Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat

The tale of two brothers, one in the United States, one in Haiti, is ultimately the gift from a daughter to her father. This remarkable story tells of the divergent paths the author’s father and brother journey down, impacted by their chosen country’s choices and changing fortunes. This is the quintessential immigrant story of love and exile and always present is respect for each man and the choices they made.

Today I am Gandhi

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Friday fun

Once again, all the cool kids are doing this so how could I resist.

I took this "test" last year and came up with the same results. Maybe I really am a saint:)

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Paris

Here I am in Paris....See, proof. There is the Eiffel Tower in the background and everything.

Day one...after a bit more traveling time than we had planned for we ran out and grabbed lunch so my friend wouldn't gnaw my arm off and then we headed down to do a little sightseeing. Because we got there a little later than anticipated we decided to try doing the guidebook suggestion of the evening tour of historic sites. We walked down the Right and Left bank and did some picture taking and sightseeing. Since we knew that Notre Dame Cathedral was open we decided to head down there.

Pretty, isn't it?

The architecture is done in the Early French Gothic style and personifies the French Art style (I know this because I just looked it up) and was built between 1163 and 1250. While I was visiting I looked for the Hunchback could not find him, which was a disappointment.

After we left there, my friend started to feel a bit unwell so we stopped at what turned out to be my favorite cafe for that entire trip so that my friend could try to get her second wind. That didn't happen but I had a nice cup of tea and a pastry (oh, who am I kidding, I had chocolate cake) and we headed back to the hotel so she could recover. This is the portion of the trip where I got to read about Iggy Pop's enormous "endowments" way too many times. (In case you are wondering, the new Iggy Pop bio wasn't a favorite of mine.) It was good I got the extra rest because day 2 was our museum marathon day which you will hear all about in the next blog.

The God of Animals: A Novel by Aryn Kyle

The Winston family is falling apart. The mother handed over baby Alice to her older sister and retreated to her bedroom where she has stayed for twelve years and Alice’s father is a harsh and distant man, choosing to fill his life with his livelihood, training horses and giving riding lesssons.. Alice is set adrift when her sister runs away to marry a rodeo rider and she seeks to fill the void by trying to gain the attention of her father, classmates and a teacher, with unexpected results. This is a lyrical coming-of-age novel with beautifully descriptive landscapes, alienated individuals and lives filled with tragedy.

PS....This was one of those stories that at some point gripped me and by the end I couldn't put it down. I found myself sobbing uncontrollably at the crisis point in the story so pick this up with the warning, "this book may break your heart".

Back to Switzerland

The next day was spent recovering from Oktoberfest, doing laundry and packing for the trip to Paris. I also finished up my mystery set in Venice. No, that wasn't the only research I did for the trip but it was the most fun. On one of my nights in Switzerland we did fondue night. We also met with Gretchen's Zurich women bloggers group which was great fun and involved martinis.

Back to fondue....When I was growing up, one of my best friends had a birthday the day after mine. Mine is January 6th and is coming up fast, in case anyone needs the reminder. Anyway, living in a small town, we had a joint birthday party in which all the girls in my class were invited to attend and sleepover. Our parents took turns hosting. My Mom was taking cake decorating class so every other year we would have an elaborately decorated cake or two...I miss birthday cake. On Christy's year her stepmom would make fondue so I am very sentimental about fondue and was really looking forward to the whole Swiss Fondue experience. (Our other yearly tradition included the class "fight" when two people at the party would get in a fight and everyone else would take sides. Typical party behavior for pre-teen girls.)

The fondue recipe that we followed in Switzerland was not one of the recipes that my friend's stepmom used because the one we used in Switzerland included a whole lot of liquor. In fact, there was some agreement among the three of us that perhaps the measurements were a bit off because I am pretty sure we got a little tipsy from the fondue. We didn't follow this recipe exactly but this is pretty close to the one that we used.

Classic Cheese Fondue

1/2 lb Emnenthaler Cheese (shredded)

1/2 lb Gruyeye (shredded)

1 clove Garlic

2 cups Dry White Wine

3 tbs Kirsch

Rub the inside of the fondue pot with the garlic clove - add clove to pot or disregard

Heat up the White Wine & Lemon Juice - should be hot but do not boil

Reduce heat to low and slowly add cheese while stirring

Slowly add remainder of ingredients while stirring

If fondue is too loose add more cheese

If fondue is too stiff add more wine

To Dip:

Italian Bread (or any crusty bread) cut into bite-sized cubes

Vegetables - Broccoli, Cauliflower, Bell Peppers, etc., Apples

FYI

The hot history book of the year is The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 by Rick Atkinson. This bad boy weighs in at a hefty 588 pages with an additional 150 or so pages of end notes. For you history buffs, run don't walk to your local library to check out a copy. For the rest of you non-history buffs this may be a little overwhelming.

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall

One of my favorite movies is Memento in which, every morning the main character awakes to find he has no memory. He resorts to notes and even tattoos to try to solve the question of his existence and to solve a murder. When I started The Raw Shark Texts I thought that this was heading down a similar road with the main character receiving daily letters from "Eric Sanderson #1" to help him navigate his life. It turns into something completely different with the introduction of a conceptual shark who is wiping his mind of memory over and over again. Once he hooks up with Scout also on the run from her own metaphysical predator things get really weird.

This was one of the more inventive books that I have read in recent years and I was highly entertained. If you are into experimental literature you may really enjoy this.

Munich: The Day After Oktoberfest

The next day we visited many lovely sites in Munich.

This is the home of the world's biggest Glockenspiel. You can't really see it but trust me, it's up there.

Lovely outdoor places.

Ornate Catholic churches. No glimpse of Martin though which was sad for a Lutheran. Apparently this part of Germany stayed Catholic.

Some really pretty buildings like Neu Rathaus (New City Hall).

And the famous Munich Maypole. Trust me, people couldn't stop talking about it at Oktoberfest. Apparently it was stolen and then ransomed back to the people of Munich for a box (in perpetuity) at Oktoberfest. This feat, instead of being looked at as larceny, is talked about with awe and admiration. An odd thing since the people of Germany are a big believer in making and enforcing laws, rules, suggestions....

All-in-all, it was a good little side trip. I got to party with my people, I wasn't the one to get her face licked or slobbered on (thank you Donna for taking one for the team) and I saw many pretty things. Next time I go back I will have to schedule in more than one day.

Yep. I talks real good

KC Blogging fun at it's finest. Check out my KC blogger friends reading levels and find the one that fits you:)

Cash Advance Loans

The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

I feel like I have already read this story and I don't know why. I don't think I have read any of the author's other work and am wondering if he took one of his short stories and expanded it. I may never know but it did feel like a deja vu moment for me.

Having said that, it was a good book. Set in Wales during WWII, a camp is set up for prisoners-of-war. The main character has surrendered on behalf of his regiment and becomes the symbol for all of the frustration that the other prisoners feel about their captivity. A young girl falls in love with a English soldier who abandons her, proving once again that the Welsh cannot trust this closest of ally. The two form an unlikely friendship and issues such as loyalty to country, to family and to self are explored.

Refresh, Refresh: Stories by Benjamin Percy

This is another one of those stories that I can appreciate for it's technical skill but didn't really enjoy reading. The stories were tied together by blood. Blood from hunting, from murder, from miscarriage. Well, you get the point. I always read with an eye toward recommendation because that is, after all, my job. I just couldn't figure out who I could give this to and say, read this, you will love it.

That being said, this is an excellent short story author and I am sure that we will be seeing more of his work in the future.

New Orleans and Beignet

One of my friends just got back from one of my top ten cities. I love New Orleans. I would go every year if I could.

The last time I went was a year or so after the Hurricane so I am anxious to find out how her trip was. Anyway, on her blog Kansas City Daily Photo she did a post about beignet and I started to comment but the comment got longer than her post. At that point I realized that I too have a blog and could actually write about beignet to my heart's content:)

The first time I visited NOLA I fell in love with beignet, after all, who doesn't love fried bread? OK, there are a few health freaks out there who "say" that it doesn't taste good to them but I say pooh on them! So, I did the research and now can make perfect beignet. It actually isn't that hard now that every specialty food store in KC sells the one and only Cafe DuMonde beignet mix. (I can do it from scratch too, but why bother?) The only thing I am lacking is a Fry Baby although an old pan works great. Since I am generous I will share my secret recipe with the world by directing you to the official Cafe DuMonde website http://www.cafedumonde.com/beignetdemo.html

I am so jealous of my friend. Hmmmm....maybe she wants to go back with me for my 40th?

Oktoberfest

Ahhh, Oktoberfest. What can one say about Oktoberfest? First of all, it is not just a matter of showing up at Oktoberfest and ordering a beer. No, you have to be invited into a tent (in other words, you have to know someone). Luckily, my friends had a friend who knew someone who has been going to Oktoberfest for years. So after traveling and resting up for the event

Donna entered the picture. Ignore Tom, the guy in the picture with her. His story is later.

Now, in case you are wondering, this is what happens to expats who live in Munich for just a little too long...

Anyway, Donna was able to get us into not only a tent, but the "best" tent at Oktoberfest. The Augustiner tent, apparently home of the oldest German brewer (or so I hear)

where we joined the beer drinking masses, quite a few of them Italian since it was Italian weekend at Oktoberfest.

After a few beers, we loosened up...

and started to get into the swing of things...some of us more than others although I am not mentioning any names. I am not sure about my non-drinking friend but I had a great time even though the pesky men kept accusing me of not keeping up and stole my beer every time I wasn't looking. I guess since they bought it in the first place, that was only fair.

Next we will visit the lovely city of Munich. (Thanks to Gretchen for the loan of the lovely picture of Tom and some German guy.)

Five Skies by Ron Carlson

Darwin Gallegos hires drifters Arthur Key and Ronnie Panelli to work on a secret project, a motorcycle ramp to be used for a daredevil jump across a gorge. As the three men spend their days working together in the isolated wilderness each will be tested, their wounds exposed and each will be changed in significant ways. This writer excels at spare, precise writing that is perfectly showcased in this small novel.

Song Before It Is Sung by Justin Cartwright

This novel was based on the true life cases of Adam Van Trott and Isaiah Berlin and the events of 1944 when a serious attempt was made on the life of Adolf Hitler by members of the German "upper class". This is a profoundly disturbing look at that time period (fictionalized, of course) and how a friendship was irrevocably changed by these events. As so often happens with books focused on war, I couldn't say that I enjoyed this novel but it was a novel to make you think. Highly recommended for those of you who enjoy historical fiction set during WWII.

When A Crocodile Eats The Sun by Peter Godwin

When A Crocodile Eats The Sun is a memoir that illuminates Peter Godwin's relationship with his parents (particularly his father), his native country (Zimbabwe) and his horror at witnessing his parents struggle during the collapse of its democracy and economy. Exceptional writing and compelling story.

Bow Grip by Ivan E. Coyote

Bow Grip was my favorite book in the giant stack I dragged around Europe.

It was a story of that moment when your life turns, you suddenly start seeing things in a completely different way and everything changes. The main character, Joey, drifts along in a funk after his divorce and, at the urging of family, friends...he takes off to deliver the last of his ex-wife's possessions to her and her new lover. Along the way, he also acquires a group of friends, a cello (a favorite instrument of mine), starts taking lessons and finds a whole new passion in his life. This was just a great, feel good story and I loved everything about it.

I Am A Strange Loop by Douglas R. Hofstadter

For those of you who are just joining me, yesterday's booklist is not what I still have left to read this year. This is the list of what I could potentially have to read this year. All of the books that have been nominated (that I haven't read yet) and all of the books that have been suggested but not nominated or withdrawn are on this list. So just because a book isn't on the list doesn't mean it isn't under consideration. After all, I might have already read it. Looking through my book reviews might not help you figure it out either because sadly, I am a little behind on my posting.

I did finish I Am A Strange Loop but it was pretty slow going. The quantum physics didn't help me zip through it. It was incredibly interesting and if I didn't have a huge stack of books still waiting to be read I would have really sat down and read this more thoroughly so that I really understood what the author was saying. Unfortunately, this is not a book to read when you are in a reading time crunch but I recommend it for anyone who is interested in the nature of consciousness.

Castle Day

Zug was the prettiest little city and the best thing about it was that IT HAD A CASTLE and a charming one at that. Granted it was a small castle, but in my opinion, a castle is a castle.

See. It just oozes charm now doesn't it? Seriously, this is one charming city. They can afford to be charming. Really. According to the official Switzerland travel site....The town of ZUG (pronounced tsoogk), 22km from Luzern on the north side of the Rigi, is the richest place in Switzerland, which makes it very rich indeed.

Even the library is a charming building from the 15th century.

And yes, I am a big geek who runs around taking pictures of libraries. Sue me, I like libraries.

My newly updated booklist

112 Mercer Street - Feldman, Burton
20th Century Ghosts - Hill, Joe
A concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers - Guo, Xiaolu
A Crack in the Earth - Watzman, Haim
A Free Life - Jin, Ha
A Hatred for Tulips - Louirie, Richard
A New Hunger - Bosselaar, Laure-Anne
A Peculiar Grace - Lent, Jeffrey
A Thief Of Strings - Revell, Donald
A Thousand Deaths - Effinger, George Alec
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Hosseini, Khaled
A Worldly Country: New Poems - Ashbery, John
ABC -Plante, David
Afterwards - Seiffert, Rachel
Against the Day - Pynchon, Thomas
Agent Zigzag - Macintyre, Ben
American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic - Ellis, Joseph J
Amerigo - Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe
An Absolute Gentleman - Kinder, RM
An Arsonist's Guide To Writer's Homes In New England: A Novel- Brock, Clarke
An Ocean of Air: Why the Wind Blows and Other Mysteries of the Atmosphere - Walker, Gabrielle
Anxious Music - Ossmann, April
Archivist's Story -Holland, Travis
Arlington Park - Cusk, Rachael
At Large and at Small - Fadiman, Anne
Away - Bloom, Amy
Backpacker's Father - Kopperud, Gunnar
Balance - McCredie, Scott
Be Near Me - O'Hagan, Andrew
Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989 - Taylor, Frederick
Blackbird and Wolf - Cole, Henri
Blind Submission - Ginsberg, Debra
Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures - Lam, Vincent
Bowl of Cherries - Kaufman, Millard
Breakfast with Buddha - Merullo, Roland
Bridge of Sighs- Russo, Richard
Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Diaz, Junot
Brother, I'm Dying - Danticat, Edwidge
Bucolics - Manning, Maurice
Caspian Rain - Nahai, Gina B.
Chance and Circumstance - Brown, Carolyn
Chasing Kangaroos - Flannery, Tim
Cheating at Canasta -Trevor, William
Cion - Mda, Zakes
Cloud Moving Hands - Song, Cathy
Complete Stories-Malouf, David
Consequences - Lively ,Penelope
Consumption - Patterson, Kevin
Contested Waters: a History of America's Swimming Pools - Wiltse, Jeff
Crashing Through: a story of risk, adventure, and the man who dared to see - Kurson, Robert
Cult of the Amateur-Keen, Andrew
Day the World Ended at Little Bighorn: A Lakota History - Marshall, Joseph M
Dead Boys: Stories - Lange, Richard
Death in a Prairie House - Drennan, William R.
DeNiro's Game - Hage,Rawi
Divisadero - Ondaatje, Michael
Dog Years - Doty, Mark
Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff - Mahoney, Rosemary
Dropped From Heaven: Stories - Judah, Sophie
Einstein- Isaacson, Walter
Elegy - Bang, Mary Jo
Endless Universe - Steinhardt, Paul
Eureka - Lehrer, Jim
Exit Ghost- Roth, Phillip
Feast: Why Humans Share Food - Jones, Martin
Fieldwork - Berlinski, Mischa
Fire in the Blood - Nemirovsky, Irene
First Among Sequels - Fforder, Jasper
Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful In the Business of Flowers -Stewart, Amy
Fly Me to the Moon - Belbruno, Edward
For Liberty and Glory - Gaines, James R.
Foreskin's Lament:a Memoir - Auslander, Shalom
Fragment of the Head of a Queen - Marvin, Cate
From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: a history of the fight for free speech in America - Finan, Christopher
Ghost - Lightman, Alan
Ghosts of Spain: Travels through Spain and its slent past -Tremlett, Giles
Ghostwalk -Stott, Rebecca
Giving: How each of us can change the world - Clinton, Bill
Grey - Armstrong, Jon
Gulf Music- Pinsky, Robert
Gum Thief - Coupland,Douglas
Happy Accidents -Meyers, Morton
Harriet Tubman: Imagining A Life - Lowry, Beverly
Heart Like Water: Surviving Katrina and Life in Its Disaster Zone - Clark, Joshua
Heartsick - Cain, Chelsea
Horse Latitudes - Muldoon, Paul
If Today Be Sweet - Umrigar, Thrity
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead - Zevon, Crystal
In a Prominent Bar in Seacaucus - Kennedy, X.J.
In Europe - Mak, Geert
In Her Absence - Molina, Antonio Munoz
In the Country of Men - Matar, Hisham
In the Driver's Seat - Simpson, Helen
India After Gandhi: the History of the World's Largest Democracy - Guha, Ramachandra
Inflorescence - Hannah, Sarah
Inglorious - Kavenna, Joanna
Inner Workings - Coetzee, JM
Justinian's Flea - Rosen, William
Kill all your Darlings: -Sante, Luc
Last Chinese Chef - Mones, Nicole
Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram - Thuy Tram, Dang
Like You'd Understand, Anyway: Stories - Shepard, Jim
Lives of Rocks - Bass, Rick
Long March: The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth - Shuyun, Sun
Look Me In The Eye: My Life with Aspergers - Robison, John Elder
Lost City Radio - Alarcon, Daniel
Loving Frank - Horan, Nancy
Magnificent Catastrophe - Larson, Edward
Man and Camel - Strand, Mark
Margherita Dolce Vita - Benni, Stefano
Mary Modern - De Angelis, Camille
Mistress of the Art of Death - Franklin, Ariana
Modern Life - Harvey, Matthea
Mr. Pip - Jones, Leroy
My Dreams Out in the Street - Addonizio, Kim
My Holocaust - Reich,Tova
New York Calling: from Blackout to Bloomberg - Berman, Marshall, ed
No One Belongs Here More Than You - July, Miranda
No Real Light - Wenderoth, Joe
Now and Forever - Bradbury, Ray
Oil on the Brain: Adventures from the Pump to the Pipeline - Margonelli, Lisa
Once Upon A Country - Nusseibeh, Sari
Once Upon a Quinceanera - Alvarez, Julia
Opposite House - Oyeyemi, Helen
Options - Fake Steve JobsThe Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America - Faludi, Susan
Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King - Hirsch, Foster
Our American King - Martin, David Lozell
Out Stealing Horses - Pettersen, Per
Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer - Brownlee, Shannon
Peony in Love-See, Lisa
Poems from Guantanamo: the Detainees Speak - Falkoff, Marc
Poincare's Prize - Szpiro, George
Poor People - Vollmann, William
Portable Childhoods - Klages, Ellen
Prime Green - Stone, Robert
Refresh, Refresh: Stories - Percy, Benjamin
Retained by the People: The Silent Ninth Amendment… - Farber, Daniel A.
Run - Patchett, Ann
Salt -Page, Jeremy
Samedi The Deafness - Ball, Jesse
Sarah's Key - de Rosnay, Tatiana
Scandal of the Season - Gee, Sophie
School's Out - Dufosse, Christophe
Schulz and Peanuts: A biography - Michaelis, David
See You in a Hundred Years: - Ward, Logan
Septembers of Shiraz-Sofer, Dalia
Shortcomings- Tomine, Adrian
Sin in the Second City -Abbott, Karen
Sir Gawain and the Green Night - Armitage, Simon
Solitude of Thomas Cave - Harding, Georgia
Spaceman Blues: A Love Song -Slattery, Brian
Strange has this weather been - Pancake, Ann
Strictly Right - Bridges, Linda & John Coyne
Sunstroke and Other Stories - Hadley, Tessa
Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life - Reich, Robert B.
Sushi Economy -Issenberg, Sasha
Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector - Brown, Mick
The Abstinence Teacher - Perotta, Tom
The Assault on Reason - Gore, Al
The Bestiary - Christopher, Nicolas
The Black Swan: -Taleb, Nassim
The Braindead Megaphone -Saunders, George
The Canon - Angier, Natalie
The Center Cannot Hold - Saks, Elyn R.
The Clean Shirt of It - Britto, Paulo
The Clearing - White, Philip
The Coldest Winter - Halberstam, David
The Double Bind - Bohjalian, Chris
The Empress of Weehawken - Dische, Irene
The First Word - Kenneally, Christine
The Five-Forty-Five to Cannes - Holthe, Tess Uriza
The Flawless Skin of Ugly People - Crandell, Doug
The Friendship - Sisman, Adam
The Gathering - Enright, Anne
The God Of Animals - Kyle, Aryn
The Great Upheaval - Winik, Jay
The Guardians - Castillo, Ana
The House on Boulevard St - Kirby, David
The House That George Built -Sheed, Wilfrid
The Human Season - Dean, Louise
The Last Chicken in America - Litman, Ellen
The Little Girl and the Cigarette - Duteutre, Benoit
The Long Walk Home - North ,Will
The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America - Newman, Katherine S.
The Mistress's Daughter - Homes, A. M.
The Nine: Inside the Secret - Toobin, Jeffrey
The Other Side of You- Vickers, Salley
The Perfect Man - Murr, Naeem
The Pirates Daughter - Cezair-Thompson, Margaret
The Power of Art - Schama, Simon
The Quiet Girl - Hoeg, Peter
The Raw Shark Texts - Hall, Steven
The Reagan Diaries - Reagan, Ronald
The Red Parts - Nelson, Maggie
The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Hamid, Mohsin
The Resurrection Trade - Miller, Leslie Adrienne
The Secret of Lost Things - Hay, Sheridan
The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900 - Edgerton, David
The Sirens of Baghdad - Khadra, Yasmina
The Sixth Extiction: Journeys Among the Lost and Left Behind - Glavin, Terry
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a window into human nature- Pinker, Steven
The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution - Stewart, David O.
The Tenderness of Wolves - Penney, Stef
The Testament of Gideon Mack- Robertson, James
The Theory of Clouds - Audeguy, Stephane
The Trap - Brook, Daniel
The Used World- Kimmel, Haven
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - O'Farrell, Maggie
The Words Of Every Song - Moore, Liz
The Worst Thing I've Ever Done - Hegi, Ursula
The Year of Living Biblically - Jacobs, A. J.
The Zen Of Fish - Corson, Trevor
The Zookeeper's Wife: a war story - Ackerman, Diane
This Clumsy Living - Hicok, Bob
This Life, This Life: New & Selected Poems - Greig, Andrew
Thomas Hardy- Tomalin, Claire
Throws Like a Girl: Stories - Thompson, Jean
Time and Materials: Poems 1997-2005 - Hass, Robert
Tomorrow - Swift, Graham
Tree of Smoke - Johnson, Denis
Trespass - Martin, Valerie
UM … - Erard, Michael
Varieties Of Disturbance - Davis, Lydia
Velocity - Krygowski, Nancy
Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History - Ulrich, Laurel T
What You Have Left - Allison, Will
Winterwood - McCabe, Patrick
Worshipping Small Gods - Parks, Richard
Yakuza Moon- Tendo, Shoko
Ysabel - Kay, Guy Gavriel

Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan

Well it is official. My electricity is extremely messed up and for the rest of eternity no one but Randy is allowed to touch it. Seriously. Randy has specifically banned anyone (especially my Dad) from messing with my bad wiring who isn't a trained electrician because he doesn't want my loved ones to get electrocuted (Hear that Dad? I told you so.). He said it is lucky the house hasn't burned down with me in it. In spite of this, I love Randy because he has saved me from having to have my house completely rewired. Did I mention I love Randy?

OK, on to the book. One of the nicest things about being on this book award committee is that I am always reading books in areas where I wouldn't normally venture. For example, I am not a huge fan of history. There are a few very specific times and places that interest me intensely (Ancient Egypt, Victorian and Regency England, to name a few) but the Nixon era is not one of them. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book about the week that Nixon went to China to meet with Mao for the first time.

They were both complex, intense, flawed men but, even with all of their huge egos, they managed to see how beneficial (and how historically significant) it would be for them to meet and open relations between the US and China and they worked extremely hard to make that vision a reality. Highly recommended to those history buffs out there.

Exercise

On Friday night I attended my first KC Bloggers get together which was wonderful. I feel like I just found a whole new group of potential friends. One thing that wasn't so wonderful is looking at a couple of the pictures of myself and realizing that I am getting really out of shape (and those extra 10 vacation pounds didn't help a bit) so, being me, I immediately went out and ran FOR AN HOUR! TWO DAYS IN A ROW! I will be in so much pain tomorrow.

Tomorrow night I will have a bit of a rest however because Randy is coming over to once again spend way too much time working on my electrical problems. This time I am going to insist on paying him something because seven free hours with the electrician is probably as much good luck as one person deserves in a lifetime.

Goodreads.com

I am over at UMKC today working at my part-time librarian job, I still haven't finished I Am A Strange Loop and since I don't have a book review ready for you I thought I would talk about one of my other book related obsessions at the moment. As you may know, I am on every social networking site known to man, the whole phenomenon utterly fascinates me and if I were still in grad school I would be doing my thesis on SN implications for libraries. Since I am not still in grad school I just look at it as work related play time. Anyway, my newest site that I have added to the mix is http://www.goodreads.com/. (I also have four or five music ones that I visit intermittently.)

Anyway, on goodreads all you do is rate books you have read, let your friends know what you are currently reading or want to read and talk about books. This is a more interactive site than librarything.com which I am also on and the big plus of goodreads is there is no 100 book limit. I think I have rated around 500 but only 100 or so have actual reviews. Hey, don't judge, sometimes on Sunday nights the reference desk is a little slow. I need stuff to do and rating books seems like as good a task as anything. Not terribly productive but it does fill up the time nicely.

Switzerland - Day 3, Part 1

Day three found us meandering around Switzerland in search of charming Swiss towns and of course, castles! After all, I have it on good authority that you can't visit Europe and swing a dead cat without hitting a castle or palace. I politely declined the cat swinging portion of the experiment which may explain why we had a bit of difficulty finding our castle/palace.

Our first stop was the town of Luzern which nicely fulfilled the charming portion of the scavenger hunt. It even had a covered bridge

Swiss swans

Swiss cows

A medieval wall (making this a medieval walled Swiss city)

It even had a palace...well, we think it had a palace. After following the lovely, well designed tourist map to the many other sites we went in search of the aforementioned palace. You would think that a palace would be pretty easy to pick out but oddly enough, we could not find it. We found the building that we think was the palace but no entrance for a palace. After searching for quite a while we decided that it couldn't be much of a palace if we couldn't actually find it and, after all, we were going to Versailles later in the week. Since that is the mother of all palaces we cut our losses and took off for Zug which my friend assured me had an actual castle with a moat and everything.

Cheesemaking Made Easy by Ricki Carroll

I should be getting ready for work but instead felt the overwhelming need to blog about cheese. After reading several books about how food is produced I am pretty convinced that buying locally produced foods is better for the environment (not to mention supporting people in our community and small farm operations). This is all well-and-good in theory but putting it into practice is a bit more difficult. Cheese, for example. Most of the really fabulous cheese is produced far away from Kansas and Missouri so I decided to get a book recommended by Barbara Kingsolver in her newest book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.

I am a fairly intelligent person who can read complete sentences and follow recipes but Cheesemaking Made Easy is a bit misleading. You need all kinds of special things apparently in order to make cheese. Thank goodness I have a friend who makes his own beer (last night's beer was yummy) who told me that many of the special items can be found at his beer making supply store. As soon as work settles down (and I have a chance to clean my house) I will try some of these and report back.

Oh yeah, I have ten more books to read before November 15th and all these fun party type activities that I want to participate in. Why did I want to be on a book award committee again?

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

What would happen if people suddenly vanished off the face of the earth? How long would it take the world to "recover" from the human virus? In this book, Weisman tries to answer these questions. As he takes us through the process in which our structures, creations and newly invented substances biodegrade over years (often as few as ten or as much as millions plus) it is clear that what will seemingly last forever is plastic.

On a positive note, while it is true that we are bad, bad people who are killing the planet, it is equally true that evolution is surprisingly adaptable and will hopefully be able to create all new creatures who can do things to process and break down the many newly introduced man-made substances. Interesting, well-written and readable. I couldn't put this one down.

Blogger Happy Hour

This Friday the Kansas City Bloggers are getting together at my friend Dan's for some beer, well other things as well but mainly for the beer. Dan is a home brewer extraordinaire and I can't wait to sample his latest product. This will also be a chance to meet a couple of the bloggers that I have been reading (and reading about) for the past year or so. I can't wait.

I Am A Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter

Yippy! The next book on my reading list is about how brains work (generally speaking). So far, so good but I will let you know how it all turns out.

What can I say, I love this stuff.

For your next trip to Florida

I have it on the best of authority that if you ever are traveling in Florida a trip to Key West a visit to the Hemingway Home & Museum is a must. If you do make the journey I hope you like cats because more than 60 descendants of Hemingway’s original pet friends are still living on the grounds, and yes, many of them do have six toes.

According to the museum website, Hemingway visited Key West on the advice of a fellow writer, John Dos Pasos. He quickly fell in love with the town, the people and the big game sport fishing. It was here that he met some of his closest, lifelong friends and it was here that he finished the novel, A Farewell To Arms which was published in the fall of 1929.

Be sure to visit the museum website and make a trip to this interesting museum on your next vacation to the Florida Keys

For more serious research, here are just a few of the sites you can visit.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum in Boston, MA

Ernest Hemingway Foundation

The Hemingway Society

And now for a fun trivia question: In a 1958 interview with this man, Hemingway claimed to have written the ending of A Farewell to Arms 39 times before being satisfied. Who was that man?

Remainder by Tom McCarthy

I am not sure what to say about this book. It is certainly one of the oddest books I have read this year and very original. I can easily see this becoming a cult classic. The main character (nameless throughout the book) is awarded £8.5 million in compensation for something (?) falling from the sky and injuring him. He proceeds to spend the money by hiring re-inactors to endlessly repeat different experiences that catch his attention in an effort to feel like he is a part of an experience.

The acknowledgements thank people who have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder for giving the author insight into what that disorder feels like.

Day 2 - Switzerland

Day two in Switzerland was spent (among other things) at the Kunsthaus Museum. My friend and I quickly discovered that we are polar opposites when it comes to museum going. Whereas she is the fastest museum goer on the planet, I may very well be the slowest. I love discovering new artists and can spend quite a bit of time in front of one painting "absorbing". It's a good thing she likes to sit and read cause she got to do quite a bit of it on this trip.

Here is my favorite sculpture from the museum and it even fits the time of year.

It isn't the Mona Lisa (seen later on this trip) but it made me giggle.

Oystercatchers: A Novel by Susan Fletcher

Moira sits by the hospital bed of her sixteen year old comatose sister and tells her all of the things that her sister's arrival changed in her life. When Amy was born, it abruptly changed the trajectory of eleven year old Moira's existence and took her down a completely different path in life. This was another of my favorite quiet novels about sisters who never quite connect until it is too late. Beautifully written, my only wish is that I had been able to read this all in one sitting instead of spreading it out over several days. Still, it was a book worth savoring.

Arriving in Switzerland

My first day in Switzerland came with instructions. I wish I would have saved the email but it was funny (in a very caring, friendlike way). I was to drink plenty of water, not take a nap of more than one hour and we would do a short tour of Zurich (if I felt up to it).

It was a bit cloudy but Zurich really is beautiful AND very, very clean. Littering is a bad, bad thing in Switzerland. The public toilets are also sparkling clean but a bit pricey. Hey, you pay for cleanliness.

There is a great story about the saints that were martyred in the very spot where I was standing when I took this picture. Please note that they were decapitated and then PICKED UP THEIR OWN HEADS and (depending on the story) proceeded to bury themselves. That seems a bit extreme to me but then I have never aspired to sainthood.

Legend has it that Felix and Regula, Roman Christians and the patron saints of Zürich, fled to the city from the massacre of their legion in Valais in the third century AD. They were martyred by decapitation on the site of today's Wasserkirche for refusing to pray to Roman gods, whereupon they picked up their heads and carried them up the hill to the spot where they wished to be buried.

Eight Things about Yourself

I've been tagged by Waldo Oiseau. Now I have to come up with 8 things that aren't generally known about me instead of playing scrabble online with her.

1. I paint. Usually pretty badly anymore but I have one or two darn good paintings from the good old days.
2. I am fascinated by vampires. I have actual reference books on the subject.
3. Nowdays I am addicted to sparkly, strappy, high-heeled shoes but all through junior high and high school all I ever wore was cowboy boots.
4. I was a Future Farmer of America. I know how to judge sheep, cows, pigs, goats, and cheese. I had a blue coat and everything.
5. I know how to weld. Mig, tig, you name it, I can weld with it. Or I could. It has been a while since I wanted to play with fire. Learned when I was in FFA.
6. I like romance novels. I like dark, angsty tortured heroes but my most favorite heroes are the funny ones. What can I say, I am a sucker for a man with a sense of humor.
7. When I eat trail mix I start with the things I like the least and then work my way up to my favorites. That way my taste buds remember the happy bits.
8. My ultimate weekend is one spent in my house with a big pile of books, my cats and maybe a cookie or two. (OK, that one isn't much of a secret)
9. I can sing really well but have a karaoke phobia.

As I have been trying to come up with these I also realized that I am a bit of an open book. Ask me, I will tell you all about it. I'm not shy. Therefore, it was really hard to come up with secret things to talk about:)

I haven't posted much here lately so I won't tag anyone...for now.

Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed by Paul Trynka

I like Iggy Pop, or at least I like Iggy Pop's music. I quickly discovered that I am not that fond of the man. This was a fairly well written biography and it was interesting to see how Iggy rose to fame but the endless descriptions of destructive behavior, drug use and sexual escapades quickly lost it horrified fascination for me. Instead of being a train wreck I couldn't look away from it just became tedious. For example, if they told me once, they told me a hundred times about how incredibly well endowed he was. Really, once would have been enough.

Blogs I Like

Lately I have added two blogs to my daily (or at least weekly) blog browsing. The first is called The Happiness Project http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/. I can't say that it is making me any happier, after all, I am the queen of living in the past (or so I am told) but I am finding it interesting.

The second is Both Sides Of The Mouth http://bothsidesofthemouth.blogspot.com/ which reviews music and even offers free downloads. I love discovering new music so I try catch this one as often as I can.

I don't have any book review blogs that I read (except one I read because she is my friend) but I think that is because I am completely overwhelmed with the amount of reading I have to do anymore. The crazy thing is that I just signed on for two more years of Notable Reading.

Back from Holiday

For the past couple of weeks I have been jaunting around Europe. On my many plane trips and other assorted waiting moments I had time to start power reading through my giant stack of books. I now have an assortment of books that I need to blog about....if only I could get through the giant stack of work, posting of trip pictures for my friends and assorted non-serious trip related blogs on my myspace page. I have about 20 to write about so I will be getting serious soon. I promise.

Anyway, my favorite Notable related book from my trip was Bow Grip (review to follow soon). My favorite non-Notable (just for fun) read was the Donna Leon mystery series set in Venice. I am trying to extend my trip by continuing to read the series instead of getting busy with my Notable reading. If you like mysteries I highly recommend the series.

Edgar Awards 2007

There are several different mystery awards but this always seems to net me the biggest payoff in terms of favorite new authors.

Grand Master * Stephen King

Best Mystery Novel
*The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin
• The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard
• Gentleman and Players by Joanne Harris
• The Dead Hour by Denise Mina
• The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard
• Liberation Movements by Olen Steinhauer

Best First Novel by an American Author
*The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson
• Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
• King of Lies by John Hart
• Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith
• A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read

Best Paperback Original
*Snakeskin Shamisen by Naomi Hirahara
• The Goodbye Kiss by Massimo Carlotto
• The Open Curtain by Brian Evenson
• The Deep Blue Alibi by Paul Levine
• City of Tiny Lights by Patrick Neate

Romance Novels

I didn't do my homework this weekend. In fact, I goofed off by reading romance novels all weekend long. Ok, I worked Saturday and Sunday but still, I read four romance novels instead of reading my notable nominees AND I had fun.

On of the novels was by one of my favorite authors in that genre but it turned out to be the "Big Misunderstanding" where the main characters love each other but fight, break-up and years later see each other and realize that they were destined to be together. A lot of readers object to the "Big Misunderstanding" because so often, if they would just sit down and talk there would be no misunderstanding. As a plot device, it is shaky but I never seem to mind that. What bothers me is the "years later" part. I guess I can't quite suspend disbelief on that one.

Cabin Pressure by Josh Wolk

This is one of those books where a 30-something, realizing he is now a "grown-up", has a panic attack and tries to relive his childhood. In this case, writer Josh Wolk, is getting married and entering the grown-up world at last. He decides that he wants to go back and be a camp counselor at his beloved childhood summer camp once before embarking on the adventure of being a grown-up. Being a writer, he has the flexiblity to take the summer and sign on as a camp counselor and so he goes back and does just that.

Josh is one of those kids who never quite fit in as a child. He was exceptionally tall, a little too smart and gawky in a way that did not make him shine in sports. This camp, a non-competitive, boys only camp, lived in his memory as a place where he came into his own and even shone. Going back, he relives both the good and bad parts of his camp days. This was funny book (I particularly enjoyed his phone conversations with his wedding-stressed fiance) and made a nice change from exploring 9/11 angst.

Falling Man by Don DeLillo

Over the past few years (now that the initial shock has passed) books about 9/11 have started to make an appearance. This one is probably going to top the list. It took me awhile to pick this one up off the giant stack of books in my house because of the subject matter. Even though time has passed, the emotional impact of that day on everyone who remembers it is still relatively fresh. Also, adding to that his books aren't easy reading. I will say though, that his best novels are worth the extra effort and this is one of his best.

Keith Neudecker shows up at his estranged wife's door on September 11th, bloody and confused, having just walked out of one of the Towers. For most of the book they (and various family members) struggle to find some way of dealing with the event and moving forward with their lives. DeLillo also explores the life of Hammad, one of the terrorists, who wonders if "a man has to kill himself in order to accomplish something in the world?"

This is DeLillo's best work, tender, heart wrenching and as always with DeLillo, unique and different.

Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris

A very funny book about an office at the end of the dot.com era (the 80's) that gets more disfunctional as the inevitible budget cuts, loss of benefits and finally, layoffs start to occur. What is surprising about this novel is that it has depth, it isn't turning into another slapstick office comedy. Very, very good.

You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem

You Don't Love Me Yet is the story of a dysfunctional band, or perhaps, more precisely, a dysfunctional couple and a band. This is one of the contemporary, cutting edge novels that would have worked much better if I actually cared what happened to any of the people in the novel. The utter ineptness of their existence and the strange situations in which the characters found themselves felt more like a slapstick comedy than a serious novel.

An odd novel with none of the depth of some of my other recent reads.

Gertrude Bell: Queen Of The Desert, Shaper Of Nations by Georgina Howell

I am reading currently reading Gertrude Bell: Queen Of The Desert, Shaper Of Nations by Georgina Howell. I want to be Gertrude when I grow up, except I don't really want to move to another country and lead an Islamic nation to become an independent and democratic nation. Known as the female "Lawrence of Arabia", Gertrude Bell was instrumental in the creation of Iraq. One of the most dynamic, accomplished women of her times (first woman to ever earn a first at Oxford) she was a true renaissance woman. She was in turn, a spy, archaeologist, poet, photographer, mountain climber and advisor to kings. It was due to her influence that Iraq enjoyed many years as a democratic state, an amazing accomplishment during a time when women were looked at as an decorative accessory instead of capable and intelligent people.

Outstanding and compelling biography. I highly recommended picking up a copy if you get a chance.

Stumbling On Happiness by Daniel Gilbert

Stumbling On Happiness and is my current rebellion book. (It isn't on my assigned reading list.) and it is a fascinating book. The author explores our perception of happiness and why we consistantly guess wrong about what will make us happy. How, once a moment has passed, it is impossible for the individual who experienced the moment to accurately rate how happy that moment made us because, our subsequent experiences change how we view that experience. How convinced we as Americans are that are happiness will always increase, that something better is always going to be happening in the next experience and how we neglect our best resource (other people) to predict which experiences will make us happiest because of our compelling need to be unique (even though it has been proven that people are more alike than different.)

Very interesting stuff to ponder.

The Killing Jar by Nicola Monaghan

The Killing Jar is the story of a young girl, who grows up in house filled with drugs, violence and addiction. Her slow transformation from young girl who still believes in a different life, into the life of a psychotic addict is mesmerizing and disturbing. Perhaps the most effective element of this novel is her utter likability, even as she commits a series of increasingly violent crimes as she tries to escape the lifestyle.

Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign

Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign by Stephan Talty. I had high hopes for this one. After all, what could be better than a pirate story. While the story was interesting, it wasn't as compelling as some of the other biographies I have read recently. Captain Morgan was a pirate for the British Empire and while the book did a good job depicting the politics of the time, the author didn't add enough personal touches about the man (at least until his pirate days were past him). Interesting and a good pirate story but not a manditory read.

The Maytrees by Annie Dillard

The Maytrees by Annie Dillard is a stunning work of fiction, following a couple through their life, both together and apart. I like these kind of novels, where quiet, profound moments lead toward something greater than it's parts.

The author's use of language takes your breath away. She is a truly gifted novel who packs a whole lot of impact into a tiny novel. The sheer depth of this novel is astounding. Absolutely lovely novel.

A blog recommendation

This recommendation came from one of my customers at the library. The blog is called No Impact Man and in the blogger's own words... "For one year, my wife, my 2-year-old daughter, my dog and I, while living in the middle of New York City, are attempting to live without making any net impact on the environment. In other words, no trash, no carbon emissions, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning, no TV, no toilets… "

After reading so many books on the subject in the past year or so, I have been increasingly concerned about the environment. I am not ready to make the kind of commitment that the author does but I really admire his dedication.

You can find his blog at http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

I love everything about Harry Potter. The biggest problem with book #7 is that it is the end of line. Harry is done. There will be no more to look forward to. I remember when the first one came out I stood up in front of a bunch of children's librarians and said something along the lines of "This book will be huge. It will be like Charlotte's Web, even people who don't read it will know who Harry is." What can I say, I love it when I am right.

Hallows had a couple of places that dragged in the middle but the ending was resolved in a way that made sense to me. I would like to go back and read them all back-to-back to see how the story arch worked as a whole but that will have to wait until the Notable Reading project is over. Otherwise, highly recommended for everyone except the snootiest of readers:)

Book Blog

My own recommendation from a blogger who is doing much better with book recommendations than I am...

http://dailybookbuddy.blogspot.com/

Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee

I have been struggling through Hermione Lee's exceptionally well-written biography about Edith Wharton. It is actually quite readable but it 750 pages long and that is quite a time commitment for all but the most dedicated Wharton fans. Because one of the mandates of my committee is that a book be accessible I am really struggling with this book. Does the fact that it is the definitive work on a subject override the fact that it is not as accessible as other books on the list? Luckily, I don't have to make that decision until the end of the year (or alone) so I have plenty of time to see what else rises to the top of the reading lists this year.

Having said that, if you have any interest in Edith Wharton, this is an exceptional and quite readable biography and I do highly recommend it. It is worth the time investment if you are a fan of Wharton, American literature and/or women in history.

The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander

In turn, humorous and horrifying, the new Nathan Englander novel, The Ministry Of Special Cases, revisits the events of Argentina’s “Dirty War” and it's impact on the Jewish community.

Lillian and Kaddish and their son, Pato are living ordinary lives, deliberately separated from their Jewish roots. When Pato disappears, the two parents embark on a labyrinth journey that twists and turns through various governmental agencies and eventually leads them to the Ministry of Special Cases. At times almost surreal, the novel explores remembering and forgetting, evil disguised as beaurocracy and love. This novel is powerful and immediate in the way that all good historical novels strive to become.

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

Sometimes a book will trick you. You think it is a book about one thing and it turns out to be something completely different. This is one of those kind of books. I don't know exactly how to talk about it because talking too much about how profoundly it affected me will give away part of the ending. Anyway, this is a brilliant, beautifully written novel about the wedding night of two people in a time before sex was discussed, a time when innocence on the wedding night was expected. Lovely, lovely novel.

Buy, Buy, Baby by Susan Gregory Thomas and Pesthouse by Jim Crace

A couple more books that we are discussing for the award that I liked...Buy, Buy, Baby: How Consumer Culture Manipulates Parents and Harms Young Minds by Susan Gregory Thomas. One of the subjects that I am interested in and have been reading about for a long time is brain development. I have been reading about the impact that media and advertising has on the cognitive development of young children for years, starting with the brilliant book Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. (I have also read giant stacks of books about brain differences between the sexes but that is a different story). Buy, Buy Baby is probably the most focused and accessible of the bunch. It is interesting how the (marketing hating Gen-X generation) has been manipulated by that very industry. Facinating.

I also liked Pesthouse by Jim Crace. This takes place in a post-industrial society where violence is rampant. This was very compelling although it was difficult for me to not compare it to my favorite book from last year (The Road by Cormic McCarthy) but this was such a different vision of the future that it was an engrossing read. I still like his book Being Dead better though.

A bit more than beach reads...

I went to a workshop this morning that featured hot new reads, mostly focusing on light “beach” reads. I decided to put together an “if you want to stretch yourself a bit” list. I will also do a little “Beach Reads” one later for those who just want fun reading this summer.

Books that are a bit on the challenging side…

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
People’s Act of Love by James Meek
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Seeing by Jose Saramago
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Falling Man: A Novel by Don DeLillo
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Death of Vishnu: A Novel by Manil Suri
Being Dead: A Novel by Jim Crace
Waiting: A Novel by Ha Jin
Voodoo Heart by Scott Snyder

And for those of you who want to go one step further…one that will make your head explode.

Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon (be sure to bone up on your Physics)

Favorite Author

I haven't been posting much although I have been reading for a couple of reasons. 1) The ever popular procrastination excuse 2) I have not been particularly wowed by what I have been reading and am finding it hard to write balanced, fair reviews of those books.



Today I got the new Margaret Drabble book, The Sea Lady, which promptly moved to the top of my stack and I started during my lunch at Andre's. Some of my finest reading moments have occurred at this restaurant and my first Margaret Drabble book was started there. Her books are quiet books where not much happens externally. If you are a reader who likes plotting and lots of action she is not an author for you. Internally, however, there is so much going on in her books that it sometimes overwhelms a reader. For me, her books are small, perfect gems that resonate with me for years afterward. I can't wait to get off work tonight to go home and read some more.

Non-book related mussings...

Last month I had a little accident with my car (actually it was pulling out of my extremely narrow garage) and took out my side mirror. On Friday I took it in to get an estimate. $273.00 for that little mistake. Sign...between that and the heavy concert schedule this month it's good that I have that part time job back. Next week is intersession though, so I won't be working the part time job for a month. I guess I need to start cutting back on the spending.

Art

I find it interesting how, when something catches your fancy you suddenly see reminders of it everywhere.

One example, the other day I was weeding the arts and crafts section at the library and I found some great books featuring some of my favorite artists. I love art. I love going to art galleries and spending hours pondering art that I like (and that I don't). Anyway, few days ago after that I ran across this great blog and thought I would share it with all of you. Take a peek. It is a great new find http://jerryandmartha.com/yourdailyart/

Finn: A Novel by Jon Clinch

This is the story of Finn (the father of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn). This is an unrelentingly dark tale of a violent man and his impact on the world around him. It portrays Huck's father as a racist who lusts after black women and "steals" Huck's mother, keeping her a virtual prisoner, although in truth she has nowhere else to go. All of this is overseen by his family, much to the disgust of his even more racist father, "the Judge" and the sorrow of his brother. Although Finn is the more outwardly repulsive the novel slowly revels that the Judge is the more evil of the two.

After Huck is born, Finn softens briefly but soon slides back into his drunken world. As most stories of this type go, this all ends badly with everything Finn comes in contact with being damaged or destroyed. This is a brilliant novel but very difficult to read. I had to put it down several times. Also, the use of racist profanity throughout the novel was jarring and obscene. This is not a book for everyone but will probably make some best of year lists.

Books for later

Books I want to read when my Notable Year is over....

The Stranger by Albert Camus (Author), Matthew Ward (Translator)
A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul (Author)
Hopscotch (Pantheon Modern Writers Series) by Julio Cortazar (Author)
Waiting: A Novel by Ha Jin (Author)
The Country Life: A Novel by Rachel Cusk (Author)
Bruce Chatwin: A Biography by Nicholas Shakespeare (Author)
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty (Author)
The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor (Author)
Living To Tell : A Novel by Antonya Nelson
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee (Author)
Being Dead: A Novel by Jim Crace (Author)
Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan by Jason Elliot (Author)
Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters by Robert Gordon (Author)
The Russian Debutante's Handbook by Gary Shteyngart (Author)
Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry (Author)
By the Lake by John Mcgahern (Author)
The Known World: A Novel by Edward P. Jones (Author)
Cloud Atlas: A Novel by David Mitchell (Author)
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt (Author), Stephen J. Dubner (Author)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel by Jonathan Safran Foer (Author)
The Hungry Tide: A Novel by Amitav Ghosh (Author)
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond (Author)
The Glass Castle : A Memoir (Alex Awards (Awards)) by Jeannette Walls
Madeleine Is Sleeping by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum (Author)
Snow by Orhan Pamuk (Author)
The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life by Tom Reiss (Author)
How We Live by Sherwin B. Nuland (Author)
How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter by Sherwin B. Nuland (Author)
Waiting: A Novel by Ha Jin (Author)
The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter (Author)
Humboldt's Gift (Penguin Classics) by Saul Bellow (Author)
Rabbit at Rest by John Updike (Author)
Pirattitude!: So you Wanna Be a Pirate?: Here's How! by John Baur (Author), et al.
Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell (Author)
Kindred (Bluestreak Black Women Writers) by Octavia E. Butler (Author)
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey (Author)
Field Notes on the Compassionate Life: A Search for the Soul of Kindness by Marc Ian Barasch (Author)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: A Novel by Michael Chabon (Author)
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (Author)
A Prayer for Owen Meany (Modern Library) by John Irving (Author)
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott (Author)
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Author)
Case Histories: A Novel by Kate Atkinson (Author)
The Sea by John Banville (Author)
The Woman in White (Enriched Classics) by Wilkie Collins (Author)
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban (Author)
The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street (Everyman's Library) by Naguib Mahfouz (Author), Sabry Hafez (Introduction)

One last reminder about the Darfur events

One day I didn't know anything about this and the next it is all I seem to hear about. The news is full of reports of peacekeepers being killed, atrocities that make me cry when I hear them and statistics on the dead that are beyond my comprehension. My mind cannot seem to accept the reality of it. Darfur is the first genocide that people around the world have been aware of as it is happening. This seems unacceptable to me. If those of us who can stand up and protest don't, we are contributing to the problem.

These weekend, on Sunday, April 29th there will be a rally at the JC Nichols fountain on the Plaza. You can make reservations that show you will be attending at http://www.savedarfur.org/page/content/globaldays/ (if you can't make that one there will be one on the Friday night, April 27th). The following week The Format will be giving a benefit concert at the Beaumont club. I will be at the Sunday rally and (hopefully) the concert. I hope to see some of you there. If you can't attend any of it please at the very least, go to the www.savedarfur.org page and sign the petition or contact your elected officals to ask for their support.

Love Is A Mix Tape: Life And Loss, One Song At A Time by Rob Sheffield

In the memoir, Love is a Mix Tape, the author describes listening to music after his wife died, how he kept having to turn of the radio in the first days after but then listened obsessively after that. During the course of the book he listens to different tapes that he and his wife had recorded (mix tapes) and each tape brings forth a different time or aspect of their life together. At it's core, this is a meditation on the ways that music impacts and shapes the lives of music lovers.

I am finding this deeply touching because he spends time talking about his wife, who died, but this is really about how is life is shaped by music. For someone from my generation this was a familiar book. I know this man (or at least someone like him). Outstanding.

Missouri Authors

I recently went to a talk by Missouri authors and was highly entertained by Jim Butcher's talk. His series features Harry Dredsden, a private detective/wizard who solves paranormal crimes. This weekend when I was out running errands I picked up a copy of his first book, Storm Front. It is also a TV series now. When my notable reading is over (or I need a non-literary reading break) I am going to dig it out to read. I am half look forward to, half dreading finding another author I like with a large backlist.

I am already seriously behind on keeping up with many of my favorite authors although a few like Margaret Drabble, Margaret Atwood and Haruki Murakami have been on my reading lists so I managed to at least keep up with their newest. I joke on my personal blog that I only have to live until I am 921, reading a book a day, to finish my current backlist of must read novels. While that may be an exaggeration, it probably isn't that far off the mark.

Liberty Memorial Tour

On Tuesday, I took my group from India to the Liberty Memorial Museum. The last time I was there was several years ago and I remember Carl taking us around explaining his vision for the museum and showing us huge piles of artifacts. He also told us how much he thought it might cost and so, given how slowly we move in Kansas City, I thought it would be decades before it was done.

I have to admit he pulled it off. It was awesome. If you have any interest at all in history I highly recommend visiting when you are in Kansas City. It is well worth the trip. For a mini tour and more information about the exhibits go to http://www.libertymemorialmuseum.org/ and take a look. WWI was the most historically significant war of our decade and impacted every other war, as well as other major historical events. For history buffs, it is essential to learn more about this war and its impact on our world.

Pulitzer Prizes

The Pulitzer Prizes http://www.pulitzer.org/2007/2007.html were announced Monday.

Pulitzer book winners are:

Fiction: The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Knopf)
General Nonfiction: The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright (Knopf)
History: The Race Beat by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff (Knopf)
Biography: The Most Famous Man in America by Debby Applegate (Doubleday)
Poetry: Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey (Houghton Mifflin)
Drama: Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire (Theatre Communications Group, distributed by Consortium)

For those of you who have been reading a while, what did I say my favorite book was last year? :)

Taking a break

I have read a whole series of books that haven't appealed to me lately so I am taking a short break from my literary gems and reading a romance or chicklit (haven't decided which yet). I do know I want something airy. I tend to think of these as the cheese or bread at a wine tasting, something to cleanse the palate before diving into the next weighty tome.

I have recently started back at my part time job so I won't be going to any more of my favorite wine tasting events with my favorite wine tasting friends. I do have a co-worker that I think will be willing to trade with me a bit more often than was previously possible so who knows? Maybe I will still be able to get out and about every so often.

My Newest List

Here is the latest list the committee is reading from for the Notable Book Awards.

Abulhawa, Susan - Scar of David
Alarcon, Daniel - Lost City Radio
Alexie, Sherman - Flight
Ali, Ayaan Hirsi - Infidel
Allende, Isabel - Ines of My Soul
Allison, Will - What You Have Left
Alpert, Stanley - The Birthday Party
Andersen, Kurt - Heyday
Angier, Natalie - The Canon
Anthony, Lawrence & Graham Spence - Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo
Armstrong, Jon - Grey
Ashbery, John - A Worldly Country
Avery, Ellis - The Teahouse Fire
Barber, Benjamin - Consumed
Bascomb, Neal - Red Mutiny
Bass, Rick - Lives of Rocks
Belbruno, Edward - Fly Me to the Moon
Benni, Stefano - Margherita Dolce Vita
Black, Benjamin - Christine Falls
Bohjalian, Chris - The Double Bind
Bolano, Roberto and Wimmer, Natasha - The Savage Detectives
Brosman, Catharine - Range of Life
Browne, Janet - Darwin's Origin of Species
Buckley, Christopher - Boomsday
Callan, Liam - All Saints
Chabon, Michael - The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chandra, Vikram - Sacred Games
Cheever, Susan - American Bloomsbury
Chen, Pauline - Final Exam
Childs, Craig - House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest
Clinch, John - Finn: A Novel
Coyote, Ivan E. - Bow Grip
Crace, Jim - Pesthouse
Crane, Robert - Scott of the Antarctic
Cummins, Ann - Yellowcake
Cusk, Rachael - Arlington Park
Danford, Natalie - Inheritance
Davies, Peter Ho - The Welsh Girl
Davis Jill - Ask Again Later
Doctorow, Cory - Overclocked
Doty, Mark - Dog Years
Drabble, Margaret - The Sea Lady
Drake, Monica - Clown Girl
Drennan, William R. - Death in a Prairie House
Dyson, Freeman J. - The Scientist as Rebel
Edge, Arabella - The God of Spring
Ehrenreich, Barbara - Dancing in the Streets
Eig, Jonathan - Opening Day
Farah, Nuruddin - Knots
Ferris, Joshua - Then We Came To The End
Franklin, Ariana - Mistress of the Art of Death
Frayn, Michael - The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of the Universe
Garcia, Christina - A Handbook To Luck
Garrison, Deborah - The Second Child
Gerber, Dan - A Primer on Parallel Lives
Ginsberg, Debra - Blind Submission
Giovanni, Nikki - Acolytes
Gizzi, Peter - The Outernationale
Glavin, Terry - The Sixth Extinction
Godwin, Peter - When a Crocodile Eats the Sun
Gordon, Lois - Nancy Cunard: Heiress, Muse,
Gowdy, Barbara - Helpless
Grinberg, Henry - Variations on the Beast
Groopman, Jerome - How Doctors Think
Gutkind, Lee - Almost Human
Hahn, Susan - The Scarlet Ibis
Hamid, Mohsin - The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Hamilton, Masha - The Camel Bookmobile
Harding, Georgia - Solitude of Thomas Cave
Harlin, John - An Eiger Obsession
Harline, Craig - Sunday
Hay, Sheridan - The Secret of Lost Things
Heath, Chip and Dan Heath - Made to Stick: Why Some
Hofstadter, Douglas R - I Am a Strange Loop
Homes, A. M. - The Mistress's Daughter
Houston, James D. - Bird of Another Heaven
Howell, Georgina - Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations
Hunt, Lynn - Inventing Human Rights
Igo, Sarah E. - The Averaged American:
Isaacson, Walter - Einstein: His Life and Universe
James, Clive - Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories From History and the Arts
Johnston, Wayne - Custodian of Paradise
Judah, Sophie - Dropped From Heaven: Stories
Kadare, Ismail - Agamemnon's Daughter
Kay, Guy Gavriel - Ysabel
Kehlmann, Daniel - Measuring the World
Kennedy, Pagan - The First Man-Made Man
Kriegel, Mark - Pistol
Lear, Linda J. - Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature
Lee, Hermoine - Edith Wharton
Levy, Andrea - Fruit of the Lemon
MacMillan, Margaret - Nixon and Mao
Mankill, Henning - Depths
Manning, Maurice - Bucolics
Margonelli, Lisa - Oil On The Brain
Manning, Sean - The Show I'll Never Forget
Mason, Daniel - A Far Country
Matar, Hisham - In the Country of Men
McCann, Colum - Zoli
McCarthy, Tom - Remainder
Mengestu, Dinaw - The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
Meyers, Morton - Happy Accidents
Miller, Leslie Adrienne - The Resurrection Trade
Monaghan, Nicola - The Killing Jar
Montero, Mayra - Dancing to "Almendra"
Mundy, Liza - Everything Conceivable : How Assisted Reproduction Is Changing Men, Women, and the World
Murakami, Haruki - After Dark
Murakami, Ryu - Piercing
Murphy, Cait - Crazy '08
Nadeau, Jean-Benoit - The Story of French
Nguyen, Bich Minh - Stealing Buddha's Dinner
Nusseibeh, Sari -Once Upon A Country
O'Brien, Georffrey G. - Green and Gray
Olmstead, Robert - Coal Black Horse
Pagels, Elaine - Reading Judas
Phillips, Arthur - Angelica
Platt, Donald - My Father Says Grace
Pynchon, Thomas - Against the Day
Raban, Johnathan - Surveillance
Reza, Yasmina - Adam Haberberg
Richmond, Michelle - The Year of Fog
Savage, Jon - Teenage: The creation of Youth
Schama, Simon - The Power of Art
Shawn, Allen - Wish I Could Be There:
Sheck, Laurie - Captivity
Sheffield, Rob - Love is a Mix Tape: Life, Loss, And What I Listened
Shriver, Lionel - The Post-Birthday World
Simpson, Helen - In the Driver's Seat
Smiley, Jane - Ten Days In The Hills
Stewart, Amy - Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful In the Business of Flowers
Stewart, David O. - The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution
Stewart, Ian - Why Beauty is Truth
Stewart, Paul and others - Galapagos
Stone, Robert - Prime Green
Tally, Stephan - Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws' Bloody Reign
Tammet, Daniel - Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant
Teltscher, Kate - The High Road to China
Teo, Hsu-Ming - Behind the Moon
Thomas, Michael - A Man Gone Down
Todd, Kim - Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis
Toibin, Colm - Mothers and Sons: Stories
Tomalin, Claire - Thomas Hardy
Torday, Paul - Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Tremlett, Giles - Ghosts of Spain: Travels through Spain and its slent past
Trynka, Paul - Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed
Tyson, Neil - Death by Black Hole
Vollmann, William - Poor People
Wallis, Michael - Billy the Kid: the endless ride
Washington, Harriet - Medical Apartheid
Wilcox, James - Hunk City
Wilkinson, Alec - The Happiest Man in the World: An Account of the Life of Poppa Neutrino
Wilson, David Sloan - Evolution for Everyone
Young, C. Dale - The Second Person
Zimbardo, Philip - The Lucifer Effect

Kalooki Nights by Howard Jacobson

I must be in the wrong frame of mind to read this book because I am giving up. The way this book was described to me was as "a British Philip Roth" which is pretty accurate. Unfortunately, I don't usually like Roth (The Plot Against America was the exception). This also has blurbs on the cover that talk about how funny this book is. I have to say, at no point during the 3/4 of the book that I read did I titter, chuckle or laugh. One other person is reading this one so maybe they will be able to see something I didn't and if so, I will pick this up again but for now I think it is time to put this aside and work on something else.

Travels In The Scriptorium: A Novel by Paul Auster

This is a metaphysical detective story that one reviewer likens to Samuel Beckett. An old man, Mr. Blank, wakes up in a small room and does not know who he is or how he got there. Throughout the day, clues are presented that allow Mr. Blank glimpses into the truth of why he is there.

This was appropriately enough, a claustrophobic reading experience with moments of discomfort and claustrophobia. This is not a style of novel that I enjoy but I can appreciate the the mastery that the author shows. This is not a book I would recommend to any but the most adventurous readers.

Darfur

Some of you have already seen this on my myspace account but I am trying to spread the word.

Save the Date: Rally for Darfur April 29, 2007 @ Kansas City on the Plaza

Darfurian Refugees Give Testimonials

The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak

The Bastard of Istanbul was fun to read because I have spent time in Turkey and there was a very Turkish feel to the book. This is a country that works hard to be seen as European and Democratic even as they struggle with their religious roots and so the way the author blended the new thinking with older customs was very nicely done.

This particular book talks about the Armenian genocide and the Turkish role in that piece of history. This was fascinating novelized look at how people deal (or choose not to deal) with an issue that has caused divisiveness within the country. The main character, an Armenian American who grew up with stories of the genocide, travels to Turkey to see if she can find a way to feel more "Armenian". While there, she makes friends with a girl her own age who only believes that the present moment is worth remembering. This was a very nice depiction of the way that these issues were presented to me while I was in Turkey. When I was there some Turkish were very open about this and would discuss it at length and others would completely deny that it had happened at all.

The author was put on trial for this novel because of it's anti-Turkish themes. To learn more, go to http://books.guardian.co.uk/voicesofprotest/story/0,,1827872,00.html

Being A Librarian

The library profession is such an interesting field to get into. In the past week I have gone to a hip/hop gathering, a neighborhood business association meeting, a rotary club meeting and a young friends of the library (20 - 40) book discussion group. I have talked about graffiti and hip/hop artists, literary fiction, local politics and international service projects. Where else can you get that variety of experience and such a wealth of potential new friends?

Nuclear Defense Systems

This morning on my way to work I was listening to NPR and they were reporting on the fact that villagers in Poland were upset about the proposed nuclear defense system that the United States want to build next to their town. I have read book after book in the past year that talks about the fact the nuclear defense systems are a security blanket for the masses (that's us) because THEY DO NOT WORK!!!! So in it's infinite wisdom our government is going to spend millions or possibly even trillions of dollars to install them in other countries, making those countries targets for our enemies. That's the way to build good will and better friendships.

Reading Fiction

On one of my library listserv's today...

Personally, I love nothing better than to curl up
by the fire with a nice self-reflexive narrative
spatial ravelling whose semoitic square includes
a lot of represented perception, with a
pseudo-iterative frequency (no syllepses or
prolepses, thank you very much!)/ I'm probably
the ultimate postulated reader for a doubly (or
variably internal) focalized prospective
posterior narration by one or more unreliable
ficelles, just so long as the phatic function of
the narrativics doesn't stray too far from the
etic approach of the intradiegetic hermeneuteme.

David Wright, librarian

The Dead Father's Club

I had to really struggle to keep reading this one. It is about a boy whose father is killed. He reappears as a ghost to warn the son that the family is in danger because the uncle has killed him and wants to marry the boy's mother. Sound familiar to anyone? Anyway, the perspective of the young boy doesn't work as an adult novel. It reads more like a teen novel with a too young protagonist. I didn't hate the book but I couldn't keep my attention from wandering. I have read a fair number of teen novels and usually they are fast paced so the teen feel wasn't the problem. Something about the way the author used language or the pacing felt off to me. Other reviewers loved it though so I may put it aside for a while and try again later. My timing may be off on this one.

Myers-Brigss Personality Test

Just for fun I retested myself, I haven't changed but that isn't surprising. What is surprising is that these mini tests still manage to pick the same type as the long involved test I took years ago.

You Are An INFJ

The Protector You live your life with integrity, originality, vision, and creativity. Independent and stubborn, you rarely stray from your vision - no matter what it is. You are an excellent listener, with almost infinite patience. You have complex, deep feelings, and you take great care to express them. You would make a great photographer, alternative medicine guru, or teacher.

What's Your Personality Type?

Movie: Jesus Camp

Just a little freaked out tonight after watching the movie Jesus Camp. I am not even sure what to say about it except that I can't even begin to relate to this mindset even though there were very mild versions of this that made their way into church when I was growing up. They actually have children pray for a cardboard cutout of George Bush. Ok, they believe that global warming doesn't exist but they went too far when they trash talked Harry Potter.

Since I don't want this to turn into a rant I am going to stop now.

Paula Spencer by Roddy Doyle

Paula Spencer is one of those novels that quietly sinks in and weeks later you find yourself remembering bits and pieces of it. I think I am liking it better as I continue to think about it. This follow-up to The Woman Who Walked Into Doors shows a now sober Paula, renegotiating the day-to-day struggle of her new life as a recovering alcoholic. She worries about her daughter, who seems to be following in her footsteps and tries to reconnect with her son, who is also a recovering addict.

This is another of those novels that I am sitting on for a while before I decide whether or not to nominate it.

The Rhythm Of The Road by Albyn Leah Hall

This is one of those books that I am going to have to sit on for a while to decide if I want to nominate it or not. Superbly written and full of twists and turns, it is an engrossing and thought provoking novel.

This is a very British, very modern, edgy tale of a young woman trying to escape from the grim reality of her life, only to find that ultimately she cannot escape. Jo, the daughter of a trucker, becomes obsessed with a young singer and her band. When her father disappears, her obsession spirals out of control and she finds herself becoming more and more desperate. Eventually her desperation leads her to drugs and violence.

The New Job: An Update

I spent a very large part of today unpacking, answering email and tying up loose ends from my old job so I can't report on much about my new job except to say that everyone seems happy I am there. Toward the end of the day I got the worlds worst headache probably as a result of all the tension (and weather fluctuations). Apart from that it was a very good day. This morning my old job sent me another huge flower arrangement at work to celebrate. Then tonight I had the celebratory wine tasting event with some old friends and a couple of new ones. One friend may be scoring KU basketball tickets for Saturday so I may get to go. Woo Hoo!

Another friend and I call him our back up date. His girlfriend is on the east coast doing a medical rotation and he likes doing everything from wine tastings to concerts so she and I are always dragging him off to something or other. Next month he and I are off to the My Chemical Romance concert and he told me to send him my concert wish list and he would pick out some more to go to. Sadly he is thinking of taking a job on the East coast this summer for 2 years. Every time I find a good concert buddy they move to places like Switzerland and Philadelphia.

New Job

Today is my first day at my new job as branch manager. I thought I would post a picture so you will know where I spend most of my non-reading hours.

Favorite music of the year...

My top ten albums of 2006, plus one. Not always the most artistic that I listened to but these are the ones I played over and over. Of course, there were tons from other years but I will just stick with this year's list for now.

A.F.I. - Decemberunderground
Anna Nalick - Wreck Of The Day
Aqualung - Strange and Beautiful
The Black Keys - Chulahoma: The Songs Of Junior Kimbrough
The Format - Dog Problems
Goo Goo Dolls - Let Love In
Hoobastank - Every Man For Himself
Keb Mo - Suitcase
Snow Patrol - Eyes Open
Three Days Grace - One X
Train - For Me, It's You
My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
Amos Lee - Supply and Demand

House of Meetings by Martin Amis

My, what a pretty, pretty book.

When I refer to House of Meetings as a pretty book I am not referring to the subject matter, plot or style of the book. I am instead referring to the lovely way that Martin Amis can string words together to make beautiful lyrical sentences, succinct and inventive turns of phrase and amazing descriptive passages.

Now on to the plot, which is one of the oldest, about two brothers and their love (or lust) of the same woman. Set in a Russian prison, both brothers are sent there, for being enemies of the state. Although their crimes are the same, each has a very different viewpoint about what it is to be human and how life is to be lived in an utterly bleak and unforgiving environment.

In the end, the plot loosens a bit too much for my taste and the ending is anticlimactic. If you love to wallow in language this is a book for you, if you read for a tightly plotted novel you may want to pass on this one.

The Start of the New Award Season

Here is my first list of suggestions for our final list for the Notable Book Award. As always, things will be added and drop off throughout the year. We should end up with approximately 25 books for the final list.

Abulhawa, Susan - Scar of David
Aciman, Andre - Call Me By Your Name
Allende, Isabel - Ines of My Soul
Amis, Martin - House of Meetings
Armstrong, Jon - Grey
Auster, Paul - Travels in the Scriptorium
Bass, Rick - Lives of Rocks
Begley, Louis - Matters of Honor
Benni, Stefano - Margherita Dolce Vita
Bock, Dennis - The Communist's Daughter
Bohjalian, Chris - The Double Bind
Chandra, Vikram - Sacred Games
Cheever, Susan - American Bloomsbury
Chen, Pauline - Final Exam
Clinch, John - Finn: a novel
Crane, Robert - Scott of the Antarctic
Crosby, Molly - American Plague
Cusk, Rachael - Arlington Park
Dietrich, William - Napoleon's Pyramids
Doyle, Roddy - Paula Spencer
Drake, Monica - Clown Girl
Drennan, William R. - Death in a Prairie House
Dyson, Freeman J. – The Scientist as Rebel
Ehrenreich, Barbara - Dancing in the Streets
Giovanni, Nikki - Acolytes
Glendinning, Victoria - Leonard Woolf: A Biography
Gregory, Jill - The Book of Names
Haig, Matt - The Dead Fathers Club
Hall, Akbyn - The Rhythm of the Road
Holmes, Rachel - African Queen
Igo, Sarah E. - The Averaged American
Kadare, Ismail - Agamemnon's Daughter
Kehlmann, Daniel - Measuring the World
Lear, Linda J. - Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature
Lowenthal, Michael -Charity Girls
MacMillan, Margaret - Nixon and Mao
Mailer, Norman - Castle in the Forest
Manning, Sean - The Show I'll Never Forget
Margonelli, Lisa - Oil on the Brain: Adventures from the Pump to the Pipeline
Matar, Hisham - In the Country of Men
McCann, Colum - Zoli
Moore, Christopher - You Suck : A Love Story
Nadeau, Jean-Benoit - The Story of French
Norman, Michael - The Commission
Posner, Richard A - Little Book of Plagiarism
Raban, Johnathan - Surveillance
Schaap, Jeremy - Triumph
Shakfa, Elif - The Bastard of Istanbul
Shawn, Allen - Wish I Could Be There
Sheffield, Rob - Love is a Mix Tape
Smardz Frost, Karolyn - I've Got a Home in Glory Land : The True Story of Two Runaway Slaves Whose Flight to Freedom Changed History
Smiley, Jane - Ten Days In The Hills
Stewart, Amy - Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful In the Business of Flowers
Stone, Robert - Prime Green
Tammet, Daniel - Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant
Teltscher, Kate - The High Road to China
Teo, Hsu-Ming - Behind the Moon
Thomas, Michael - A Man Gone Down
Todd, Kim - Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis
Toibin, Colm - - Mothers and Sons: Stories
Tomalin, Claire - Thomas Hardy
Tyson, Neil - Death by Black Hole
Vida, Vendela - Let the Northern Lights
Washington, Harriet - Medical Apartheid

Staff Day Assignment

As a staff day assignment I had to go create a Runescape account and play the game. I know you are wondering why this should be a staff mandated activity. Luckily I am here to tell you. It is because 1) it is a popular computer game, 2) the library has computers and therefore staff are called upon to help solve computer related issues such as how to find the game.

Sadly, I ended up doing this from home because I couldn't carve out enough time during the day to get it done. Anyway, I created my character (she is very purple) and proceeded to play the game. I lasted about 20 minutes or so. I don't tend to get addicted to games because once I get the general idea I get bored. I like the idea of role playing and world building, after all, on my myspace account I go by the title Princess of the Universe, but somehow it all takes to long. I want to have a game that I just think the commands and it happens. Then I could have some fun. I just can't make my fingers move as fast as my brain wants to go. Someday I am sure it will all be possible:)

Notable Book Council meetings

All of the pictures from the Notable Book Council meetings came out really dark but this gives you an idea of where I spent three days straight, eight hours a day to debate, discuss and lobby for the best books of the year.