Monthly Archives: July 2013

Alias Grace

July 22, 20131001 Books To Read Before Dying, Author Recommendation, Copley Connection, Historical Lit, MysteryAlias Grace, am so pleased to finally get to this book and cross it off my list, from my personal challenge to read all of Atwood's work, lots of Copley Connections, Margaret Atwood, On the list of 1001 books to read, SAUVE QUI PEUT, set in Canada, true crimeCare

Thoughts Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, Anchor Books DOUBLEDAY 1996, 465 pages ***** 35th book of my 2013

This is just another proof of Atwood’s talent to plumb the human psyche and her masterful skill at writing a story.

Given a true crime story from a century ago, Ms. Atwood extensively researches and then creatively conjures up what might have happened. A young girl is caught with a man in an American hotel and they are both dragged back to Canada try for the murder of their employers. Did she do it? Was she the mastermind or a pawn?

Her attorney manages to commute her sentence to life in prison, narrowly escaping being hung like her ‘boyfriend’. Thirty some years later and she is released and disappears into a marriage south: one more escape into the US and this one succeeds. Her trail ends, no more records of her life exist.

This story imagines a psychiatrist visitation while still in prison. Hired by sympathetic folk to her innocence, the doctor hopes to investigate her amnesia for the guilt of the crime – she just can’t remember. Atwood does a great job slyly suggesting a split personality but never really giving her opinions of Grace nor her motivations.

“And then she began to cry, and when I asked her why she was doing that, she said it was because I was to have a happy ending, And it was just like a book; and I wondered what books she had been reading.” -p.446

Thoroughly enjoyable piece of historical fiction.

Five slices of pie.

COPLEY CONNECTIONS!

With Up the Down Staircase: “SAUVE QUI PEUT”! p.376

With The Good House: fortune telling

The Witch of Little Italy

July 9, 2013Book Club, Copley Connection, Debut Novel, DNF, MysteryCopley Connection: working the earth and connecting to gardening, Easter pie, remember - one star means I didn't like it not a general statement as to its worth, The Witch of Little ItalyCare

Thoughts The Witch of Little Italy by Suzanne Palmieri, St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan 2013, 320 pages.

ebook. For the Bookies, my book club. I voted for this; sadly, I cannot recall which books were the contenders.

This is what has been said about The Orchardist, a book I recently enjoyed:

“Written with breathtaking precision and empathy, an astonishing debut novel. At once intimate and epic, evocative and atmospheric, filled with haunting characters both vivid and true to life, and told in a distinctive narrative voice.” – blurb on goodreads.

And this is what has been said about Alias Grace, the book I’m currently engrossed with:

A stunning novel full of sly wit, compassion and insight, boasting writing that is lyrical, assured, evocative of time and place and seductive in its power to engage us.” -Houston Chronicle

Let me just state: The With of Little Italy has NONE of that.

I first abandoned as DNF and then attempted to come back to it, skimming and finally giving up. One star. Annoying and tedious. Still, it might appeal to those who want a quick conversation-driven story involving family mysteries and magic. Plenty of drama, I guess. I just need more substance; this aint my kind of book.

HIdeinWhitetoSkipLine

Copyright © 2007-2013. Care’s Online Book Club. All rights reserved. This post was originally posted by Care from Care’s Online Book Club. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.

The Orchardist

July 8, 2013Author Recommendation, Book Sharing, Debut Novel, PieCare

Thoughts The Orchardist by Amanda Copley, Harper Collins 2012, 432 pages

First Sentence: His face was as pitted as the moon.

I very much enjoyed this book. I loved the entire sense of place and I fell hard for the characterization.

My kind of read.

Rating: Five slices of pie. Fruit pie, of course! Apple pie, apricot pie; take your pick. Or how about an Apricot Pluot Galette?

{I would have a photo here but for some reason, when I try to go find the photo, it is not showing me the true Last-Import set of photos and I can’t figure out what’s going on. I suspect I have too many photos and the system is refusing to work right. If you follow me on Instagram, you saw it…}

{{Obviously, I am more in the mood to post somethingANYTHING than actually spend time thoughtfully choosing the right words. But then I went back and glanced at my little observations that I recorded in goodreads (my fave thing about goodreads – truly) and thought I would expound some more.

Here’s a quote: “We all have to be pushed, he thought. It doesn’t end.”

It reminds me of how when I was a kid, I thought adults had it all figured out. Now that I’m an adult well into my ‘approaching-fifty’ years, I realize NOPE, we adults don’t necessarily have it figured out. Or maybe that there are three kinds of people (there’s always three, have you noticed?) and these three types are 1) those that got it figured out, 2) those that think they have it figured out and you know they really don’t, and 3) the rest that readily admit, they don’t really know what to figure out. But still. I keep waiting for that time when I can say I’m ‘there’. I suspect, I will never and maybe that’s just ok.}}

I best go figure out if Mac’s photo program has a max storage limit and maybe off-load some of my photos. I’ve even got print copies of most but I’m so scared to delete them! and what with the prolific nature of the iPhone, I have scad loads of photos I really don’t need.

July 22 is Pi Approximation Day. FYI

HIdeinWhitetoSkipLine

Up the Down Staircase

July 5, 2013Author Recommendation, Book Picked Me, Debut Novel, Employment, WhatsinaName6on the NYTimes bestseller list for 1965, read for personal challenge to read a book from the NYTimes Bestseller List from a momentous year in my life, the only female author on the NYTimes list for 1965 that appealed to me, Up/Down Category, WiaN6Care

Thoughts Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman, First Open Road edition 2012 (orig 1964), 368 pages

For the What’s in a Name Challenge 6: Up/Down

The blurb from goodreads.com (if you click on the book cover above, you will be directed to the site):

Never before has a novel so compellingly laid bare the inner workings of a metropolitan high school. Up the Down Staircase is the funny and touching story of a committed, idealistic teacher whose dash with school bureaucracy is a timeless lesson for students, teachers, parents–anyone concerned about public education. Bel Kaufman lets her characters speak for themselves through memos, letters, directives from the principal, comments by students, notes between teachers, and papers from desk drawers and wastebaskets, evoking a vivid picture of teachers fighting the good fight against all that stands in the way of good teaching.

Even though the description explains that we are given this story via memos and letters, etc, I was not prepared for the style of delivery. I loved it. I was surprised and engaged; very effective and powerful.

I was amazed at how the student and teacher attitudes mirror today’s students’ and teachers’. And saddened. And amused – the notes between Bel and her ‘mentor’ teacher could easily be texts or tweets today. The situations and challenges were all real and dramatic or silly and fun. She captures it all. I laughed and I cried.

Highly recommended. And scary for me since I’m about to enter this world. Or am starting to prepare for a career in education, shall we say. I start school this fall to become certified.

I’m glad I read this. Five pie slice read.

Never mind the cream; it will always rise to the top. It’s the skim milk that needs good teachers.

There are a few good, hard-working patient people … who manage to teach against insuperable odds; a few brilliantly endowed teachers who – unknown and unsung – work their magic in the classroom; a few who truly love young people. The rest, it seems to me, have either given up, or are taking it out on the kids. “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” Like most sayings, this is only half true. Those who can, teach; those who can’t – the bitter, the misguided, the failures from other fields – find in the school system an excuse or a refuge.”*

“Sauve qui peut**! Think only of yourself. Getting involved does them no good.”

What could I say to show him that to survive, love was as strong as hate, and could be trusted? His world had taught him well, long before me.

Copley Connection***: “He sstill inssisstss he sseezz the ghosstss.” <–> Stephen King’s IT.

* I honestly can state that I have not met too many of these bitter and misguided types. Sure, I’ve met a few who might not be the best at the teaching arts or may be burnt out – who might blame them?! But my heart refuses to accuse any teacher of being totally rotten at it. (Also, corrollary: “Those who can’t teach, consult!” or write educational software. Seriously, the computer programs I have seen for managing grades or assigning substitutes are seriously be out-of-touch on that characteristic called ‘User-Friendly”.

** Can anyone translate this for me?

***A Copley Connection is when a book is linked somehow to another book that I’ve read…

Wish I could say something honest (on student evaluations), like: “Sycophant,stuffed-shirt, stinker. Has finger in every school pie; will go far.”

HIdeinWhitetoSkipLine

Copley in Amsterdam

July 3, 2013Book Blogging Community, Book Sharing, Copley the Lobster, Translation, Travel, WordsAmsterdam, I have banished the word arugula from my vocabulary adopting instead the lovelier word 'rocket', Mazzo - located in RozengrachtCare

The highlight of Copley’s visit? Meeting Judith! Judith of Leeswammes’ Blog: Books, Books, and Books

She has a great photo of Copley sitting atop a few books… She gave me The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin (I was MOST excited for this – what a treat!) and First You Try Everything by Jane McCafferty which we joked might be perfect for my celebrating my 25th wedding anniversary this year. I gave her Stewart O’Nan’s Songs for the Missing. I haven’t actually read this myself but have been meaning to for years now. Anything by O’Nan, truthfully. I have another copy so I’m trying to set up a readalong. Anyone else interested?

After the yummiest risotto, we had pie; a lemon pie along the type of a key lime from Florida.

We talked a lot about books, as you might expect. And we talked about biscuits and other interesting cultural differences. But mostly about books.

And when the boys were let out from work meetings, we toured.

View from our room at the Moevenpick Hotel, looking mostly northwest. View lookingsouthwest? Amsterdam Station. Canal scene. Street scene. A lovely canal street cafe scene. The famous Seven Bridges shot. We had dinner at the restaurant on the top of this old oil rig. Watch out for the bicycles! The Flower Market. The Rijksmuseum. Where we saw this famous Rembrandt painting The Nightwatch. An Old Amsterdam Sandwich (featuring rocket and cornichons but I think it had a different spelling… Means pickles. Rocket is arugula.) At the Heineken Experience. A mosiac sofa.

And HIdeinWhitetoSkipLine

Copley in Brighton

July 1, 2013TravelBrighton UKCare

We had a morning to fill before we flew from Gatwick Airport to Amsterdam so my friend and I decided to take the train to Brighton. Fortunately, the sun decided to shine and we had a lovely morning walking around the town, the shopping district, the beach, etc. Just lovely. I wish we could have had a few more hours there.

We glimpse the ocean, the English Channel.

Pie Society – great name for a cafe, yes?

Well, whaddyaknow. A lobstah! Copley was too intimidated; he hid inside my bag.

Love the colors.

Looking west.

The Brighton Pavilion.

The lovely train station.

HIdeinWhitetoSkipLine

Copley in London

July 1, 2013Bookstore, Copley the Lobster, Travelhe promised us it would be only 15 pounds and he kept his word, I loved London but could have done with fewer tourists and more natives, is it 15£ or £15?, London UK, on holiday, the taxi ride was supposed to be quick but we got stuck in traffic and it made us quite nervous because we knew it was only 1.5 miles or so, touristy touringCare

My husband had business that took him to London and I wasn’t about to let him go without me.

We were able to fly over a few days early and play tourist. (Copley was trapped in the hotel room; he had a nice view of the back of the FDR statue in the park across from the US Embassy.)

We rode the Hop On – Hop Off Bus and I was not about to let cold and rain (mere drizzle) deter me from riding on the top!

This is Regent Street.

It was West-End Show Week which means they gave free concerts at… I think it was Trafalgar Square – the one with the tower of Lord Nelson. We heard a bit of Phantom of the Opera.

Parliament and the Elizabeth II Tower

Tower of London

We didn’t ride the big Ferris Wheel but we took the Thames River Cruise (not impressed, except nice views)

Buckingham Palace

and…

We ate PIE! (meat pies) and we drank beer and we had dinner at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant where we had about 7 servers that didn’t talk to each other or know what the others were doing – or so it seemed. Five of us at a table that really should only have sat three. Still it was good and we had fun.

And for all the bookies! After we were astonished by all that is Harrod’s Department Store (the pet section took up half the 4th floor and they had puppies for purchase! But it was the food floor that was amazing. I wanted to stay for lunch) but we scooted off (in a 30+ minute 15£ taxi) to Bloomsbury so I could do this: