Just a quick note to say hello and share an interesting spam comment I got:

WALL PAPER BOOKS!

Cracks me up – due to my listing of The Yellow Wallpaper for the Women Unbound Challenge!   ah, must have sense of humor….

I’ve got pet therapy, email/internet tutoring, Mac training, and grocery shopping to do today and must. not. waste. time on blogging and twitter!  But I want to write a few reviews and see what everyone is listing for the challenge.    Is anyone else struck by the variety and broad encompassing of issue we consider important as women?    so many and not one more important than another.   Comes down to choice and respect.   Or is it boils UP to choice and respect?

Chat at ya later, Dearies,

I just wanted to post something/anything.     * Bizzy = I abhor the word ‘busy’.    We are all so busy, busy busy busy.   blech. We CHOOSE to do what we choose to do.    no excuses.     or at least that’s what I strive to remember.   

Thoughts   Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden, Viking 2008, 359 pages, Winner of the Scotiabank GILLER PRIZE

MOTIVATION for READING: This is a classic BOOK-FOUND-ME example.    I was cruising through blogland, found a post somewhere on Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, bounced to a blogger who had commented on that, saw another comment suggesting this book, opened up the InterLibraryLoan website and requested it.     Since it was a library book, I HAD to read it and not throw it under the bed for “some day.”       Maybe it is more of a ‘Follow the Breadcrumbs’ example.

WHAT IT’s ABOUT:    How to describe this….    It’s about a guy, Will Bird, who has been a bush-pilot in Northern Ontario;   he’s maybe what they call Native American (even in Canada?   Am I US-centric or what?!)  Ok, he’s Cree.     And we are in his thoughts while he shares what’s been going on with him as if in a letter to his sister’s two daughters.     In the meantime, we are introduced to Annie, one of the nieces and she’s trying to talk this uncle into waking up from a coma.    Am I sharing too much?    Annie is tough – she lives off the land with her wits and smarts.   And yet somehow she goes on a trip to Toronto and NYC, lives the life of a fashion model and finds herself a mute guy with whom she has an interesting relationship and he is also quite endearing.    And we have a sister who is missing (Annie’s, so the other niece), some BAAAAaad dudes, some awesome friends, some old school Indians and most of this was a pleasure.   Although it has some very brutal violence to propel the story along.

WHAT’s GOOD: I was so impressed!   I loved the story construct:  this overlapping, intertwining of memories between uncle and niece.    We go back and forth and yet in two different points or spans of time that somehow meet at the end.      I loved Annie – she’s kickass and true to her roots and she’s cool.    Will is a dear, too and you can’t help but root for the guy.      I also love how they said, “Ever!”  a lot.      I enjoyed this exposure to a different culture in a different part of the world.

WHAT’s NOT so GOOD: Tiny, picky?      I don’t quite love the ending.   It works; but it just seemed to run out of steam a bit and wrap up.   But overall, I loved this book very much.      Oh yea, in the beginning, I almost started keeping track of how many times I read “Black Spruce”.    OK, I get it!    Certainly these issue of mine are not worth  you not trying this book if it intrigues you in the slightest.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Though the story resolution was not as strong for me as the building of the tension of what the mystery is all about, I loved the weaving together of the conversations to each other even though they have no idea the other is listening.   Sort of .     Here’s what I wrote in goodreads.com:

“A skillfully constructed story told by weaving two characters memories together. Quiet yet packed with violence.”

I’m going to add LOVE, too.   The respect and love that this family holds for each other and their heritage is strong and affirming.

RATING: Four Pie Slices of Fruit of the Forest Pie

Softdrink reviewed this in May.

WOMEN UNBOUND Challenge

I am a feminist;  I believe in equal rights.    I know that the world has many places where women do not enjoy the freedoms I do in the US and yet we have some more work to go here in treating all humans with respect and providing opportunity and positive expectations of ability and brain power.     I admit that I have some work to do and am so looking forward to the learning experience of this challenge!    I absolutely love all the lists and everyone’s thoughts on feminism and women’s rights and the highlighting of awesome women all around the world.    Amen, Sister!

I’ve already read The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimarera.    This is a story of a little girl born into the family of a Māori village chief but he is extremely disappointed that she wasn’t born male.  She has a role to fill and does it with can-do spirit.    I look forward to re-viewing the movie.

I wanted to see if any in house books might also work for my options and these are the ones I came up with:

Fiction:  Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser, undiscovered gyrl by Allison Burnett,  The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty, Alias Grace by Atwood, I am Madame X by Gioia Diliberto, A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick.

Nonfiction:  Shooting the Boh* by Tracy Johnston, Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean, and Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir.

My past reading in this extremely broad category includes a few of the more well known works:  The Feminist Mystique / Betty Friedan, The Beauty Myth / Naomi Wolf, and The Awakening / Kate Chopin.    But I really am looking forward to diving into books by Virginia Woolf,  Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Audre Lorde, Tillie Olsen, Nancy Friday, Simone de Beauvoir…

And not just women’s issues books, but I would like to read bios of fascinating women:    Sandra Day O’Connor, Mae West, Margaret Mead;  and possibly that Geo Johnson book about Miss Leavitt’s Stars.

I’ve always wanted to read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.     I’m curious about Escape by Carolyn Jessop.   I am keenly interested in society’s expectations in the choice to have children or not (I don’t have any book titles in mind  yet.)

Thank you to everyone who has suggested books!    I’m still not committing because I keep changing and my mind when I read the other participants lists.

* I’m reading Shooting the Boh and can justify it with this sentence from the back of the book:  ”…perhaps the most frightening discovery that Johnston made was what she learned about herself:  about what it means to be an adventurer – a WOMAN adventurer – on the wrong side of forty, hampered by a changing body and the fear, loss, and envy that haunt any woman in a world that – even in Borneo – seems made exclusively for the young.”   This fits my desire to read about amazing women.

Updated to add this great quote I found at RENEGADEconversations

“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a door mat or a prostitute. (Rebecca West, “Mr Chesterton in Hysterics: A Study in Prejudice,” The Clarion, 14 Nov 1913)

Thoughts   The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton, Ballantine Books 2008, 284 pages.

MOTIVATION for READING: This is the official selection for November’s In-Real-Life Book Club aka The Bookies.     We are also to read The Help (which I liked better.)    I had this book on my tbr wishlist since I read Trish’s review at Hey Lady! She gave it a 99/100 rating.

Where there is great love,
there are always miracles.
- Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop

WHAT IT’s ABOUT: Four young ladies meet at the park in the neighborhood, begin a friendship and start a writing club.     Despite being from varied backgrounds, their loves and lives and writing careers are intertwined for many years with a strong enduring friendship.

WHAT’s GOOD: I thought it was fun to read about these very different women and all they went through.    I loved all the cultural references from the 70’s and seeing how much times have changed.   I enjoyed living vicariously through the struggling writer life.

WHAT’s NOT so GOOD: I know that a few of my Bookie friends did not much care for this and have complained about changes in viewpoint and style?   voice?     I look forward to hearing more of these issues at the club meeting in a few weeks.        This book was fine, I enjoyed it but I doubt it will turn into one of those memorable-over-time books for me.     Also, though I’m hesitant to bring it up, I don’t have any friendships like the ones described in this book.    Probably since I’ve moved so often in my life…

I tried to find some dissenting not-quite-so positive reviews in blogosphere but it seems like everyone just loved it dearly.       I do think this is a safe book to recommend to my friends if they ever ask for a recommendation.    (At least the ones that don’t teach English in High School.   ha!   kind of a private joke.   You know who you are.)

FINAL THOUGHTS: I liked it just fine.   I’m giving it four pie slices.   But I think I might have to just give it three – which does NOT mean it sucked!   Two pie slices means ‘only OK’, so three pies mean “I liked it.”    It’s just that it’s already been a few weeks since I read this and I’m not remembering much.   I didn’t take any notes on it, and so yes:  THREE PIE SLICES, it is.

I enjoyed a very pleasant month of October, from a reading perspective especially.

I participated in the New Zealand Book Challenge, hosted by dear friend and New Zealander Maree, by reading Mister Pip and The Vintner’s Luck, both very good and interesting.    I also was able to mooch The Whale Rider – LOVED the movie! but read that today.   Today is in November, so I won’t count it for NZ but apply it to my Women Unbound Challenge.   More on that later.

I finished RIP IV with almost all the books I said I would read done read.    (am I the only one who sometimes wishes the past tense of read was not the same as the present tense?)     I read Something Wicked This Way Comes AND The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury, and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies.    Unfortunately, I had hoped to download some HP Lovecraft but it just didn’t happen.    Still on my list, though.

I ended up reading 10 books in October!   Which is terrific because I am so on track to set a new record for the year in how many books completed.    This makes me happy.    I still have many to review, though.

The Halloween Tree / Bradbury (RIPIV) 145 ***
The Victoria’s Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming / Jennie Nash **** 153
Catie Copley / ***
Through Black Spruce / Joseph Boyden **** 359
The Giver / Lois Lowry *****  208
The Vintner’s Luck / Elizabeth Knox **** 284 (Oct NZ Book Challenge)
The Wednesday Sisters / Meg Waite Clayton (IRL bookclub)****
Mister Pip / Lloyd Jones (NZ Book Month) *****
Juckets / Joyce Keller Walsh (for Literary Road Trip Challenge) ***
Lolita / Vladimir Nabokov (readalong w/ softdrink) ***

My favorite has to be Mister Pip.     I can’t say any were horrible (except I feel horrible that I’ve struggled with posting any thoughts on Lolita.)

I’m pleased with my challenge progress and super excited to be co-hosting the Women Unbound Challenge – I’ve already started reading and have not finalized my list yet.

Happy November!

If you *know* Chartroose, leave her a comment on November 1st telling her you are thinking of her!

http://chartroose.wordpress.com/

If you don’t know Chartroose, allow me to introduce her to you.   And then, go read her blog and leave her a comment.

Early in my book blogging adventure, I found a fun blog to read by the name of Bloody Hell, It’s a Book Barrage! hosted by Chartroose.     I lurked for quite awhile; intimidated by the blogger’s bright quick wit and impressively deep thoughts about books, music, politics, stuff.    Every book review she posted, I wanted to read the book.

Eventually, I worked up the courage and started to comment and  she began to comment on my blog (wow!) and that fun experience of getting to know someone through books made us friends.     Ya know, that bookbloggingfriendshipthing.   Chartroose became my favorite blogger!   The one blogger I really hoped would read and comment on each and every post  -  it got to be a little scary how much of a fan I became.   I even started a Stalking Chartroose Challenge! I wanted to keep track of the books that she recommended and keep track of my progress to keep up with her.     (interestingly enough, my post on the Stalking Chartroose Challenge was posted almost exactly one year ago!!)

But she’s been on a bit of a hiatus.    I miss her and know that others have wondered where she is.

Now, we all agree that for many of us, blogging is supposed to be fun and we should be allowed to take a few breaks now and then  – we don’t OWE our readers anything, right?   Right?

So, this little project I have in mind today is NOT to guilt Chartroose into coming back to blog but to just make a peek of an appearance?    maybe?   I just want her to know that I miss her and hope she can remember the fun of yapping about books; that  sharing thoughts about books can make reading more than just a solo activity but an enjoyable community experience, too.

So now.   Some of my FAVORITE posts!

Her review of The Ha-Ha by David King.     (read her comments; she says she’s sappy and sentimental.)

“The characters in this superb novel are filled with such acute longing” – quote from review of We Disappear by Scott Heim

Unfinished book, thoughts on Social Darwinism and BRING ON THE BUTTERFLIES!

A tribute to a favorite personality Jean Shepherd

and if Chartroose has somehow won the lottery and she’s really off on some tropical island sipping fruity drinks with umbrellas and reading dammit, then maybe she can send in Gnarly Surfer Dude to do some more guest posts?

TELL ME, have you read any books rec’d by Chartroose?

Oscar, very precious, is.       (I don’t speak Yoda.  Are the commas where they are supposed to be?)

Powderly Meadows is my pup’s absolute favorite place to be when he can’t be where ever his momma is…

Eva and Aarti are hosting the Women Unbound Challenge and I’m helping!     I am so happy I was on Twitter when the whole idea erupted.   Within an hour and a half (I had dinner sometime in there), we had host volunteers, a hashtag #unbound, rule suggestions, time frame, and a ton (well, quite a few!) of enthusiastic and interested readers!

I have no idea what books I will read.

I will commit to the most books read level.

I think know this will be fun!   and educational.

Click on this sentence which will direct you to the official webpage of the challenge for Women Unbound Challenge and you can read all about it and get more information since I’m not explaining it further when you can go there and get a better idea.

Then come back here and give me your suggestion for a must read book!

Thoughts   The Giver by Lois Lowry, Dell Laurel-Leaf/Random House 1993, 179 pages, Newberry Medalist

MOTIVATION for READING: This was the highest rated book on one of those goodreads.com “BEST BOOK” lists that I had not yet read and didn’t know enough about it not to read. (There are a few books rated higher that I will never ever read because I just don’t want to.)

AND…    One of the students in a class I sub for mentioned this as one of his favorites.     So I read this in honor of him.     I also dared him to read the next in the series Gathering Blue so I’ll have to read that soon, I suppose.

WHAT IT’s ABOUT: A young boy lives with his perfect family in a perfect community in a perfect future and is chosen for a unique and honored role:   to be the receiver and keeper of the secrets of the past.     His sole responsibility is to receive the memories from the Giver, an older man who wants to pass on his duties before he’s too old to manage the task.      CAN EITHER of these two HANDLE IT?

WHAT’s GOOD: The setup is handled very well and I was desperate to know the conflict before I was ready to handle it.     The unfolding of the story is important.

WHAT’s NOT so GOOD: The ending is frustrating.     I don’t like series books because I don’t like having to read more books than the thousands I have already decided I want to read before I knew I would have to read the second in a series.     Does that make sense?   Another post, another day…

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO JONAS!  TO THE GIVER!

Plus, I’m frustrated to find out that Gathering Blue doesn’t necessarily address much if ANY of this story?   It’s apparently not a continuation.    So add the third book (which I’m not even sure the title!) to Mt. TBR.    I know, I’m just horrible.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I am looking forward to reading Number the Stars.   Is this the 3rd book in this series?     and I’m very glad to now say I’ve read a Lowry book.

This qualifies for my Read-A-Thon Oct09 Hour 16 Mini-Challenge to identify good books with an older protagonist.    Or main character.   A page or a real ongoing challenge on this topic/concept forthcoming.

RATING: Four Pie Slices of Apple Pie.