It Wouldn't Be Autumn If We Couldn't R.I.P...

Carl has announced the official beginning for the Readers Imbibing Peril Challenge V. That's right, it's the fifth one, and I'm finally getting to know what I want to read in this genre. He encourages us to read anything from horror to mystery, suspense to gothic, dark fantasy to thriller. There are several categories from which to choose, and hopefully, I'll be able to complete the following four by October 31:

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

M is For Magic by Neil Gaiman

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

The Victorian Chaise-longue by Marghanita Laski

And you? How will you be a Reader Imbibing Peril for 2010?

Finny by Justin Kramon

"Then she remembered the feather--the blue and silver one she'd nabbed from beside the bird pond. She took it out of her pocket. "Here," she said, and handed it to Earl. "I found it while I was walking. Have a good evening."

Earl looked at it, then put it in his pocket. "Thanks," he said. "I'll treasure it always." (p. 18)

I wish I had a blue and silver feather to lay atop of the cover, for that is what Finny gives Earl on the day she meets him.

But, perhaps the white feather is also indicative of Finny. At least in my mind. It shows us her freshness, her youth, her trust, her difference from all the ordinary feathers drifting around us.

We meet Finny when she is a child, a bold and audacious child, who bravely says things I always longed to say but didn't for fear of suffering the ensuing disapproval. Within the first twenty pages, we meet Earl, too. And this is the story of Finny, but also of Earl; of her brother, and their parents, each portrayed as real as if we could talk to them during a dinner party in our own living rooms.

I could share a cup of coffee with Earl's father, Mr. Henckel, and be just as patient as those who love him are when he suddenly falls asleep. "It just comes upon me," he says, and that is the only explanation we receive for a trait both bizarre and endearing.

I could play Jenga with Poplan, one of the few women who can truly be a mother to Finny.

I could cherish the relationship, the phone calls and the drinks, with my brother as Finny does with hers.

The only person I could do without, the kind of person so many of us suffer with and still call friend, is Judith. Judith, with her beauty and her needs, her manipulations and dares, her desire to live on the edge and then wonder why her life is a train wreck, is the only one I'd willingly leave within these pages.

But, life isn't smooth any more than it is perfect. Finny's unpretentiousness, her courage, her selflessness, are all the things that I loved about her. They are the very things that save her from the sorrow which envelopes nearly everyone else in her life.

(Please visit Justin Kramon's site for more information about this wonderful author and novel.)

Upcoming Events...Are You In?

Don't forget that Frances has a Madame Bovary read-along planned for this October. Be further enticed by the newest edition of this famous novel, translated by Lydia Davis:

Before that, is the 24 Hour Read-a-thon which will be held October 9, 2010. This time, I'm not signing up to cheerlead, as in April I did a fantastic job cheerleading for the cheerleaders...

However, I will be reading as much as I possibly can, having already marked the date in my calendar and cleared it of all luncheons, visits from in-laws, and household chores. It's the only way, trust me on this one.

Most current of all is the Bleak House read-along hosted by Amanda of The Zen Leaf. After discovering that the library was closed last night, when I spontaneously signed up, I downloaded it on my Nook for $2.99. Am loving this classic Dickens' tale. Loving. It.

Do you plan to participate in any of these bibliophile events? C'mon, you know you want to.

While You've Been Blogging, I've Been...

creating an underwater environment for my classroom. (Note the origami turtle, swordfish, clutch of turtles, octopus, turbulent waves, and my favorite: the lobster. Whose antennae one of my kitties tried to gnaw before it went to school.)

It's been a truly wonderful week, filled with joy as only third graders can bestow. A few of the best comments include me asking, "What is your favorite food?" (That helps me know them, and it elicits a myriad of answers.)

Dear Chloe said, "Long Noodle Soup."

"Hmmm," I replied, thinking about that for a minute. "Do you know the recipe for that?"

"Nope, it just has those really long, stretchy noodles."

"Could you possibly mean Ramen?" I ask.

"Yeah! That's it!" she said.



The Word of The Week is "strive." After we discussed its meaning, I asked, "Can anyone give me a sentence using the word 'strive'?"

Michael M., whose father is roughly my age, said, "I strive to play the drums like Neil Peart."

"Hmmm," I replied. "Who's Neil Peart?"

"He's the lead drummer for Rush," Michael said. (Duh, Bellezza.)



It's going to be a good year, I can tell already.

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Even though I became rather bogged down around page 581, I'm awfully glad that Nymeth suggested a read of the novel Middlemarch. It's the first time I've read anything by George Eliot, and it's the first time I've opened Middlemarch's pages, although it's one of my best friend's favorite series on PBS. Indeed, reading this book was much like the experience I had watching the Austen series last winter: one of longing for times past and an afternoon tea with some of the more endearing characters.

Principal to the story are Dorothea Brooke, who made an unhappy marriage for herself in marrying Mr. Casaubon, and Lydgate who married the beautiful Rosamunde Vincy. Also appearing are Will Ladislaw, Casaubon's cousin who falls in love with Dorothea, Fred Vincy who loves Mary Garth, and Caleb Garth, her father, whose integrity made him my favorite character of all.

I leave you with a few of my favorite quotes from this novel, as George Eliot filled it with philosophical insights and observations accompanying her plot:

"People were so ridiculous with their illusions, carrying their fool's caps unawares, thinking their own lies opaque while everybody else's were transparent, making themselves exceptions to everything, as if when all the world looked yellow under a lamp they alone were rosy."

"He had also taken too much in the shape of muddy political talk, a stimulant dangerously disturbing to his farming conservatism, which consisted in holding that whatever is, is bad, and any change is likely to be worse."

"The difficult task of knowing another soul is not for young gentlemen whose consciousness is chiefly made up of their own wishes."

"This was one of the difficulties of moving in good Middlemarch society: it was dangerous to insist on knowledge as a qualification for any salaried office."

"Marriage, which was to bring guidance into worthy and imperative occupation, had not yet freed her from the gentlewoman's oppressive liberty: it had not even filled her leisure with the ruminant joy of unchecked tenderness."

and my all time favorite, from Caleb Garth himself:

"You must be sure of two things: you must love your work, and not be always looking over the edge of it, wanting your play to begin. And the other is, you must not be ashamed of your work and think it would be more honourable to you to be doing something else. You must have a pride in your own work and in learning to do it well, and not be always saying there's this and there's that--if I had this or that to do, I might make something of it. No matter what a man is, I wouldn't give twopence for him"--here Caleb's mouth looked bitter, and he snapped his fingers--"whether he was the prime minister or the rick-thatcher if he didn't do well what he undertook to do."

Amen.

One of My Book Club's Reading List For The Year

Every August our book club, to which my mother invited me when I became an adult, holds Choosing Night. Each member brings a recommendation, or two, to the table. When all have been heard, we vote on ten books (as we don't discuss a book December or August). It is a joyfully arduous job, with lots of opinions and genres represented. But, what it has finally come down to is this:

September:

Light Years by James Salter

October:

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

November:

The Catcher In The Rye by J. D. Salinger

January:

Enchanted April (somehow the film, instead of a novel?)

February:

Lucy by Ellen Feldman

March:

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson

April:

Confederates in The Attic by Tony Horwitz

May:

The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

June:

Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan

July:

Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson

Have you read any of these titles? Do you want to? Will you perhaps join us when the time comes for a novel which particularly strikes you? I'd love to have your virtual participation!

The Wind In The Willows

The Toad saw at once how wrongly and foolishly he had acted. He admitted his errors and wrong headedness and made a full apology to Rat for losing his boat and spoiling his clothes. And he wound up by saying with that frank self-surrender which always disarmed his friend's criticism and won them back to his side, "Ratty! I see that I have been a headstrong and a wilful Toad! Henceforth believe me, I will be humble and submissive, and will take no action without your kind advice and full approval!"

"If that is really so," said the good-natured Rat, already appeased, "then my advice to you is, considering the lateness of the hour, to sit down and have your supper, which will be on the table in a minute, and be very patient. For I am convinced that we can do nothing until we have seen the Mole and the Badger, and heard their latest news, and held conference and taken their advice in this difficult matter."

I was first given this book as a child and, as with so many children's books, it was ill-suited to me at the time. What does a child know of irony and sagacity, or, on a more concrete basis, motor-cars and rivers? To a child, animals already possess human qualities, so it isn't until we're adults and out of touch with our child's side that we can truly appreciate what Kenneth Grahame has done with Rat, Mole, Badger and Toad.

He has made them completely endearing! From their clothing to their tea-time, their abilities with boats and establishing cozy homes, we become enchanted with these four. The Badger is my favorite, a very mature and wise creature is he who inhabits the Wild Wood. Completely opposite is the conceited Toad, who is possessed with driving motor-cars and living on the edge. Rat and Mole are two friends in between, just your average kind of guys, who will love you and save you and stand by you in a scrape.

The British language is absolutely charming, as are the escapades of these creatures. Reading this book makes me feel like going and preparing a nice, proper tea right now, complete with china cups and buttered toast. No wonder it was one of A.A. Milne's favorite books. It is now one of mine as well.

The Rembrandt Affair and Give-Away

This month I had the pleasure of reviewing The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva. It is the first novel by Silva that I've read, and I enjoyed it immensely. The publisher has given reviewers questions to answer regarding the novel, and at the end, the opportunity for one of the newly released editions to be given to one lucky winner.

If you were to write a blurb in fewer than three sentences for THE REMBRANDT AFFAIR, what would it be?

• This is a heart-stopping, thumb-chewing adventure through Europe's major cities in search of the missing Rembrandt painting and all it stands for. We slowly uncover layer after layer as to why it's been stolen, and what it means, because of the people who have owned it before.

Gabriel Allon is a talented spy and assassin, but also a master art restorer. If you could have two careers that seem to be complete opposites, what would they be?

• I joke to my teaching partners that I'd always like to be a stay at home mom. The other career I'd love to try is to be a reader of audio books for the blind. Is there a name for that job?

What three words would you use to describe the character of Gabriel Allon?

•  Restorer of women

THE REMBRANDT AFFAIR takes the reader all over the world. Of all the locations mentioned, which would be your ideal vacation spot?

• It was particularly exciting to me to read this novel as I've been in many of the places Silva uses for the setting. Most endearing to my heart are the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich, where I drank a fabulous cappuccino served with a square of Swiss dark chocolate, and Paris itself. (Too bad there weren't cities in Italy!)

Art theft plays a major role in the novel. If no crime were involved, what piece of art would you like to have in your home?

• I would love to own a Renoir; any that he has painted. I have several prints in my house, as well as on my blog, but they don't compare to the real deal. Of course. The other piece I'd love to have in my home, planted in my mind by Suko, would be Michalangelo's David.  

Zoe Reed is a powerful female character in the novel. Tell us about an influential woman in your life.

• This would have to be my mother, dubbed The Queen of Smart by my son when he was three. Indeed she is: wise, perceptive, and above all, godly.

Who was your favorite “good guy” in THE REMBRANDT AFFAIR and why?

•  Gabriel Allon, of course, would be my favorite 'good guy'. Who wouldn't be taken with someone who goes into the woods with the enemy's henchmen to be "bruised up a bit" and comes out alone with all their weapons? Who wouldn't respect and admire someone who stands for good and actually lives it? I love a hero and a conqueror, of enemies both physical and emotional.

All of the technology discussed in the novel is real. Does any of it surprise you?

•  None of it surprised me. In fact, the older I get, the less I trust government. With technology, they have ever increasing power to gain access into people's lives; I wonder if anything is private in American any more.

What celebrity would play Gabriel Allon if THE REMBRANDT AFFAIR were on the big screen?

•  George Clooney? Do we have to make every action novel into a film?

Which fellow book-loving, blogging friend do you think would enjoy THE REMBRANDT AFFAIR? Tag them here and we will mail a finished copy of the novel!

• Friends, I cannot begin to guess who would most love to read The Rembrandt Affair. If you would, tell me so in the comments, and we'll see who shall be tagged to receive a hardcover copy.

My favorite quote from this novel: "But like most Venetians, Chiara regarded sporting contests as something to be viewed over coffee or a good meal. When one required exercise, one made love or strolled down to the Zattere for a gelato." (p. 46-47)

Winner of The Rembrandt Affair: Lesley of Lesley's Book Nook!

Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa

"It occurred to me that I was crying because I wanted to see the translator. I wanted to feel the warmth of his skin, see the shy smile that lit up his face when he caught sight of me in the crowd. I wanted to repeat our secret ceremony at his home on the island. Though I knew I would see him the next day, that was somehow no comfort as I cried behind the desk. I wanted to see him that instant, and the feeling made me terribly sad." (p. 73)

My relationship with Hotel Iris began a year ago when it was first released in English. I was promised an early edition by one of the agents in the publishing house, but it never appeared. Saddened, I determined to wait until I could order it myself.

Then, Mark David of Absorbed in Words sent me his own copy from the Philippines. I have been saving it for a special time, and this is it: the last weekend of my Summer before I return to the classroom.

I love the way Japanese novels, the particularly outstanding ones, create a mood. Every detail is portrayed simply and elegantly, and I feel as if I'm living with the characters in their own setting. I feel as if I'm there, although I've never personally been to Japan.

"We were standing on the deck of the excursion boat, looking out at the sea. The crowd that had pressed against the railing until so recently was nowhere to be seen. A nurse from the sanitarium who had apparently been shopping in town was sleeping against the window in the cabin. The man who ran the coffee stand had left his post and was smoking a cigarette at the bow of the boat. The deck was empty except for a few groups of tourists out to escape the monotony of the town." (p. 142)

But Hotel Iris is not about tourists, or excursion boats, or monotony.

It is about a seventeen year old girl, the daughter of the hotel's proprietress, and her relationship with 'the translator'. The translator, for that's all we know him as, first sees her when a whore kicks him out of their room in the hotel. Mari knows she must have him give her orders such as she heard him give the old prostitute, and their union is inevitable.

Much like Nabokov's Lolita, we are in turns pitying her and captivated by her story. Here is a man fifty years older than she, who subjects her to horrors beyond my imagination: ordering her to put his socks on his feet without using her hands (only her mouth); tying her to furniture with cords which bind her; being rough and cruel one minute, while telling her he loves her the next.

In this bizarre tale, Ogawa explores relationships between mother and daughter, uncle and nephew, and most intriguingly, lovers with strange and unmet needs.

Find other views here:
In Spring It Is The Dawn
Bibliophile By The Sea
Vishy's Blog
Paperback Reader
Bibliographing
Bibliojunkie

Love In Mid-Air

"I just can't," I say, rubbing my eyes, "I can't seem to remember why I married him."

"Don't drive yourself crazy," says Belinda. "We all feel like that sometimes." Nancy is running her finger around the rim of her wineglass.

"I've had a bad decade."

"What you fail to understand, my dear," says Kelly, "is that we've all had the same decade." (p. 267)

I found this novel to be a thousand times more powerful than I ever thought it would. It seemed light. Fluffy, almost, like the clouds one looks down on from a high altitude. Or, up to from the ground. But, I guess it's all about point of view. Something can look like one thing from one perspective, and totally different from another.

Take marriage, for example. I have friends who aren't married; they tend to look at married couples and see "a soft place to land" as one of my oldest girlfriends once told me. They see someone to have a family with, to find comfort with, to grow old with.

But, that's totally ignoring the parts which aren't so soft a landing: getting along with someone else day in, day out. Marriage is as tricky as any other part of life. It can be glorious, and it can be gory.

I love how Kim Wright examined marriage through her character, Elyse, in Love in Mid-Air. Elyse is a mother in her thirties, married to a dentist and pursuing her artistic passion in ceramics. I could totally relate to the dissatisfaction she felt toward her husband, as well as the compulsion she felt to accept the advances of a stranger while flying home from a pottery show in which her work was exhibited.

Who wouldn't be drawn to a sexy man, one who offers all that her husband doesn't? He gives her passion, attention, and excitement. They are willing to meet each other, while leaving their spouses unaware, and settle for what they can grab one weekend a month. Alluring? Yes. Satisfying? I'm not so sure.

This is a novel which will make those of us who are married think, and those of us who aren't question. It examines husbands and wives, being single and being married, being an adulterer, a friend, and a woman, more thoroughly than I have read since Madame Bovary or The Awakening. It is a modern day romance, with an intriguing ending. It begs the question, "What would you do if you were desperately unhappy in your marriage?"

Are You As Sick Of Looking At The Kitty Tomato As I Am?

At the beginning of the Summer I was posting almost every other day. That's because I was reading a lot. I whipped through two works of Banana Yoshimoto, a few French novels, even Dante's Inferno. I read a couple of Robert B. Parker's last Spencer mysteries and in general lived a life of ease on the back deck after my two hour morning cycle.

That is no longer the case.

It continues to be a heat index from hell in Illinois, but that's okay, because our elementary school building has no air conditioning. So, I've been folding origami creatures at home. Where my tax payer money actually works. Over thirty octupus, squid, whales, shrimp, turtles and fish have been lying on our dining room table in their assorted colors. I've strung monofilament through their centers, and now I'm contemplating googly eyes for their last adornment. They are ready for the school wide theme of Under The Sea, brought to us by the PTA. It's not original, but at least I can create original things for it.

At some point, I'll go into that wretched building and put them up. Write the names of my thirty new children on the turtles which will be outside the door welcoming them. (Did you know that a cluster of adult turtles is called a 'bale'? We're still a clutch though, only one of us being an adult, and I can't think of a more fitting term than being in a clutch as the year starts.)

As to reading, I've received some marvelous offers for books to review. Sourcebooks is getting ready for Christmas already, it always amazes me how retail needs to think of that so far in advance, and there will be A Darcy Christmas novel from them. Disney Hyperion has offered me a few wonderful children's books. Independent authors, my favorite, are sending me their novels as well, so I'm not short of anything to read: Broken Birds, The Story of My Momila by Jeannette Katzir, The Season of Second Chances by Diane Meier, Edith's War by Andrew Smith, Todos Santos by Deborah Clearman, and In The Fullness of Time by Vincent Nicolosi are just a few of the books I'll be reviewing.

Nymeth's Middlemarch discussion will take place August 24-29. I'm prepared for that. I'm greatly looking forward to rereading Madame Bovary for France's discussion this October. There will be a review and give-away for Daniel Silva's newest novel The Rembrandt Affair coming here on Monday, and I'm finishing a fabulous book called Love in Mid-Air by Kim Wright which I hope to post on even tomorrow.

So, you can see that there is more going on behind the scene than that vegetable photograph. I just have to get the school year started and then I can post about it.

Ruby Tuesday and The Kitty Tomato

"Look," said my mother as she handed me a tomato.

"What is that bizarre growth?" I asked myself, as I looked at it puzzled.

"It's a kitty!" she explained.

Magic and wonder are in the eye of the beholder. Can you see it now?

(Find other Ruby Tuesday photos here.)

p.s. Surely I'll post some book reviews soon; when I finish Middlemarch and getting my room established for school.

Sea Escape Winner

The winner of Lynne Griffin's Sea Escape, as well as her novel Life Without Summer, goes to:

Kathleen of Boarding in My Forties!

Congratulations, Kathleen, and thank you to TLC book tours and Simon and Schuster for sponsoring the give-away.

Three Ingredients, One Sensational Sorbet

2 cups peaches, peeled and sliced

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix together in blender and freeze.

You cannot even believe how delicious it is. Haven't tried Col's recipe for peach ice cream yet, but I can see we're both enjoying summer's luscious fruit.