from the Germans breaking through the Maginot Line, which had been set in place after the Great Conflict or WWI. The sisters father served in WWI and came home a different man, lost his wife and turned to drink and sent his daughters far away from him. One daughter finds love and the other finds herself rebellious.
This story starts off in 1995 on the Oregon Coast with an older woman about to be moved into a nursing facility as a way to save her son Julien from taking care of her as she is dying. She goes to the attic and goes through an old trunk, which starts her on a journey of remembering the past and how her son really knows nothing about her. We quickly slide over to France 1939 and start the story of the two sisters. Once in awhile we go to the 1990's but for the most part the book is written from the past.
The two sisters are very different, Vianne the older sister, tries to be in control of her emotions, falling in love after being deserted by her father, getting pregnant at a young man and marrying him. Having no time for her baby sister, who handles this abandonment by her father by being rebellious and being sent to a boarding schools, as she keeps being kicked out because of her behavior, this is Isabelle. She has issues not only with her father but with Vianne, because Vianne is the second person to abandon her when she was just a small child.
Then the war presses in around them, Isabelle gets thrown out of another school at 18, goes home to her father who sends her to live with her sister after the Germans have broken through the Maginot Line, he sends her with a family headed that way but they run out of fuel and she has to set off on foot. She decides she need to get away from the mass exodus from Paris to the country and sets off in a different direction, running into a man named Gaeton. Who walks with her to her sisters house, with a promise that when they see that Vianne is okay, he would take her to the front with him.
While all this is going on Vianne is getting overrun by the people looking for food. She goes into hiding with her daughter locking all the doors, so she does not answer when her sister knocks. Starting off the reunion with bitter emotions from Isabelle the next morning, as she chastises her sister for having the door locked and being mad at Gaeton for abandoning her with a note pinned to her dress.
Okay enough of this or I will tell the whole story and Kristen Hannah does a much better job. This story is well written and it kept me guessing until the end on who the old woman was in the beginning of the book. The end of the book when the Germans realize that they might not win and start getting even more brutal is very graphic, so beware. The book takes its name from two sources on being the name of the person who take fallen air force members from the US and RAF across to safety using the Pyrenees mountains and the last name translated for the two girls. It is not only about relationships between the family and lovers, but relationships between occupied countries with their oppressors. How a whole country let atrocities happen because of fear and or gain, but not the whole country because there were resistance fighters and people who hid others in the face of danger to their own lives.
This book hits a variety of genres, mystery, history, romance, tragedy and a few more. A well written book, that took four days to read. I probably could have done it in two but other obligations got in the way and I sat up till 130 AM reading last night as I wanted to find out who was our woman. But as I said before the last chapters are pretty graphic, so reader beware. if I was to rate it with a five star system, it would receive all five stars.
This story starts off in 1995 on the Oregon Coast with an older woman about to be moved into a nursing facility as a way to save her son Julien from taking care of her as she is dying. She goes to the attic and goes through an old trunk, which starts her on a journey of remembering the past and how her son really knows nothing about her. We quickly slide over to France 1939 and start the story of the two sisters. Once in awhile we go to the 1990's but for the most part the book is written from the past.
The two sisters are very different, Vianne the older sister, tries to be in control of her emotions, falling in love after being deserted by her father, getting pregnant at a young man and marrying him. Having no time for her baby sister, who handles this abandonment by her father by being rebellious and being sent to a boarding schools, as she keeps being kicked out because of her behavior, this is Isabelle. She has issues not only with her father but with Vianne, because Vianne is the second person to abandon her when she was just a small child.
Then the war presses in around them, Isabelle gets thrown out of another school at 18, goes home to her father who sends her to live with her sister after the Germans have broken through the Maginot Line, he sends her with a family headed that way but they run out of fuel and she has to set off on foot. She decides she need to get away from the mass exodus from Paris to the country and sets off in a different direction, running into a man named Gaeton. Who walks with her to her sisters house, with a promise that when they see that Vianne is okay, he would take her to the front with him.
While all this is going on Vianne is getting overrun by the people looking for food. She goes into hiding with her daughter locking all the doors, so she does not answer when her sister knocks. Starting off the reunion with bitter emotions from Isabelle the next morning, as she chastises her sister for having the door locked and being mad at Gaeton for abandoning her with a note pinned to her dress.
Okay enough of this or I will tell the whole story and Kristen Hannah does a much better job. This story is well written and it kept me guessing until the end on who the old woman was in the beginning of the book. The end of the book when the Germans realize that they might not win and start getting even more brutal is very graphic, so beware. The book takes its name from two sources on being the name of the person who take fallen air force members from the US and RAF across to safety using the Pyrenees mountains and the last name translated for the two girls. It is not only about relationships between the family and lovers, but relationships between occupied countries with their oppressors. How a whole country let atrocities happen because of fear and or gain, but not the whole country because there were resistance fighters and people who hid others in the face of danger to their own lives.
This book hits a variety of genres, mystery, history, romance, tragedy and a few more. A well written book, that took four days to read. I probably could have done it in two but other obligations got in the way and I sat up till 130 AM reading last night as I wanted to find out who was our woman. But as I said before the last chapters are pretty graphic, so reader beware. if I was to rate it with a five star system, it would receive all five stars.
Still reading The Golden Notebook, but....
I am still reading the Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, but I have also read two book club choices for last month and nest month, so I thought I would review them least I forget.
This month the book was A WRINKLE IN TIME, by Madeleine L'Engle, my copy was printed in 1997 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc for the Quality Paperback Book Club. I read this book when I was not a child, but later on in life, then again when I had children, and now for a third time. When I was younger I did not pick up on some of the religious themes in the book, but concentrated on the fact that there were two children rescuing their dad from an evil entity. I was heavily into science fiction, so this fell into my favorite kind of read. When I read it with my children, we were looking at it through eyes of book reports. In each read I found myself being drawn to the character of Meg. I was a little different from my family, though they loved me they did not understand me. I also had a mass of curly hair in the era of Twiggy and straight hair. This made me the butt of jokes in school. I also had to explain why my father mysteriously disappeared, to people who would come up to a seven year old and say things in a snide tone, "Where's your father?"
It is a cleverly written book that can follow you from childhood to adult and still be able to find different meanings. I believe the author when she was asked who this book was written for and she said people. She did not want it to be a specific age group and I applaud her for making it a book that can be enjoyed on many levels.
At our book club we talked about the time frame this book was written , when the start of cookie cutter houses started showing up, where whole neighborhoods looked exactly the same and if you did not fit the mold you were ostracized. A time when individuality might have been frowned upon. Also discussed were the religious concepts of dark overshadowing the light. Love conquering all. That maybe the Mrs's were also seen as the holy trinity. So many concepts in such a small powerhouse of a book.
I think the only thing we did not like was how the book ended so abruptly, one minute we are in conflict and the next we are back in the garden and the story ends. I felt like she wanted to go on but decided this was a good place to stop, leaving you with the feeling that there should be more. I have not read the other books with these characters so maybe that will be when I finish the rest of my 100.
Also, I think I will end here with this is a good book to read with your children, you may want them to be in 6 grade so that they can understand it a wee bit better. I will do another blog for the next book.
This month the book was A WRINKLE IN TIME, by Madeleine L'Engle, my copy was printed in 1997 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc for the Quality Paperback Book Club. I read this book when I was not a child, but later on in life, then again when I had children, and now for a third time. When I was younger I did not pick up on some of the religious themes in the book, but concentrated on the fact that there were two children rescuing their dad from an evil entity. I was heavily into science fiction, so this fell into my favorite kind of read. When I read it with my children, we were looking at it through eyes of book reports. In each read I found myself being drawn to the character of Meg. I was a little different from my family, though they loved me they did not understand me. I also had a mass of curly hair in the era of Twiggy and straight hair. This made me the butt of jokes in school. I also had to explain why my father mysteriously disappeared, to people who would come up to a seven year old and say things in a snide tone, "Where's your father?"
It is a cleverly written book that can follow you from childhood to adult and still be able to find different meanings. I believe the author when she was asked who this book was written for and she said people. She did not want it to be a specific age group and I applaud her for making it a book that can be enjoyed on many levels.
At our book club we talked about the time frame this book was written , when the start of cookie cutter houses started showing up, where whole neighborhoods looked exactly the same and if you did not fit the mold you were ostracized. A time when individuality might have been frowned upon. Also discussed were the religious concepts of dark overshadowing the light. Love conquering all. That maybe the Mrs's were also seen as the holy trinity. So many concepts in such a small powerhouse of a book.
I think the only thing we did not like was how the book ended so abruptly, one minute we are in conflict and the next we are back in the garden and the story ends. I felt like she wanted to go on but decided this was a good place to stop, leaving you with the feeling that there should be more. I have not read the other books with these characters so maybe that will be when I finish the rest of my 100.
Also, I think I will end here with this is a good book to read with your children, you may want them to be in 6 grade so that they can understand it a wee bit better. I will do another blog for the next book.
Thursday, June 29, 2017
The reading has started.
I have started the book THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK by Doris Lessing, once again we have a 600 page book, at least it is not 1000+ pages. It is also not printed in teeny pinhead print, so my eyes may be saved. I love the letters that Doris Lessing put in describing what not to think this book is about, such as feminism. She wrote both in 1971 and 1993, both letters are in the book. I will not try to paraphrase her words, but do read them if you are inclined to read this book.
The central characters so far, are Anna, her friend Molly start off the book, but it quickly drops back in time, when Anna leaves Molly to go back home and look at her notebooks, which are described by color as the black, red, yellow and blue. Anna chooses the black notebook to start writing in which is about her time with a group of people she refers to as the Colony, which resides in Africa. The group is made up mostly of Brits with the tentative leader named Willi. That is where I am so far, and currently I am enjoying the book. I think the black notebook definitely has a dark side. I wonder what the other three notebooks will reveal.
Happy Summer Reading
The central characters so far, are Anna, her friend Molly start off the book, but it quickly drops back in time, when Anna leaves Molly to go back home and look at her notebooks, which are described by color as the black, red, yellow and blue. Anna chooses the black notebook to start writing in which is about her time with a group of people she refers to as the Colony, which resides in Africa. The group is made up mostly of Brits with the tentative leader named Willi. That is where I am so far, and currently I am enjoying the book. I think the black notebook definitely has a dark side. I wonder what the other three notebooks will reveal.
Happy Summer Reading
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