Citizen Beta

I found this review  of my review…

Also, found this reference to one of my reviews.

Here is a review of The Midnight Charter that I don’t think I linked to before.

And here is an interview I did with the author, David Whitney.

I am lucky to manage a post a month lately so here is February’s right on the first!  Don’t get too excited, it is just a bunch of links to a bunch of reviews.  More soon on books I am reading but not reviewing and also some author interviews…perhaps in March.

Shades of Grey—the first in a new trilogy by Jasper Fforde 

The Lonely Hearts Club–a teen novel for teen fans of the Beatles or something along those lines

Green–a sweet chapter book about leprechauns and the (half) humans who love them

I have been writing a lot lately for one local publication that sends work my way but it is of pretty limited interest.  But, here on page 7 is a review/article that may be worth reading for somebody out there and on page 2 there is an article that mentions a lecture mini-course thing I am doing later this month.  In other words, if you have always wanted to pay to hear me talk now is your chance (and for the record, I didn’t take a few classes in Jewish History, it was essentially, though not officially, my grad degree).   

I didn’t get my picks for best books of the year in over at Bookreporter in time so thought I would share with you my favorites.  These are not all new books, but the best ones I’ve read (that I remember) this year.  Some are new and some are just new to me.  

Fiction:

The Likeness…I think I liked this one better than In The Woods, which I liked a lot.  French has such a great writing style, blends genres well and has really compelling characters. Plus, it is creepy and I like creepy tales.  

The Master and Margarita…Okay, I admit I didn’t really understand much of what was happening in this novel but it was so much fun and so vividly described.  I felt a huge sense of accomplishment when I was done with it, too!

Oh Pure and Radiant Heart…As I have written before I really liked How the Dead Dream but I feel this novel was a bit better; the characters were interesting and well developed and the narrative at once super funny and quite thoughtful.  I especially appreciated how Millet played with history, morality and religion as themes. 

The Glister…Another creepy one with a strong moral (but not preachy) undertone.   This short novel is atmospheric and scary and the ending was so strange I had to read it a couple of times just to make sense of it.  Very powerful. 

The Elegance of the Hedgehog…This book is just so smart and literary and meaty and enjoyable.  Again there are well-developed characters and a compelling story line.  I really can’t say how wonderful this book is! 

Non-Fiction:

Wild Swans…I don’t know too much about modern Chinese history and this book taught me a lot (and scared the shit out of me).  It is a memoir but packs in so much history and culture and it is quite fascinating.

Abigail Adams…A really awesome examination of Adams and early American culture.  Adams was rebellious and headstrong, intelligent and crafty and this book told her story without the dryness typical of historical biographies.

When Everything Changed…An eye-opening look at the last few decades of women’s lives in the United States focusing on politics, law, journalism and the work place as well as the racial and gender equality movements.

Your turn!  What were your favorite reads of 2009??     

This site and my new 2010 calendar straight from Sweden by Camille Engman.

There are many kinds of bookworms. Those who stick to the genre they love, those who read everything and anything only to forget the book as soon as they finish the last page, those who chose books based on what others may think, those who read to escape, those who get everything from the library and those who buy everything new in hardcover, those who re-read the same books obsessively, those who understand literature to be a high art and those seeking mere entertainment…

I am an eclectic bookworm. I read pretty much anything, prefer “literary” novels and non-fiction but have a soft-soft for horror and crime/mystery novels if they are either really entertaining or written well. I have a large collection of books many of which are hardcover but really love time spent at used bookstores looking for treasures. I have a few books I re-read every now and then. Books are my favorite form of escapism.

I think I am known as a bookworm and friends often borrow books. I have to say this sometimes makes me uneasy: I like knowing where my books are at all times! I have tried recently to loosen up on this. For example a friend in Texas has had a copy of a book of mine for close to a year and I totally forgot until she reminded me.

The flip side of lending books is being lent books. Right now I have a huge stack of books people have lent me and I am trying to power through them out of respect—I feel like because I want mine back quickly (not that I would ever admit that!) I want to return the ones I borrow quickly. But, with reading books for work, for reviews, and those of my own choosing, the stack remains high. It is interesting to see what books people think I would like:

My mom lent me “An American Tragedy” by Theodore Dreiser. Friends have recently lent me “Her Fearful Symmetry” by Audrey Niffenegger, “The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band” by the members of Motley Crue, “Lord of Light” by Roger Zelazny, and “Sunday Wife” by Cassandra King. A student lent me “Pope Joan” by Donna Cross which I actually read a few years ago but didn’t realize until I was about 30 or so pages in this time. A cousin lent me the whole Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.

There are many kinds of bookworms; what kind are you?

Though the weather here is still quite warm we are starting to do more indoor, crafty type things around the house.  Also, we are eating a lot of butternut squash.  A favorite cold-weather past time here is homemade dough.  And,  today I started to learn to knit!  What do you turn to when the weather turns cool?

click images to enlarge

Oh hey there!  I have been gone so long even the spammers have forgotten about me.  Are you still there?

Tell me about what you are reading.  Or eating.  Or whatever.

It is suddenly tomato soup weather here and that is lovely and I am actually making some sort of Israeli couscous, curry, apple, jicama, garlic concotion…yummy–I hope.

Here’s what I have been reading:

The new Margaret Atwood

An interesting (and scary) memoir 

A kid’s book about fairy godmothers

Neil Gaiman’s cool take on Norse myth

Some stuff in here (page 20 for short review and page 3 for something a tad more journalistic)

Excuse me while I get all mommy here but four days three nights is the longest I have ever been away from my oldest kid. This Friday she got pulled out of school early and whisked away to the airport with her backpack full of books (two very short ones, one non-fiction about dinosaurs, a couple chapter books and a set of very teeny tiny books in a little box), pens and paper for tic-tac-toe, the stuffed t-rex she sleeps with, snacks and who knows what else…She and her dad were Iowa bound. They spent Saturday at the lake where my sister-in-law and her family live. I received a grainy photo by email of her on a raft, sandwiched between her cousins, being towed by a speed boat. But yesterday the father-daughter duo began the long drive home in the new used car. We bought my sister-in-law’s old car and now it is somewhere in Kansas, on its way home carrying half my family. They called from a motel last night and sounded tired and delirious.

Four days three nights is the longest I have spent uninterrupted with my youngest kid. We were both getting over a cold so after dropping our kin off at the airport we headed to the library for a stack of new books and a video. After reading and viewing A was still out of sorts so we stopped by a friends house to visit, play and see some just hatched chicks. Saturday was spent with my mom, aunt and cousin. A potato filled lunch at the neighborhood pub got us ready for a stop at the dollar store (a dangerous place with a 2.5 year old), the pet store to oogle the animals and buy some baby crickets to feed the spinach frog and finally a trip to the antique/junk shop/indoor flea market where we all found treasures. I came away with some cool kids books. My cousin brought over a stack of vampire books and the first season of Trueblood on DVD so I could indulge my inner teenager while alone.

Yesterday was another lunch date with my mom and a trip to the botanic gardens but a plumbing emergency made me anxious and we hurried home to await the plumber. Today I need to wash the towels that mopped up the mess. I have no real plans today, my last with A. Some housework perhaps, a trip to the park, a walk with the dog…whatever we want really. I can feel D and L getting closer and they will be here soon; road-weary and grumpy, happy to kick their shoes off and fall onto the couch. And the house will be noisier and messier and the girls will compete for attention and I will make a dinner that will fall short of expectations…in other words, all will be back to normal.

This weekend will linger though, become a memory and I will wish I had taken more pictures. While they watched roadside America whiz by we played at home—nothing out of the ordinary at this end. Except time that is. Time for me to adore my baby with no jealous big-sister eyes watching. Time to miss my big girl knowing that someday four days and three nights away won’t be very much time away at all.

…and a bottle.

Review of The Last Bridge

and The Story Sisters   and  Hot House Flower and Nine Plants of Desire   and  Sideshow  and Skellig (10th Anniversary Edition and The Night Counter.

Have you noticed how every 4 or so months I get super cranky and complain about how busy I am and how much work I have to do?  Sorry about that!  I won’t kvetch today about how I have a mile-high stack of term papers to grade, study guides and final exams to write for my regular old job not to mention a review due of a truly horrible book (a real stinker) and several articles…no kvetching here!  Instead I am going to tell you about what is wonderful here in beta-land lately.

I must start my list with the fantastic heavy rain that just began to fall. Awesome! Next up would be some really good books including Wild Swans by Jung Chang (excellent, but so depressing.  I actually had to take a break from it and read four other books before managing to return to it).  Number three has to be the great package I got in the mail yesterday from  Carrie at Try Harder.  A box of books!  And cool postcards! And tiny comic books!  And Hungarian money! And all sorts of bits that my kids claimed like a deck of cards and tickets and a bit of string.  Also I lovely guide book to a Japanese shrine written in Japanese and translated into lyrical and incorrect English.  L and I spent a long time reading it and looking at the all pictures.  This is totally my kind of prize and is the envy of all my friends…Last but not least on my list is our recent urban farming successes.  We have made jars and jars of homemade tomato sauce not to mention a few batches of pesto.  We are harvesting butternut squash that will become soup and sauce for the winter.  Yummy!

So, what is getting you through the daily grind?

My whole lunch just fell on the floor. A whole bowl of oily, cheesy pasta that I had been waiting for all morning. It was warmed up, with a fork stuck in it. I had a cold glass of tea and was heading in the other room…I guess I put it down for one moment and SPLAT! Hungry as I was I didn’t want to have to cook anything and as anxious as I was for my gooey, high caloric feast I didn’t even consider the salad right there ready to go in the fridge. I opened a can of tuna and threw a croissant next to it. Lunch.

As I was reaching for the can of tuna I was thinking about Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I had finally managed to get the horrors of that book out of my mind when D when ahead and read it. Now I am back to grocery shopping post-apocalypse style. The canned goods seem like a better and better idea. I figure, if the bomb was dropped today, we’d have a month, maybe two of good eating and after that, well…unfortunately we don’t live in a region where fruits and berries grow wild. In fact, most of the wild-things here are a bit too prickly for easy consumption.

Is it morbid to think about this? Morbidly fun! We always have some fruit and veggies in the fruit bowl (as of now three apples, three avocados, a small eggplant, some garlic, a cucumber) and also right now the garden is in full swing (a cauliflower, tons of squash, a pumpkin or two, some bird-pecked broccoli, lots of tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, an eggplant in flower but with no eggplant yet and lots of herbs that are more or less tasty). Hmm…fresh food would go quick. And, that is only assuming the garden survived the catastrophe and wasn’t all radioactive and shit. I am not sure how I want to imagine electricity and fresh water…say we have some of each. Stuff in the fridge and freezer need to go next I guess: yogurt, milk, cheese, half an onion, baby carrots, tortillas, frozen corn, some frozen fruit, spaghetti sauce… We happened to have a ton of spaghetti now, bought in bulk and also soy milk in those wax-cardboard cartons. We also have some cake mix—Party! The pantry yields carbs and a tiny bit of protein in the form of nuts and seeds. Otherwise we have cereal, pirate booty, ritz crackers, boxed mac and cheese, dry beans and pasta, rice…but my stash of end-times cans are in there, too: two cans of soup, four of so cans of a variety of beans, two tiny cans of mushrooms (gag) and maybe a can of condensed milk.

My ace in the whole are the chickens…eggs for a while and then this vegetarian starts cooking birds!

Overall, chances of survival: slim to none.

Bummer.

How would you fare?

What books do you imagine applied to your own life? Sometimes I read books set in glorious houses and I imagine wandering the halls and living in the rooms. I am a geek that way.

(Thanks to Kara who challenged me to get bloggy again obviously not realizing that I have very little to say these days….to the corner!!)

A couple times in recent years I have entered writing contests.  A few were for one of our weekly alternative papers and a few were hosted by blogs I like.  Earlier this month was a contest at Try Harder and guess what?  I won, that’s what!  The challenge was to take a certain line and write a story, or take a picture, or write a comic or whatever, with that line as the starting point.  As you’ll see I took a literalist approach.

Anyhoo, I am stoked to have won and so thanks to Carrie, a friendly commentor around these parts, for letting me play.

Police End Funereal Striptease Act

In my garden right now: eight tomato plants, four pepper plants, two cucumber plants, four squash plants

four basil plants (plus other herbs like mint, chocolate mint, lemon thyme, lemon verbena, curry, marjoram)

two broccoli plants, one cauliflower plant, one strawberry plant, three pumpkin plants, various flowers including begonias, marigolds, petunias and geraniums

Ready to plant today: black-eyed susans, eggplant

How does your garden grow?

I often don’t like to write about books unless I am being paid these days. Sometimes I forget about non-review books as soon as I put them down, not because they are forgettable but because there is no imperative to remember them. I read and hopefully enjoyed them and that is the end of that. I have read some books lately that were good: I liked Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon even though I had to put it down for a while to get some other reading done and lost momentum, liking it less after the break. I also liked A.J. Jacobs The Year of Living Biblically  which is so funny and interesting though I think he floundered a bit at the end. Beyond Belief by Elaine Pagels was another recent good read. This one I read to use for work and found a lot of nice and clear ways of looking at the early Christian community and the path to biblical canonization.

Today I finished Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet and loved it. I think I am officially a big Lydia Millet fan now. For the online bookclub we read How The Dead Dream which I thought was great. While several of us read it only a few joined in the discussion (we are working on ways to make the club more dynamic) which is too bad because there were some fantastic ideas in there. I had actually picked up Oh Pure and Radiant Heart at a used bookstore looking for the club selection and put it aside until last week. To go by the cover blurb it is about Oppenheimer, Fermi and Szilard, three of the physicists instrumental in producing the nuclear weapons used against Japan in WWII. In this novel, when the first bomb is tested, at the Trinity site in New Mexico, the three men are somehow bodily transported to the year 2004. Yet, their original lives continued on their historic trajectories: they all lived, worked, died, etc as their biographies tell us, yet somehow here they were in the future (our now) as well. As tricky as this sounds, Millet handles it easily and it is really just the vehicle for her exploration of the role of science, morality, humanity, belonging, religion, ecology, personal, national and social responsibility and much more. Wow!

Millet’s style is so interesting to me and a bit hard to describe. Her writing is brisk and clear, yet evocative and poetic. Her characters are human and flawed but often very sympathetic. Plus, the book is quite funny in parts. As the three physicists venture out in to the world, accompanied by a Santa Fe couple, Ben and Ann, they develop a following of believers who want to assist them in their mission to speak out against nuclear weapons and in favor of world peace. Of course, the mission gets muddied and the followers turn into fanatics, the physicists must deal with all of it on top of the existential problems of being who they are and when (they all read about their own lives and deaths, their work and legacies in the books they scour throughout the story). There are trips to Japan, to the Marshall Islands, there is plenty of science, history and politics peppering the story. In short, this was a dense but readable, original and unconventional story.

Other recent reads (reviewed by yours truly elsewhere):

Bad Mother by Ayelet Waldman  

Coop by Michael Perry 

And some YA/kids fiction:

Barnaby Grimes (book 2) Return of the Emerald Skull by Stewart and Riddell 

The Silver Door by Holly Lisle

And a bonus, just for you…article on making mazes with kids…you may have to leaf through the May/June issue to find it.

…to Silver City.