Last Day of November

“Last Day of November”

Sounds like a book title, doesn’t it?    Hmmm,  OK, I’ll bite – I’m going to go see if it IS a book title and write about it!    Yep, I didn’t have any idea what I would write about today, I just knew I wanted to post SOMETHING.

I’ll be right back.   (oh – another funny/weird thing:   I keep typing the word ‘WRITE’ when I mean ‘RIGHT’!)     

NO BOOK.   I found a song for sale called ‘Last November Day’ but no novels.    Only lots and lots of blogs that have used this same title.  So much for that!

So let’s do a MEME!

Mom asked me last night, “What’s a meme?”  and I believe the quick definition I gave was, “It’s a game or series of questions that stimulates comments and discussion; almost like a game of tag that stimulates getting to know each other through the blog-world.”

But if you look up MEME in Wikipedia…. WOW!   You get all sorts of stuff and a lot of it is over my head and beyond my interest level.    Let’s settle for ‘internet phenomenon.”    I pronounce it as rhyming with ‘gleam’.

One meme that is going around now is the MEME of SEVEN.   I share 7 things about myself and ‘tag’ other bloggers to do the same.     The rules involve letting those bloggers know that they have been tagged and encourage linking back to me.    Another interesting MEME I’ve been reading is to shuffle the songs in your iPod and use the song title to answer a series of questions, then analyze…    But since I don’t have an iPod, this meme is not one I will play.     The ABC meme requires the blogger to provide interesting self revelations in alphabetical order.

So here goes:

Reading Trouble Meme

1.  Have you ever gotten into trouble for reading?  

2.  Has reading ever SAVED you from getting into trouble?

3.  What was the first boook you read that you KNEW you would get into trouble reading if caught?

Now, on the tagging part, I prefer to not list anyone specifically.   Just know that if you want to play, please do and leave a comment here to I know to go read your blog!  If you don’t have a blog, just leave your answers in the comments to this post.

and now I’ll play my own meme!

1.   I don’t recall ever getting into trouble for reading.   I do know that I have been frowned upon by my spouse when I prefer to read a book rather than engage in tv watching or conversations with family.   It’s referred to as ‘YOU’RE BEING RUDE’.   sigh.

2.  This second question I will answer by recollections of HIDING with a book when I was kid visiting with my cousin (let’s call her “LL”).    We were one year apart in age and I really just didn’t like her much when we were children!   So I would hide and read or just flat out read in front of her and ignore her at every opportunity.   This probably helped me develop focusing skills!

3.  The first book I recall looking at and being VERY NERVOUS for the possibility of getting caught was The Joy of Sex  at my uncle’s house while babysitting Spencer, (my uncle Stan had a cool collection of books…)  I would slowly sneak it off the shelf and was on pins and needles paying attention to the clock  so I would have plenty of time to put it back before my Aunt & Uncle got home!   I just KNEW that book was telling on me, somehow betraying that a mere child was opening up and looking at these pictures.   What’s funny is, I can’t remember if I learned anything from it.       

I also remember submitting a Danielle Steele book to my Honors English teacher and she allowed it ;  I thought she was going to tell me it was trash.  I just now tried to go look up which one it was but I don’t remember!  None of her book titles look familar to me…   

Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides Review ***

Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides – Three Stars

I very much enjoyed reading Middlesex.   I was very impressed with Eugenides’ writing style, his imagination and the research to support so many interesting tidbits about everything.

Others have noted that it started slow and ended fast;   for me, the start was great, pacing was fine.   Yet, I might agree that the last 100 pages (what IS it with me and the last 100 pages?!) felt like a downhill freestyle race to a final conclusion. 

Just how, I kept wondering, how was Milt going to take the news that his daughter was no longer?   oh, ok.   THAT was handled conveniently.    And was one of my favorite passages, actually.

…, the Cadillac swooped upward and leveled itself.  Milton was surprised but very pleased.  He didn’t remember the salesman’s having mentioned anything about a flight feature.  Even better, Milton hadn’t paid extra for it….   “Now, this is what I all an Air-Ride.”, he said to himself.

I laughed a lot, I was riveted and at the same time almost scared to read on (ie, the scene in the cabin.   I would not want to be 14 again.)    I turned down many a page:   defining how emotions can’t be covered by single words, the metaphor of love as a sacrophagus lid, yet another reference to Anna Karenina.   I was enthralled with the descriptions of Lefty’s time in the Ford manufacturing plant.    

Above their bent heads, huge spindles pound steam-powered fists.  No one says a word.  Wierzbicki reams a bearing and Stephanides grinds a bearing and O’Malley attaches a bearing to a camshaft.  The camshaft circles around the floor until a hand reaches up to take it down and attach it to the engine block, growing increasingly eccentric now with swooshes of pipe and the plumage of fan blades.  Wierzbicki reams a bearing and Stephanides grinds a bearing and O’Malley attaches a bearing to a camshaft.

This book gave me all the things I really enjoy in a novel:   great use of words, descriptive language, interesting -fascinating! –  characters, consistency.    I was emotionally invested.  

Having mentioned consistency, I have a few ‘excepts’…    I loved how Desdemona’s hypochondria never killed her and how her fear of technology kept giving her reasons for that fear:   that Air-Ride feature swallowing her in the her passenger seat of the car.     I did NOT love the nagging question of just how old could Dr. Philobosian be?   (that was a distraction; even though this question was answered, I missed it.)    Also, for all the questions and explanation early on for all that Dr. Luce knew about the family, I’m questioning whether or not Cal ever went back and met with him again.  

So it’s time to add The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides to my tbr list.   I’ve seen the movie;  it, too, is an uncomfortable and disturbing idea yet beautifully expressed.     Looks like, if and when, Mr. JE publishes his next novel, it will be awhile anyway.

Cousins

My cousin Leslie left a note in my About page and I thought I would give it a nudge over here in the HOME post!

Here’s what she said…  

Finished Middlesex, and agree with Marjie’s comments…it did take a while to get going. But still enjoyed it. Picked up a few other books and currently working on Bel Canto by Ann Patchett and The Search for Captain Zero by Allan C. Wiesbecker. The second book is on loan from my boss who loves this memoir about an aging surfer searching in south america for a long lost friend…and his surfing experiences along the way. Not much of a surfer myself, but being a So Cal woman, I have experienced the surf culture. Have read 3 of Philippa Gregory’s books and liked The Other Boleyn Girl the best. I was so enthralled by her writing that I went to the library and picked up a few history books about Queen Elizabeth. Philippa’s writing of the history of that time was very accurate. This period of time is fasinating. I have heard that they are going to make a movie of The Other Boleyn Girl…so you better read the book soon. I always prefer to read the book before seeing a movie.

Thanks Cuz Les!   Your enthusiasm (and Lisa’s enthusiasm, too – I’m looking forward to her discussion on this book…) for The Other Boleyn Girl makes me question my lack thereof…   OH, and I know it’s a few posts back but I actually DID read and review it here…   Although, as I re-read my own post/review, I DID give it a high rating.  I did enjoy it;  but whatever race/place I was in for the last 100 pages, I had lost some steam.   I agree with you that PG is an excellent writer of historical fiction and really does incredible research and then weaves this READABLY into her story line without weight and distraction. I would love to be able to write this genre;  it is my favorite.   I am looking forward to reading more from Phillippa Gregory and YES!   I can’t wait for the movie!   Of course, I don’t think hub will share that excitement…    Girls weekend!  let’s meet and go to the Premiere!   it’s an idea….

I read Bel Canto for my KC book club and I enjoyed it more than the rest of that group.    I think I’ll pass on the Captain Search book, or whatever.   I think I will attempt to tackle The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.   THEN, I have We need to talk about Kevin / Lionel Shriver waiting for me at the library. 

Now, realizing you are my cousin… and I just read Middlesex…    Finished it last night!   (While Mizzou was beating up KU pretty handily.)   I must segue to THAT review:   be watching here for my next post.

Garlic & Sapphires, Part 3!

Thank you to my friend who offered some fascinating comments via email after reading the copy of G&S  that I loaned her.   She has given me permission to post here…  [with slight editing... Ed.]

…developing a book club blog is a great, topical idea. And your questions were thoughtful. 

I just finished G&S (thumbed back through trying to find the quote re garlic and sapphires and couldn’t… have to review that, because I think I didn’t quite get it).  

 I do love food and to cook, but never at the level described in this book.  I guess in every area there are those who enjoy, just to enjoy, and then those who take it to the nth degree.  Horses, airplanes, drag racing, everything I have more than a passing experience with — that’s what seems to happen.  I guess I am a born dabbler, or something.  There are so many worlds out there — one of the things I have always enjoyed and expressed about [having a] real estate [career]– the opportunity to bump into people from so many of those different little worlds.   I would like to have more meals like that, though.  I have had some great ones — in Boston, on Nantucket, on the Cape. East Bay Grille in Plymouth is great and local; Cranebrook Tea Room, Margaret’s in Fairhaven.  But you need someone with you who appreciates it as much as you do, so that’s special companions.  Not [significant other/life companion/good guy/hunk] in that regard, though he will experiment on occasion. 

So this was a great foodie’s book, but also a good book about yet another woman exploring who she really is.  The metaphor of the disguises was not lost on this reader, nor, I suspect, on you. And then today I got to the part where Michael got up and left the dinner — good guy.  Who better to point out where one is going astray than one’s best beloved?  And Nicky is going to grow into a fabulous guy.

  

  

   

Thank you “L” for your sharing your thoughts!  Most appreciated!!

 

Garlic & Sapphires by Ruth Reichl  – Care Rate 3+ Stars

Review Part 1

Review Part 2

the sweetest dream, Part 2

Part 1 is here. 

(((feel free to skip to the last 2-3 paragraphs…))) 

I originally started this review with:

This epic and sweeping story of a family of diverse characters covers the communal feel and revolutionary politics of the 60s through the following 30 years and jumps the continents from England to Africa.   To say my preconceptions of Africa are incorrect might be an understatement or only another proof that stereotypes often have similarities to truth, but I digress…

I started the review of this novel after reading only 100+ pages into it and though I put the book down for an 11 day sabbatical, I was able to jump back in and relished the conclusion of the story.

 Then I got befuddled and more than a couple of weeks later, I’m here: 

Writing a Book Review 

I googled “How to Write a Book Review” and wasn’t really surprised at how many available suggestions popped into my view.    

But none  inspired me just to GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!

Nonetheless, I refer you, gentle reader, to the this website as THE guide  (yep, this was one of the shortest!) that I utilized the most in prompting what follows:  

My Review, Part 2, of the sweetest dream   by Doris Lessing.

                                                         for Part 1, see here.

 The three (3) step process…

1.   READ the book.   Good advice!   Not often followed by HS students, probably, but on this online book club blog, darn it!   I promise to always read the books I review!   I may not read the entire book and will say so if I had to bail on it.    (OOO, this guide IS actually pushing me to type some words and think some thoughts!   good.)

Now, I do not intend to imply that I did not enjoy the sweetest dream.   I read it to the end, didn’t I?  I would not say I squealed with its delights but I felt good about reading it.   If that makes any sense.    I learned something.   I was impressed with the ideas expressed and HOW those ideas were scripted.   I, however, can not find the words I seem to feel I should use in reviewing this work of fiction.    Like eeeks!  I’m not smart enough to review this book.   Yep, felt like one of THOSE kind of books.    Maybe some elitist snob would ‘get’ it, but maybe not me so much.

And yet, I don’t intend – OK, I don’t LIKE to put myself down here.    What I mean is I don’t have the words in my vocabulary to review this?   I am out of practice in reviewing this type of book!   Ii’s like, I want to or need to pretend to be ambivalent about it or I might give away that I’m not intellectual enough to say some impressive mumbo-jumbo.   yea, that’s it, I think! 

Of course, my real idea is to write so much crap b;lah-blah-blah here that no one will read it anyway.   And I can add more and more posts later which will effectively bury this post and all will be just fine, thank you very much.

THAT is what the book inspired in me.   The disdain of having to review it because I said I would and the real truth that I just don’t want to review it so there.   But that’s not it, I just can’t find the words.  sigh.

Have I lost you yet?  Gawd, I hope so.   Plus, I’m sure, my frequent use of the word ‘like’ has ingratiated  alienated everyone, anyway.   Especially, my Dad, like, for sure.

Very well, step 2, please: 

2. Questions to ask as you read.   The guide gives me some GREAT questions to address here!  (thank you Waterloo!)  and I will refer to just a few.

        Is the author’s prose readable?   YES.  Is the development orderly and logical?   Yes, for the most part.    How is the book structured?    The book’s locale is primary set in 2 very different environments on 2 different continents.    And the time covers decades, with the first half of the novel set mostly in the 1960s following a family and friends of students.     The second half follows primarily one character and interweaves a supporting cast of the prior family/friends.

Jumping to step 3:

3. Writing the review.   The guide suggests doing the following a series of drafts, but I’m going to wing it once, right here, right now…

1. A brief description of the subject, aim, and scope of the book
2. An outline of its thesis and its bias
3. A detailed assessment of the author’s main contentions
4. An evaluation of the book’s major strengths and weaknesses
5. A survey of topics not yet covered (sources, illustrations, indexes, etc.)
6. An assessment of the book’s place in the literature of its subject

Actually, I’m not.   I’m doing this for FUN, remember!?   Oh, I could clash how British revolutionaries were more revolutionary than America’s but I really have no basis in fact to cull a comparison.     But it seems like it would be so.    This book describes much more anarchy than I remember in the 60s (hey, I was not of an age to be aware of it.)   All I can think of  is the Beatles song about ‘Back in the USSR’:  why are the beatles singing a pro-Russia song?  Aren’t they the bad guys?)

This book talks about communists and revolutionaries and not in a pro or con sense, what so ever.      Maybe more negative, but more as an example of how people congregate in groups and take advantage of whatever they can take advantage of – be in the power circle or not at all.

The book talks about causes.    How impossible it is to save the world.    and how people keep trying anyway.    How blinded we can be to the truth and yet, aha!   whose TRUTH is it, really?    

The book is both bleak, doomed even.  and yet hopeful.   Maybe, that is why I find it so difficult to review.   For example, there are (I truly hate starting sentences like that, sorry) many instances and much talk about racial issues but it is NOT a book about race.   Or maybe it is.   It’s about politics, and people, and power.   About love, and family, and what defines family.

I will read more Doris Lessing.   I give the sweetest dream 2 1/2 stars.

 

 

On a side note, I must recommend Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains.    I was reminded of this book by the makeshift hospital scenes in the remote resource-poor parts of Africa as described in the sweetest dream.    Same dedication and can do spirit to provide healthcare to the neediest on our planet.   Non-fiction.   Kidder is a BIG favorite of mine.

Addendum to Prior

AND……   

thank you to Lisa at Books on the Brain and Karen at Planet Books for being so kind as to list me in their blogrolls!   You are my Book Club.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I appreciate all my readers; lurkers & commentors and lovers of books!  

If anyone else has me listed, thank you, too, and please feel free to let me know!    (oh – just found another!   Reed (very funny sense of humor) at Out-Of-Ideas, and …  ???)

oh golly, what a can of worms.     

I’m off to go read 50 pages of Middlesex and then I really need to polish up my review of the sweetest dream… (btw, stumbled over a quote by Doris Lessing just yesterday!   Isn’t that weird?   I didn’t write it down though – I think it was in a Real Simple mag from 2005)

I’m on someone else’s blogroll!

Not only on her blogroll but called out in a post!  Huh.

 Definitions of Huh on the Web:

• In Egyptian mythology, Huh (also spelled Hu, Hah, or Heh) was the deification of eternity in the Ogdoad, his name itself meaning endlessness, and is not to be confused with the identically named Hu a god in the Ennead system. …
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huh (god)

• huH was a popular music magazine in the United States during the 1990s.
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HuH

• Huh is a simple sound representing confusion of the one making it, similar to “er” or “uh” and other speech disfluencies. Huh is pronounced with a nasal vowel at the end. It can also represent unarticulated muttering such as in Huh-euh-huh.
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huh (disfluency)

and among the many definitions given examples at the urbandictionary:  

huh
	Can be used to denote that the previous statement was counterintuitive or surprising, requiring a pause to absorb its significance.

Now, MY definition of ‘huh’ in its use here, is, well, also hard to explain.    It is meant to express awe, to ponder in amazement.

Thank you, Bop, I am humbled.    

NOTE:  I enjoy her blog Extras in My Ordinary Life, (and welcome lurking.)   I originally added her blog to the roll because I want to read the books she recommends on her sidebar!    I love the gentle thoughtfulness of her posts, and her use of quotes.      

Trouble with Pictures

I attempted to incorporate this photo   into the last post but it wouldn’t be put where I wanted it put.   So, I’m creating a separate post…

I like to have a goal for a souvenir every time I travel.   Gives me something specific to shop for, a purpose, if you will.    This last trip, I hoped to find a cool chain from which to hang my reading glasses on so I wouldn’t have to keep looking for the last place I placed them!   This had been getting troublesome, of late.

 So, not only did I find the ‘chain’, I found new reading glasses!    This pic probably doesn’t do justice, but I’m enjoying these quirky, whimsical hot pink frames with 1.25+ magnification (why did I buy glasses from the Eye Doc?!)    These are really working out for me.

The chain is of small dark and muted, almost dusty, purple beads.   Nothing too bling-bling.    Nice.  

Happy Anniversary!

My Hub and I have been married for 19 years.    According to a website I just tripped over, the PRESENT theme to give each other for celebrating 19 years is BRONZE.   My first thought was only that I recall the faucets at the restaurant we enjoyed last night were bronze.   So, that will be the ‘present’ this year!   We did buy a new TV   for the kitchen counter yesterday but that is unrelated to the anniversary…

(Last year was PORCELAIN and I bet you just had a vision of a TOILET! pop into your head, yes?   No, Hub got me a Lobster Platter.     What a sweetie.)

“Married in veils of November mist, Fortune your wedding ring has kissed.”  

“November – If you wed in bleak November, only joys will come, remember!”

We celebrated with ‘dinner & a movie’.    Actually it is more accurate to say, we enjoyed ‘movie and then dinner’.     I recommend BEOWULF in 3D!    and for a versed review by Dana Stevens at SLATE, please visit this…    Must see in 3D which is why we decided this for our movie last night.   I think it would be somewhat silly if not seen in 3D…   I could be wrong.

Have you read Beowulf?   I can’t even say I’ve attempted to read Beowulf.   Which is Hub’s admission; says he struggled with it in middle school or jr high…

The restaurant we chose was Italian.   I considered how a true restaurant reviewer would approach this meal but I don’t have it in me to attempt such a review!     We did enjoy the small size Antipasto for our appetizer (redundant?!)  with the anchovies – oo!  salty!     I was not as pleased with my entry as I wish:   crab cakes with Lobster Bisque as the sauce.   The side of Raviolis was excellent!    Hub had the veal & eggplant parmesan with linguine accompanying.   His was fabulous.    And we are sad that we left the take-home package on the table when we ‘left’.   big bummer.   oh well.    Service was OK.    Dennis speaks more highly of them on this note, than I do.   But if I ever have to wonder if I’ve already ordered dessert when they come to ask if I want dessert, something is wrong….   The canolis were tasty.   That is another treat that never seems to live up to my expectations.     I wish I had ordered Bread Pudding but the size and heaviness never appeal to me at the end of a pasta meal!

Home by 10 pm.      

Followup to G&S, or… Part 2?

and guess what I just did…   I loaned my copy of Garlic & Sapphires to LV who I think just might LOVE it.   She enjoyed Eat,Love,Pray so much after I suggested it, that I fear she may put a lot/too much?  stock in my recommendations!

and, so, my brave idea to create some discussion questions for this enjoyable piece of Non-Fiction follows.    Remember – -  I do not have my book in hand to refer to, so…   heck, maybe that will make the questions even better!

I’ll start with an obvious:  OH!   and I should add a disclaimer that spoilers may pop up in my questions…    OH #2!     Do you read those discussion questions often included in books these days 1. ever?  2. after finishing the book? or 3. BEFORE you read the book?   

1.   Have you ever eaten truffles?   Did you like it?   Black or white?    Thank you to Lisa at Books on the Brain for finding an excellent reference for our (my) education on this delicacy.

2.   Do you plan on trying any of the recipes and if yes, which ones appeal to you the most? 

3.   Which restaurant reviewed would you most like to visit?

4.   Which personality of Ruth’s was your favorite?

5.  Have you ever dressed up and disguised yourself so much that others didn’t recognize you?    Would you or did you enjoy the process?    Do you or did you think that your personality would also change with your character?     Did Ruth’s personalities while at dinner match the image in your head of whichever costume she had on?

6.   How does this book alter your approach and attention to the food you might order in the next restaurant you go to?     Do you agree that the restaurant experience is more than the food?      or do you think that only certain restaurants, ie, ‘expensive’ restaurants qualify for the type of review Ruth writes?   Why or why not?

7.  Describe the best service in a restaurant you have ever experienced.    Do you think it is subjective?   Do you have any restaurant that is a favorite even if the service is often predictably terrible?    Do you put up with poor service or poor food quality?    Do you agree that you deserve a poor experience if you don’t demand it?   (there was a quote like that, wasn’t there?)

8.    When poor Betty had lunch with the snob actress lady who didn’t know she was in disguise, do you think she risked discovery when she gave the lesson on foie gras?   Were you surprised?   Was she out of character and/or teasing?   or could she not help it…

9.  WARNING!!!  ***SPOILER***    Would you forgive your spouse for leaving you at a restaurant if you were in Ruth’s shoes for the Window to the World charity dinner with wierd snob with too quiet wife?    and what was your reaction to why he left?    Do you agree?

10.   Do you think Ruth was destined for a job writing about food considering her childhood?    

How’s that?    This was fun!   (I think I will reward myself with a slice of the delicious Nicky’s Vanilla Cake.)