Plenty More Books Inside

My Kindle

2011-08-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been gone so long. It's not that I haven't been reading, but rather that I've been reading non-stop. I bought myself a Kindle for my birthday and have been devouring books ever since.

When eReaders first hit the market, I swore up and down that I'd never get one. I am a book person, first and foremost. I consider my books my friends. If blindfolded, I'm pretty sure I could identify my favorite books by their smell.

We've been living out of suitcases for 6 weeks now, with all our stuff in storage, and I miss my books most of all (and my knitting needles).

But after playing around with my mom's Kindle during a visit, I decided to make the switch. I am so glad I did.

I love that I can carry multiple books with me. I love how small and light the Kindle is. I love that when I hear an interesting interview on Fresh Air with an author, I can immediately download the book.

I have read more books in the past two months than I had in the previous six, and that's saying something.

Books are less expensive through Kindle, and books that are out of copyright are free. I've been stocking up on P.G. Wodehouse, Edith Wharton and Tolstoy. I've even been exploring older works that I always meant to read but never got around to.

Yesterday, I discovered that I can switch my New Yorker subscription to my Kindle. It's the complete issue, minus the ads, for $2.99 a month, delivered automatically every week. Squee!

There are some books that I will still buy in book form, like David McCullough's newest volume on the artists' community in Paris. It's filled with maps and photos and illustrations that just don't translate on the black and white screen.

But in the meantime, if you need me, I'll be curled up, hiding from the kids, reading my Kindle.

And I promise to make an attempt to get caught up here.

The Harry Bosch Novels, Volume 1

2011-06-07T13:24:00.001-07:00

I got sucked into these books after reading the first three of Michael Connelly's Mickey Haller books. Harry Bosch shows up in the third as a primary character, and it turns out that Connelly had already a whole series around the guy.

The stories mostly run together - Bosch is a detective mostly in disgrace with the LAPD because he's not a team player and he often crosses the line into unethical behavior. But he always gets his man, one way or another, usually after a few twists and turns.

The books are stylish and funny and dark and good airplane reads, or it's summer and it's too damn hot to go outside reads. Connelly reminds me of a mix of John Grisham with the police and legal stuff and Elmore Leonard with the style. His books, all set in and around LA, have a definite sense of place to them. LA is as much a part of the story as the people are.

I think there are at least three more volumes of the Harry Bosch books, and I'll probably work my way through them as the summer progresses.

Bossypants

2011-06-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

I'm going to commit heresy here, but I didn't like Tina Fey's book as much as everyone else seems to have. Don't get me wrong, I think Tina Fey is brilliant and funny and beautiful, and I'd want to be her when I grow up, except for the fact that I'm older than she is, which is depressing.

But the whole early section was just a little too self-deprecating for my taste. I mean, we were children of the 80s. Of course we had really, really bad taste in hair and music and men. It's what defines our generation. I got tired of reading about just how awkward she was and how badly she dressed and how awful her so-called dates were.

I perked up a lot, though during the sections about her life at SNL and on 30 Rock and her inspired partnership with Amy Poehler, another one of my favorites even though I don't watch Parks and Rec.

Her prayer for her daughter was funny, but her responses to hate mail felt forced and overdone. I guess that's how I felt about most of the book - it felt forced and overdone, like she was trying too hard.

Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen

2011-04-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

As I may have mentioned, I've become a bit obsessed about the history of Hawaii after reading Unfamiliar Fishes, by Sarah Vowell. Vowell mentioned this autobiography by Queen Liliuokalani several times in her book, so I went searching for it on Kindle.

Liliuokalani, Hawaii's last queen, was a fascinating woman. She was the child of Hawaiian royalty, educated by New England missionaries in their boarding school. She had the rituals and traditions of Hawaii drilled out of her in favor of Christianity and Victorian morals. The pictures of her and her family make me laugh. She is a beautiful Hawaiian woman, with dark skin and black hair, dressed to the nines in stiff Victorian attire - corsets and shiny satins and bustles aplenty. Her husband, the Prince Consort John Owen Dominis, was white, but he adopted the English attire as well - a George V beard, long coat, sashes and sword.

Liliuokalani's life was pretty amazing. As a member of the ruling family, she traveled the islands extensively, visiting her subjects. She also crossed the United States, met with presidents and legislators, and went to England to help Queen Victoria celebrate her Golden Jubilee.

It was while she was in England, her brother, the King, was forced by the white missionaries, to sign a new constitution that ceded almost all control of the Hawaiian government to them. In Liliuokalani's telling, this was a travesty and miscarriage of justice, which it truly was. But when you read Vowell's account, you realize that there was more to it. King Kalakaua was fairly corrupt, accepting bribes from the white plantation owners in exchange for land and water rights and opium import licenses. Still, what the whites did to take over the government was wrong.

When Liliuokalani ascended the throne after her brother's death, she attempted to change the constitution to restore power to the monarchy. Her actions were entirely legal according to the constitution her brother had signed, but the Missionary Party saw her as a threat, and with the help of the US ambassador, forced her to give up the throne. They arrested her and threatened to execute her supporters with treason if she didn't abdicate. The ambassador's actions were entirely outside the law, but it didn't matter. Hawaiian sugar and fruit had become entirely too valuable to the US, and the white plantation owners were entirely too rich for the course of action to be undone.

Liliuokalani was kept imprisoned in the Iolani Palace for almost a year before being released to house arrest for even longer. Once she had been freed by the president of the provisional government, she traveled to the US to plead Hawaii's case with Congress and the president. She carried with her a petition signed by tens of thousands of Hawaiians, all of whom had been denied the right to vote by the constitution, protesting Hawaii's annexation by the US. Unfortunately, her efforts were to no avail. Congress voted against annexation, but the president jammed it through via a joint resolution that didn't require the same number of votes as an annexation treaty.

Liliuokalani's book ends before the joint resolution passed, which is sad. She's hopeful that the end that her people's wishes will be heard by the American government. Too bad it wasn't. Native Hawaiians have been left with almost no land and no money, kind of like the Native Americans the white people screwed over.

Sigh.

After reading so much about Hawaii, I am desperate to go there, not for the beaches, but for the history. The Hawaiian government seems to have done a good job of preserving historic locations, and I'd love to visit the schools and churches founded by the missionaries, as well as the Iolani palace.

I'm going to start saving my pennies.

Molokai'i

2011-04-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

I read this book on the recommendation of Wendi, and I'm so glad I did. I've become slightly obsessed with Hawaii after reading Sarah Vowell's Unfamiliar Fishes, so I was eager to read something more about the state's history.

Molokai'i, the island, was where the Hawaiian government, under the influence of the New England Missionaries, set up an encampment for people who had leprosy, now called Hansen's Disease. In its early days, the peninsula really was a brutal prison, surrounded on three sides by rough seas and on the fourth by some of the tallest sea cliffs in the world. The early patients had to pretty much fend for themselves, building their own shelters and foraging their own food.

Molokai'i, the book, chronicles the life of Rachel, who is ripped from her parents at age six and sent to the Molokai'i encampment after her sister kind of accidentally outs her as having leprosy. Hawaiians seemed to be particularly vulnerable to the disease, and Hawaiian children even more so. Parents would hide the condition as well as they could, some even running away from home and living in the jungle with their children, to avoid capture and exile to Molokai'i.

The book combines history and fiction quite well. Rachel and her companions in exile are fiction, but Father Damien, the first priest to volunteer to care for the patients, and other doctors and caretakers are real. It is based on the combined histories and accounts of actual patients who lived on the island.

I had a hard time getting started at first - the idea of having a child snatched from her family because of a disease and then sent to live among strangers far away was too much for me. I considered not finishing the book, but I'm glad I did. I became completely caught up in the life of Rachel and the others she met in exile. Parts of the book are horrific, others are tragic, and still others are absolutely beautiful.

I rarely read fiction, but this is one of the best novels I've read in ages. I didn't want it to end, and when it did, I was in tears, but in a good way.

More Michael Connelly

2011-04-04T05:44:00.000-07:00

After finishing The Lincoln Lawyer and enjoying it, I decided to read more Michael Connelly books. I downloaded The Reversal and The Brass Verdict. As with The Lincoln Lawyer both are quick, fun reads. Mickey Haller is again the main character - a defense lawyer practicing out of his car. He goes through the same struggles of conscience, always managing to end up doing the right thing. Again, I saw the plot twists coming, but that didn't dampen my enjoyment.

Connelly has a series of books staring one of the characters in the books, investigator Harry Bosch, that I want to read next. But first I need to work my way through my current stack of books.

Unfamiliar Fishes

2011-04-04T05:34:00.001-07:00

I've long been a fan of Sarah Vowell, and my girl crush was only deepened by her turn at Violet in "The Incredibles." I've had the pleasure of hearing her read a few times. She was in town to read this Saturday, but I didn't make it to the book store.

I was thrilled when I heard that she had a new book coming out - Unfamiliar Fishes. I pre-ordered it through Kindle and started reading it as soon as it downloaded to my iPhone. (I don't actually have a Kindle - yet.)

I was disappointed in her last book, The Wordy Shipmates, which was dry and hard to read, especially compared to Assassination Vacation, which was a light-hearted romp through the odd topic of presidential assassinations. So I had great hopes that this new book would be a return to Vowell at her best.

And while it is world's better than The Wordy Shipmates, this new book falls short of Assassination Vacation.

The topic is fascinating: the arrival of New England missionaries in Hawaii in the mid-1800s. But there isn't as much room for humor. The clash of the two cultures was inevitable and had mixed results.

On the one hand, the missionaries managed the incredible task of creating a written version of the strictly oral Hawaiian language. They then translated books into Hawaiian and taught the natives to read. Within decades of the missionaries' arrival, Hawaii had a literacy rate of 80 percent, higher than that of the United States.

But while the Americans were educating the Hawaiians, they were spreading disease and wiping out the native culture. By converting the natives to Christianity, they encouraged them to turn their backs on native culture and tradition - such as their own religion and the hula. They had particular success with the children of the ruling families. As the elders died out, the Christian-educated children took over, changing the culture even further.

It's an interesting book and an interesting story. And it's made me want to go to Hawaii, but not for the beaches and surfing. I want to visit the historical markers and locations that Vowell describes.

P. G. Wodehouse

2011-03-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

Roger Ebert posted on Twitter that you could get P. G. Wodehouse books for free or 99 cents through Kindle. The Bertie and Jeeves stories have been on my to-read list for ages, so when I found out that I could get them for pennies, I decided to splurge.

The stories focus on wealthy gad-about Bertie and his butler Jeeves, who is the brains of the operation. The stories were made into TV shows in England, staring Hugh Laurie as Bertie and Stephen Fry as Jeeves - pretty much a perfect pairing if you ask me. The shows are on my Netflix list now to watch.

Anyway, the short stories are charming and funny - the language alone makes them worth reading, especially for free through Kindle.

The Lincoln Lawyer

2011-03-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

I rarely read fiction, but after wading through several biographies and Mary Roach's books, I decided it was time for some easy reading. I read several reviews of the movie "The Lincoln Lawyer," and they were all complimentary of the book, so I decided to give it a try.

Turns out, I couldn't put it down. I saw some of the plot twists from a mile away, but it still sucked me in. Connelly has a good blend of John Grisham's legal expertise and Elmore Leonard's style. It's a perfect easy, fun read. I've already started a second book in the Mickey Haller series. I can't really stand Matthew McConaghey, so I doubt I'll see the movie, though.

The Mary Roach Cannon

2011-03-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

There are times when the universe seems to be telling me that I need to read a particular book or author. This past winter, the universe told me to start ready Mary Roach, so I dove right in.

First up was Packing for Mars, which is about the hazards of space travel and how NASA prepares for it - especially the things they can't prepare for, like the "unknown unknowns." Given that my oldest daughter is a self-described "space explorer," I loved this book, and I'm envious of the access Roach had to NASA while researching it. I'd love to go up in the Vomit Comet to experience zero gravity. I'm not so sure I'd want to test out the space toilet though.

After the space book, I read Spook, which chronicles experiments people have done through the ages on what happens to our souls, if we have them, after we die. Real, respected scientists have done research on whether there is life after death and whether there are such things as near-death experiences like those described by people who have died and then been brought back to life. So far nothing conclusive has been discovered, but I like that people are looking.

Last week I finished off Stiff, which tackles what happens to our bodies after we die, specifically those cadavers that are donated to science. Turns out not every body donated goes on to take part in ground-breaking scientific or medical research. Most go on to teaching hospitals for medical students to practice on. Others go on to conferences where surgeons can hone their skills. Still others are used as crash-test dummies for car companies. Roach also chronicles different methods of disposing of cadavers - the technical term for a dead body - from cremation to freezing to burial to composting. After reading this book, I'm sticking to my plan of donating whatever organs will be of use to someone else and then cremating the rest and scattering the ashes. Silly as it seems, I don't want to turn into a crash-test dummy or practice cadaver.

Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage

2011-02-26T15:03:00.000-08:00

I saw this new book, by Hazel Rowley, while I was in New York, but just bought it on Kindle last month. I've long been fascinated by Eleanor, who accomplished so much in an era when women were decidedly limited in what they were "allowed" to do by society at large.

Theirs was a fascinating marriage, seemingly built on a real love and affection for each other, not to mention an abiding respect for each other's opinions. That's not to say it was an easy marriage by any account. She had to contend with Franklin's overbearing and overprotective mother, who paid the bills and who was present for much of their marriage.

They both had to deal with Franklin's polio and resulting paralysis, which threatened everything - his life, his ability to earn a living, his political ambitions. It is amazing to think, in this era of cell phone cameras and instant access on the Internet, that the vast majority of the country had no idea that FDR was even disabled, let alone paralyzed to the point that he couldn't walk without leg braces and assistance. The family asked the press to keep it quiet, and, out of respect, they did. Such a thing would NEVER happen these days.

Both Franklin and Eleanor had multiple affairs; Franklin kicking things off with one that almost ended the marriage. Even after his paralysis, Franklin had emotional, if not physical, affairs with several women, including one, Missy LeHand, who lived and traveled with the family. Eleanor seemed to accept that this was a part of her husband's character.

She also had long-term relationships with both men and women. There's no record on whether they were more than emotional, but she traveled and lived with women who were known lesbians. She also had a close relationship with one of her bodyguards and did not react well when he decided to marry.

Both Franklin and Eleanor seemed to need more than they could get out of the marriage, as loving as it may have been.

She was truly distraught when Franklin died, and even more heartbroken when she found out that his former mistress, the one who almost caused them to get divorced, was with Franklin when he died. Even more heartbreaking was the realization that many people know Franklin had rekindled the relationship and they had hidden it from her.

I was impressed with how much Eleanor accomplished on her own, separate from her husband. She was a remarkable woman in her own right.

The Downhill Lie

2011-02-26T14:59:00.000-08:00

I generally like Cark Hiaassen's novels. They're good beach and airplane reads - light, fluffy and funny. I've never read any of his non-fiction before, but I decided to give this book a try after hearing him talk about it on "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me."

It's about his return to golfing after a 30-year break. A natural-born golfer, Hiaasen is not. His days on golf courses are filled with shanked drives, lost balls, alligators, and sunken golf carts.

I am not a golf fan, have never played golf, and know nothing about golf, but I still laughed out loud repeatedly reading Hiaasen's accounts of his adventures.

Next up, I think I'm going to read his book about Disney World.

My poor neglected book blog

2011-02-16T13:19:00.001-08:00

I'm embarrassed that I haven't updated this poor blog since May. It's not because I haven't been reading, because I have been. I just haven't been able to find the time to sit down and write about the books. If you read my other blog, The Days are Just Packed, you'll know why.

But I'm going to try to be better about writing over here, too.

I've just finished a slew of books including some P. G. Wodehouse "Bertie and Jeeves" collections; a new biography of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, which was fascinating; a book by a former FBI hostage negotiator called Stalling for Time that made me want to start a new career as a negotiator; and two books by Mary Roach - Packing for Mars and Spook.

Right now I'm in the middle of Edmund Morris's third volume about Theodore Roosevelt, and I'm loving it. I'm also reading a biography about Frank Lloyd Wright, which is interested but slow going because I keep stopping to look at pictures of the houses and buildings online. The book could use some more photos. I'm also reading a biography of Cleopatra, but I'm having a hard time staying focussed on it. So little is really known about her, and there are so few contemporary records of her life and words, that much of the book seems like pure speculation.

What else is there? Oh yes, I read Dan Brown's latest pulp during my trip to New York City in November. It was perfect airplane reading.

I also read The New Yorker cover to cover each week, and I now get the Christian Science Monitor every week. And I think there have been a few books I've abandoned along the way, like The Help. I just couldn't get into it.

More updates soon, I promise.

A Clearing in the Distance

2010-05-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Even though this book was a biography of Frederick Law Olmstead, I found it as interesting as any work of fiction I've read in a long time. Olmstead, whose most famous projects include Central Park, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, the park system in Buffalo, Mount Royal in Montreal, the grounds of the Chicago World's Fair, and the grounds at the Biltmore Estate, was a fascinating man.

He didn't start designing parks and public spaces until he was in his 30s. Prior to that he owned several farms and studied "scientific farming," travelled throughout the south and sent back articles on the south and slavery, and during the Civil War served as head of the pre-cursor to the Red Cross. He was also ran the Mariposa Gold Mine out in California and sat on the board that went on to form Yosemite National Park. In addition to all of this, he was a publisher and successful author. He was involved in so many projects, big and small, that the book couldn't detail all of them.

It is hard to believe that one man could do so much, and yet he did. His landscape design firm, headed up by his son after Olmstead died, went on to become one of the top firms in the country. Olmstead's influence is seen in parks and colleges and cities around the world.

The Battle of the Labyrinth

2010-05-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

This is the fourth in Percy Jackson series, and it was my favorite of the books so far. The characters, especially Percy, seemed a little too precoscious in the first books. But now it's like the characters have caught up with their true ages.

This book has Percy and his friends setting off into the Labyrinth in an effort to stop Kronos and his army from gaining access to Camp Half Blood. The adventures are a lot of fun, and the dangers are written well enough to keep you turning the pages.

Ella and I have one book left in the series, and then we'll probably be moving on to Riordan's next series, which deals with ancient Egypt.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

2010-05-20T09:08:00.001-07:00

Ella got the first book for Christmas, and she was completely absorbed in it. I had to pry it out of her hands each night to get her to go to sleep. Once she finished it, I decided to read the book to see what it was all about.

Ella and I have now read the first two books and are waiting for the third to come out in paperback.

With the exception of the Harry Potter series, I think this is probably the best youth fiction series I've read yet. The plots are dense and challenging, and the vocabulary had Ella asking me to define words, which I liked.

The books center around four exceptional children who come from not-normal backgrounds. They go through several challenges at the beginning of the first book, which is how they end up living with the mysterious Mr. Benedict, who immediately sends them off on a mission to save the world. The second book is about the four kids heading off to rescue Mr. Benedict on their own.

The characters are very well written, and the stories are griping. I couldn't put the books down, either.

Ella and I are waiting with baited breath to get our hands on the third volume.

The Girl Who Played with Fire

2010-05-20T09:05:00.001-07:00

This is the second of Stieg Larsson's series, and I liked it a lot more than the first, which I really liked. I was glad he spent more time on Salander's backstory and less time of Blumkvist, who just isn't as interesting.

I am looking forward to the third book coming out, so much so that I may splurge for the hardcover edition.

Flawless

2010-03-21T12:47:00.001-07:00

I read a review of this on Salon.com, and then I read the Wired.com story, which the authors of this book spend a lot of time addressing, and decided to splurge on the book. It tells the story of the world's largest diamond heist, which was committed in 2003 in Antwerp, Belgium, the home of the world's diamond market. The heist, pulled off by at least 6 master thieves from Italy, rivals that in any movie for its daring and complexity.

The thieves managed to break into a secure building and into a vault that should have been impregnable and make off with somewhere between $100 and $400 million worth of diamonds, cash, jewelry and pure gold.

The authors, Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell, have written a nearly perfect book. It covers not only the planning of the heist and the theft themselves, but the history of diamond mining and the DeBeers Company, as well as the diamond industry and how it works. Greg Campbell knows his stuff; he also wrote the book Blood Diamonds, which traces the history of conflict diamonds. It's next on my to-read list.

The only way the book could have been better is if the authors had included pictures. Instead, I had to be happy with the shots included in the Wired.com article, which turns out to be mostly a fabrication created by the ringleader, Leonardo Notarbartolo. I recomend reading the Wired article only after you read the book.

Excellent stuff!

Percy Jackson

2010-03-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

I finished the second and third books in the series - The Sea of Monsters and The Titan's Curse - and they were a lot of fun. But as I read them, I kept thinking about how much the youth publishing industry owes to J.K. Rowling. Her books proved that you can write smart books for kids - books with challenging plot lines and topics and with stories that stretch out over a whole series.

When I was growing up, we didn't have the wealth of fiction that the kids do now. We had the Little House books, which I loved, don't get me wrong, and the Anne of Green Gables series, which I read enough to just about memorize. But there was nothing along the lines of what is in the book stores now.

I'm thrilled that Ella loves reading so much, and I'm looking forward to sharing more of her books. Right now we're fighting over the fourth book in the series.

Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief

2010-02-14T16:38:00.000-08:00

I've been having fun reading the books Ella's been immersed in. She got a stack of new books for Christmas, and I've been borrowing them from her as soon as she finishes them. I grabbed The Lightning Thief off the top of the stack because Ella's been begging to see the movie, and I wanted to see what I was going to be in for if I took her.

It is definitely a fun book, and I can see why the kids like it. Like most kids, including my daughter, I went through a Greek and Roman myth phase, and the Percy Jackson books play right into it. Percy, or Perseus, is the son of one of the Greek Gods, but he find that out until he's 12. Until then, he has a pretty miserable life with a step-father he can't stand, problems in school, and learning disabilities.

But then he finds out who he is and is sent on a quest. It's a classic misplaced kid/adventure story, similar to the Harry Potter series. It's also funny, exciting and, most importantly, well written. I'm part way through the second right now. And I've promised Ella I'll take her to the movie. I'm looking forward to it, too.

The Women

2010-02-14T16:29:00.000-08:00

I've been interested in Frank Lloyd Wright ever since reading Loving Frank two years ago. This novel, by TC Boyle, tells the stories of Wright's life with three women - Mamah Cheney, Maude Miriam Noel, and Olgivanna Milanoff. His first wife, the long-suffering Kitty Tobin, appears on the edges of the story, mainly as a bitter, jealous wife who is about to lose her husband to Mamah Cheney. Of the four women portrayed in the book, Kitty gets the worst portrayal.

But none of the women come across as very nice people. Mamah walked out on her husband and children to follow her feminist dreams. Miriam sought Wright out, pretty much stalking him, because she felt she was the only one to understand his genius. And Olgivanna traded one Svengali-like man for another when she took up with Wright.

Of course, this is fiction, told from the point of view of a fictional apprentice who didn't even know all the women. But still - it's an unpleasant cast of characters.

My mother started the book and disliked it so much that she never finished it. I found myself fascinated by it. I'm guessing the accounts of Wright are pretty close to his true character, which made me wonder why any woman would want to be involved with him. He was not a nice man at all.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2010-02-14T16:22:00.000-08:00

Well . . . I don't know what to say about this book, mostly because I haven't made up my mind if I liked it. I read it because several people, whose opinion I trust, recommended it. I got a gift certificate for Christmas, so I picked up the book.

One of the things that troubles me is that Larsson includes statistics throughout the book about the numbers of rapes and incidences of violence again women in Sweden, yet he includes several horrifyingly graphic scenes of rape and torture - against a woman. If he was trying to raise awareness of the problem in Swedish society, why then include such vivid descriptions?

At the same time, I couldn't stop reading the book. Lisbeth Salander's character interested me much more than that of Mikael Blomkvist, yet her character plays second fiddle to Blomkvist. I understand why Larsson had to do it in terms of plot, but that doesn't mean I like it.

I also thought the book should have ended after the big mystery was resolved. The whole retribution part of the plot seemed tacked on as an afterthought. I lost interest in the book at about that point.

There's a second book out, called The Girl Who Played with Fire, and I'd like to read it, but not enough to warrant paying full price for the hard cover. I'm going to have to wait for a good sale or for it to come out in paperback.

Stylized

2010-01-09T17:39:00.000-08:00

The full title of the book is Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk & White's The Elements of Style. My mother gave it to me for Christmas, and it's a sign of what a grammar geek I am that I was excited about getting this book.

The author, Mark Garvey, is very enthusiastic about his topic, to the point that he gushes a little too much. He needs to heed Strunk's brilliant rule of "Omit needless words" in many places.

Even though I regard Elements as one of my go-to books when I'm editing, I never really knew the history behind it. When Stunk was a professor at Cornell, he self-published a slim little pamphlet filled with writing rules and style suggestions. He thought it would make grading papers easier, because he and other professors could just scribble "see rule #2" in the margins of papers instead of explaining every editing mark again and again.

E.B. White, author of the children's classics Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web among others, and long-time writer for "The New Yorker" magazine, had Strunk as a professor when he was at Cornell. He and Strunk kept in touch through the years, and long after Strunk's death, White wrote an essay for "The New Yorker" about Strunk and his little pamphlet. The rest is writing history.

Garvey was given access by Cornell and by the Strunk and White families to letters between the two authors and letters to and from the publishers and fans/critics of the book. And, really, those were the best part of this little book. In the letters you can see the affection that both authors had for each other and for the English language.

After I finished this book, I pulled out my well-worn copy of Elements and thumbed through it again. Reading White's introduction and Strunk's rules of usage really makes me want to be a better writer. As White contends, in order to be a good writer, you have to understand the rules, even if only to break them. Too many "writers" today don't have a grasp of the basics of language and usage. They should all be given copies of the little book.

A side note - in my life before kids I worked as an editor for the Texas Attorney General's Office. I reviewed all publications the agency produced and other documents on demand. One day, an attorney asked me to take a few moments to review a letter he was getting ready to send to members of the state legislature. I made a few edits and handed the letter back. He disagreed with one of my edits and questioned me on it. I informed him of the rule I was following, and he asked to see proof that it was really a rule. So I brought out my Elements and showed him the relevant entry. This is the conversation we had at that point:

Him: What year was that published?
Me: 1979 (the third edition)
Him: Well, the book is out of date.
Me: Grammar rules don't go out of date.
Him: I went to Harvard Law School.
Me: Congratulations, but you're still wrong on this.
Him: Well, I'm doing it my way.
Me: Fine. It's your name on the letter, not mine.

I found out later he complained about me to my boss, who told him that I was correct in my edit and to stop asking me to review his letters if he wasn't going to take my advice. Ha - score one for the grammar geeks!

love stories in this town

2010-01-09T17:33:00.000-08:00

my friend gave me this book, by amanda eyre ward, for my birthday. it's received a lot of press here because ward lives in austin.

i've never really been a fan of the short story as a whole, and this book didn't do much to change that. the stories, most of which are set just after 9/11 revolved around the loss of loved ones and coping with life and love in the wake of the attacks.

perhaps it was the frame of mind i was in when i read the stories several months ago, but i found them too sad for my liking. ward is an excellent writer, but i felt worse after reading the collection. ward has published several other books, and i liked her writing enough that i may give those a look, just to see if the stories are less sad.

*i'm writing in lower case because my keyboard is broken. the shift key is on the fritz.

switch bitch*

2010-01-09T17:30:00.000-08:00

i've read most of roald dahl's children's lit, both when i was a child and with my kids, but i've never read any of his adult fiction before this book. and i don't think i will ever again. switch bitch contains four novellas that revolve mostly around sex, and they're fairly disturbing at that.

dahl's fantastical worlds and great imagination work well in children's lit, but in these works he seems to trying to be whimsical for the sake of being whimsical, and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

i'm going to stick to his children's books.

*i'm typing in lower case because the shift key on my keyboard is broken.

bleak house*

2010-01-09T17:23:00.000-08:00

several books i've read in the past year referenced bleak house, so i figured it was the universe's way of telling me it was time to tackle it.

for the most part i enjoyed the story. you can definitely tell that dickens was writing this book for serialization because there are chapters that do nothing to move the plot forward and characters who really don't serve any purpose - like the caddy jellyby and everything about her.

i'm in the process of watching the masterpiece theater mini-series of the book, which is excellent, and the producers have done an excellent job of whittling the story without losing any major plot points.

i do have a love-hate relationship with dickens, though. i had to read several of his books in college and grad school, and i was always bothered by how he treated women in the novels. bleak house is no different. without giving anything away, i really don't like what dickens did with esther summerson and lady dedlock at the end.

but it was still worth the read, and i may revisit some others of his, like our mutual friend and a tale of two cities.

*i'm writing in lowercase because my keyboard is fried and my shift key doesn't work.

That Old Cape Magic

2009-12-11T13:45:00.001-08:00

I love Russo's writing, and his Empire Falls is one of my favorite books. But this book didn't wrap me up the way his others have. When I finished reading it, I figured out why. Russo's other books are set in towns that become as much a part of the story as any of the characters. I can see the towns as if I've lived there my entire life. And that's what's missing from this book. It is mostly set on Cape Cod, but not really in any one place. The story revolves around Griffin, his now-dead parents who still argue with him in his head, his estranged wife and their daughter, and their annual trips to Cape Cod. I liked the characters well enough, especially Griffin's caustic mother, but the book just doesn't have the spark that Russo's books usually have.

Although, the rehearsal dinner scene was one of the funniest I've ever read. Russo does have a talent for setting up absurdly funny situations.

Daphne du Maurier

2009-12-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

I hadn't read du Maurier since high school, and twice in two weeks, someone mentioned Rebecca, so I grabbed a copy while I was at the used book store. And oh my gosh I forgot how good a book it is. Not only is the story suspenseful, it is so well written. I loved reading it so much that I went back to the store the next week and grabbed Jamaica Inn, and I loved it too. I couldn't stop reading it.

With both books, I remembered the basic plot lines, but I didn't remember the gasp-worthy shockers that both books have.

I was back at the book store last week, and I looked for more of du Maurier's novels (and show wrote a lot of them), but they didn't have any others in stock. I'm going to have to put in a request at the library.

One interesting fact, the house in Rebecca - Manderley - is based on a real estate in Cornwall called Menabilly, where du Maurier lived on and off. Du Maurier was able to rent Menabilly from the family that had owned it for generations, and she did a tremendous amount of work to restore it to its grandeur. You can find some pictures of it at http://www.dumaurier.org/memories.html.

Catching Up

2009-10-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

I have read so many books in the last month thanks to being terribly ill. I spent so much time in bed that I got lots of reading opportunities. Instead of doing separate entries for each book, I'm going to do a quick rundown.

Otherwise Normal People - It's about the world of competitive rose growers, and it's fascinating. It's sort of Like Susan Orleans' Orchid Thief, but without the crazy guy. My only complaint is that it didn't have pictures of the roses. I ended up going to the Jackson & Perkins website to look up some of the varieties.

Mutiny on the Bounty - I've always had a fascination for tales from the high seas. Perhaps it's because I grew up in a beach town and loved sailing. Or maybe I was a seafarer in a former life. This book is a fictionalized account of the very real mutiny on the Bounty, led by Fletcher Christian against Captain Blye. And while Blye comes across as the bad guy in the book, Christian is no peach either. He sets the captain and 17 crew men adrift in an open boat with barely any food or water in the middle of the South Pacific. Amazingly, Blye and company survive and make it back to England, where they report the mutiny and send the Royal Navy after the mutineers. The Navy never gets it's hands on the mutineers, but they do round up several members of the crew who were left on the Bounty with Christian, who then put them ashore on Tahiti. The story of those crew members' return to England is worth reading all by itself.

Pitcairn Island - This is the third of the Bounty trilogy. It's about what happened to the mutineers after they set Blye adrift and abandoned other crew members on Tahiti. Fletcher Christian and 8 English sailors basically kidnapped 6 Tahitian men and 12 Tahitian women and searched through the South Pacific for an island on which to settle. They eventually found Pitcairn, where they lived for 20 years without being discovered.

Unfortunately, their life was not idyllic. There was rape and murder and alcoholism. the Tahitian men, tired of being treated like slaves and tired of having their women stolen, plotted to kill all the English men. They managed to kill a few before the English figured out what was going on and returned the favor. By the time the bloodshed was over Fletcher Christian was dead, and only four English sailors were left alive, along with several of the women. The alcoholism among the remaining men got so bad that the women built their own encampment and lived there with all the children. By the time an American sailing ship landed at the island, 20 years later, only one man was left, acting as father to all of the children who had been born.

The book fascinated me. As much as a recluse as I tend to be, I can't imagine settling on an island and then deliberately burning the only ship that could get them to the world beyond. But that's what they did, forcing themselves into complete isolation for decades.

Lost Paradise - This book pretty much ended any desire I had to visit Pitcairn Island. It's by a New Zealand journalist and chronicles the sex abuse trials on Pitcairn five years ago. It turns out that for generations, Pitcairn men had been raping girls as young as 9 and 10. Often, these girls were nieces or cousins on the men. There wasn't a family on the island that not involved in some way. The trials were a legal challenge - magistrates and attorneys had to be imported from England and New Zealand and housed on the island, among the accused and victims. Six reporters were allowed to attend, and they also had to live on the island amidst a very hostile population that was convinced the outside world was trying to paint them all in a bad light. Many of the girls and women who initially reported the rapes ended up not pressing charges or refusing to testify. The girls and women who did ended up isolated from their families and the island itself.

The book is a fascinating account about how a closed society can go so badly wrong. I'd love to get my hands on an account of the island's history during the 200 years between its discovery by the outside world and the trial. Even though I no longer have any desire to visit the island, it still fascinates me.

Another reading meme

2009-09-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

It's Book Blogger Appreciation Week, and while I'm not sure what that means exactly, there have been some fun reading-related memes floating around. I found this one on Melanie's Musings.

Do you snack while you read? If so, what snack? I usually read in bed at night, which limits the amount of snacking I do. I don't like crumbs in my sheets, so that rules out cookies, crackers and the like. But I have been known to eat candy in bed while reading. Right now, I have a bag of candy corns in my bedside table.

Hard copy or audiobooks? When I first got my iPod, I experimented with listening to audiobooks while running, but I gave it up. I'd lose track of what was going on in the story between runs, and I'd have to rewind in the hopes of catching myself back up. Hard copy books aren't as portable, but it's easier to keep track of what's going on.

Book habits

2009-09-08T16:44:00.000-07:00

I swiped this meme from Melanie's Musings. It's right up my alley.

Hardback, trade paperback or mass market paperback? I prefer hardback, but they usually aren't in my budget so I end up paperback.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Until 6 months ago we had a Bookstop, which was owned by Barnes and Noble, within minutes of our house, but it closed. So now I go to Bookpeople, a locally owned store, or Half-Price Books.

Bookmark or dog-ear? Dog-ear. I always lose bookmarks.

Amazon or brick-and-mortar? When I have specific books in mind, I go with Amazon. But if I'm in the mood to wander and find something new, I'll go to an actual store.

Alphabetize by author, or alphabetize by title, or random? I have a system, although my husband would argue that point. I group books by author, and then certain authors belong together. Like no way David Sedaris and Edith Wharton belong together, but David and Sarah Vowell completely do.

Keep, throw away, or sell? I keep them unless I really hate the book, then I give it to my kids' school for the annual used-book sale.

Keep dust jacket or toss it? Keep. I take them off while I read, but then they get put back on.

Short story or novel? Novels

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Harry Potter. I tried Lemony Snicket and couldn't get through the first book.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I read until I can't keep my eyes open.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? Either

Buy or borrow? Both. I like owning my books, but I've also discovered some great books through borrowing from friends.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendations, or browse? All of the above.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? Tidy

Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading? I have four kids, so the only time I get to read is after they're in bed.

Stand-alone or series? Depends on the series.

Favorite series? Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie, Harry Potter, Horatio Hornblower

Favorite children’s book? Where the Wild Things Are

Favorite YA book? Anne of Green Gables, Phantom Tollbooth

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? I have no idea

Favorite books read last year? I read too many to pick.

Favorite books of all time? They have changed through the years, but I think Age of Innocence would have to rank way up there.

What are you reading right now? Otherwise Normal People - it's about competitive rose exhibiting.

What are you reading next? I'm hoping to get my hands on Lost Paradise, about the recent sex-abuse trials on Pitcairn Island.

Favorite book to recommend to an 11-year-old? Phantom Tollbooth

Favorite book to re-read? I read Age of Innocence and A Room with a View at least once a year.

Do you ever smell books? Yes. I think I could probably identify some of my favorite books by their smell.

Do you ever read primary source documents like letters or diaries? Yes. I love reading histories and biographies, the best of which include primary sources.

My life in France

2009-08-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

I should admit, right off the bat, that I am not a food person. Anthony Bourdain would HATE me. So much of Julia Child's memoir of her life in Paris and the beginning of her cooking career was lost on me. Her descriptions of the fabulous meals she ate and cooked meant nothing, because I cannot imagine a circumstance in which I would ever agree to eat a snail. Or pate. Or or or. The list is endless.

Despite my food issues, I found this book completely charming. Child's enthusiasm for life and cooking and her husband shine through on every page. Even though the cooking didn't interest me, I was swept along in her story and her life.

The parts of the book about actually getting her cookbooks written and published were amazing. She and her partner worked for close to 20 years on the two books, coming up with recipes, converting them for American audiences, testing and retesting everything. The amount of work that went into the books was astronomical.

She also discusses her start in television, and she seemed to just fall into it. She filmed a few shows for her local PBS station, and everything grew from there.

I haven't seen the movie Julie and Julia yet, and I'll probably wait until it comes out on Netflix, but I can't wait to see Meryl Streep channel this amazing woman.

Bridge of Sighs

2009-08-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

I had forgotten how much I love Richard Russo's writing. I picked up this book while I was at my parents' house in July, and I couldn't put it down, so I "borrowed" it. (Hi mom!)

Russo has a knack for creating these complete little worlds populated with real people - so real that I could probably draw a map of his towns.

His characters aren't particularly happy or successful people, but I end up truly liking them and wanting to find out what happens next. As with Empire Falls, I didn't want this book to end because I wanted to stay with the people and see what happened next.

Mom just read his newest book and said it wasn't as good. I guess I'll wait for it to come through at the library, or just steal it the next time I'm at her house.

Street Gang

2009-08-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

I heard an interview with the author on NPR, and the book sounded fascinating. I've always been a huge fan of "Sesame Street," so a book about the history of the show seemed right up my alley.

Unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment. The book covers so much ground leading up to the formation of Sesame Street - bios of the people involved, a history of children's television, a long section on Captain Kangaroo - that by the time we get around to the actual show, it feels almost like an afterthought. Thirty years of Sesame Street go by in a flash.

But the section about the actual show did confirm what I have long suspected - that the show is now driven by market research and polling. I watch it with my kids, and the new shows seem to have lost much of their anarchic whimsy that I loved as a kid. Plus, Elmo has completely taken over the place.

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

2009-07-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

I grabbed this while I was at my parents' house. It's about a modern-day woman who lives in Los Angeles waking up one morning to find herself in Regency England living a life straight out of a Jane Austen book. At first, she thinks it's a dream because she fell asleep the night before while reading Sense and Sensibility, but as the days go on and she doesn't wake up from the dream and starts having memories that belong to this other woman, she starts to question more and more what is going on. And the book never really makes it clear what has happened - whether it's a dream or she has magically switched lives or what, and that's fine.

The interesting part of the book, which is at best a fluffy airplane read, was the culture clash of putting a 21st Century woman into Regency England and having her cope with chamber pots and limited bathing and need chaperones to go on walks and sleeping in disgusting road-side inns. Oh and having to be bled to "cure" her of her perceived illnesses.

Through all of this is a love story, that's supposed to be along the lines of Darcy and Eliza, but it isn't. It's formulaic, but it's still fun.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

2009-07-29T08:21:00.000-07:00

I'd heard a lot of chatter about the book, and my sister had read it, so when I saw it at the bookstore, I couldn't help but grab it.

And it was just OK. I wasn't expecting great literature, but somehow I thought it would have a little more to it. Once you get past the gimmick of mixing zombies into the world of Jane Austen, the book doesn't really work that well. The author uses a lot of the original text, but then he changes bit and pieces here and there for no real reason other than he can. It's like watching a movie of your favorite book and having the actors say the wrong lines - it's jarring.

Plus, the author assumes that everyone reading already knows how P&P ends, so he puts in little hints about Eliza and Darcy and has them say things that are completely out of character, zombie killers or otherwise.

It's a good airplane book, but that's about it.

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

2009-07-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

I saw this book on display while at the bookstore with a friend a few weeks ago, and I snatched it up. I LOVED this book when I was about Ella's age, and I bought it hoping she would, too. But before I handed it over to her, I re-read it.

I still love the book, although the mystery of the statue plays a much smaller role in the story than I had remembered.

When I was nine, the idea of running away from home and living in a museum really appealed to me, and it still does. I'd love to spend a night or six living someplace so grand and filled with treasures, whether it's a museum or Hearst Castle.

I've given the book to Ella, but she hasn't started it yet. My sister bought her Holes, and she's been busy reading that. Perhaps I'll start reading this book to Lily in the meantime.

Outliers

2009-06-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

I still think Malcolm Gladwell is a genius, even though I didn't like this book as much as I have his others.

The whole premise of the book is that smarts and talent alone aren't enough to guarantee success - a measure of good luck and being born at the right time in the right place comes into it.

Gladwell profiles a number of highly successful people and looks at what how they got where they are. For most, including Bill Gates, it was something like having access to a computer lab at a time when such a thing was a luxury. If Bill Gates hadn't gone to a private school that installed a computer lab and hadn't been able to work at the lab at the University of Washington, Microsoft might never have come into being.

To prove his point, Gladwell also profiles a man who has one of the highest IQ scores ever recorded, and shows how the hasn't "succeeded" in life because he didn't have the same types of opportunities that others have had.

I found the book strangely depressing, and I can't quite put my finger on why.

The Know-it-All

2009-06-09T13:08:00.001-07:00

I read A.J. Jacob's book The Year of Living Biblically, and I loved it. So I finally remembered to put in a request for this book at the library. And, again, I loved the book.

The book chronicles Jacobs' task of reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from cover to cover, a feat his father attempted and failed at. Jacobs, however, makes it. In the book, Jacobs does a good job of including fun facts he's learned and incorporating them into his life. He also writes about his trip to the EB publishers and his not-so-good attempt at editing an entry.

I love trivia and details and facts. My brain absorbs them without my even trying or realizing that I'm doing it. So there were many times while reading the book that I thought, "I want to do this!" But then I'd read about the sacrifices Jacobs made to complete this task, which took more than a year, and how gruelling reading could be, and I'd change my mind.

Maybe it would be better if I skim the EB instead.

Killing Dragons

2009-04-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

I was wandering through Half-Price Books in a haze one afternoon when I came across this book, by Fergus Fleming. It's an account of the earliest days of mountain climbing, which started in the Alps.

Prior to the invasion by British adventurers, in the late 1800s, the Alps were pretty much ignored by those who lived in their shadows. People who lived near them actually believed that the mountain caves were inhabited by dragons and other mythic creatures.

When the climbers first started ascending the mountains, they had no specialized climbing gear, no ropes, no fancy shoes, but they did carry barometers and thermometers to take readings at the top of the mountains. Mountaineering wasn't seen as a legitimate pursuit unless it was for scientific purposes. The mountaineers also traveled with large groups of porters who carried their tents and hammocks and wine.

Through the years, climbing became more of a sport, and teams of climbers competed, sometimes in cut-throat ways, to see who could bag the most peaks.

I'm an armchair mountain climber, and I was fascinated by the book. I'd love to go to the Alps, not to climb them, but to at least look at them.

Reading update

2008-12-28T09:55:00.000-08:00

You wouldn't know it from this blog, but I've been reading a ton of books lately. I just haven't found time to write posts for each book. So here's a quick re-cap.

Boomsday, Christopher Buckley - I decided to give his fiction a try after hearing him talk about endorsing Obama. I also really liked the movie "Thank You For Smoking." I tried to find that book at the library, but it was checked out, so I settled for this one. I'm generally not the biggest fan of modern fiction, but I loved this book. The plot was kind of silly, and like Hiaason, whom he quotes, he has too many characters, but the story zipped right along. Best of all, Buckley can write! I usually read books and grimace at errors or awkward sentence structure, but not this time. It was a pleasure to read such good writing.

Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean - I like Orlean's articles in The New Yorker, and I really liked this book, upon which the movie "Adaptation" is based. I was particularly interested in the history of orchid collecting. Victorian orchid hunters wiped out entire species of orchids by collecting every specimen they could find to take back to England with them. I only wish the book had pictures of the orchids Orleans describes.

Kingdom by the Sea, Paul Theroux - This is the third travel book of Theroux's that I've read, and it's the first that has made me want to take a similar trip. The book is an account of Theroux's trip, clockwise, around the coast of England, Wales, Norther Ireland, and Scotland. He walks much of the trip, travelling on paths that connect seaside villages. When there aren't paths, he takes buses or branch-line trains. The trip sounds just lovely, especially in Scotland. My goal is to someday visit England and walk some of the paths.

When You Lunch with the Emperor, Ludwig Bemelmans - Yes, that Ludwig Bemelmans of the Madeline books. It's a somewhat fictitious account of his life, from his childhood in a small German town to his life working at the Hotel Splendide (really the Ritz-Carlton) in New York to his travels, often with his young daughter in tow. The books is one of the most charming I've read in a long time, and Bemelmans' little illustrations only add to the charm.

The Migraine Brain, Carolyn Bernstein, M.D. - My mom sent it to me, and I started reading it with a grain of salt. I was diagnosed with migraines 13 years ago and have done lots of reading and research about triggers and treatments, so I figured there wasn't much more I could learn. But once I got past all the self affirmation-style writing - "Migraines are real!" "Migraines aren't your fault." "You can improve your life." - I did learn a fair amount. I think I took away some tips that will help me - like staying hydrated and getting enough sleep and other food triggers to watch out for. The book also gave me some questions that I can ask my doctor on my next visit. I highly recommend the book for anyone who gets migraines. I'll be sending it along to my sister next.

To Have and to Kill, John Glatt - I'm a sucker for true-life crime stories like those on 20/20 and by Skip Hollandsworth in Texas Monthly. I picked this book up when trolling the aisles of the drug store waiting for a prescription for B after one of his neck surgeries. The book is about the murder of William McGuire, whose body was found floating in Chesapeake Bay in three waterlogged suitcases. The writing is terrible, and the storyline is sometimes confusing, but I couldn't put the book down. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I read the thing.

Free-Range Knitter, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee - Mom sent me the book after she had finished it, and it's a charming little thing. Definitely only for knitters.

Wow - seven books. That's more than I thought I had read. Right now I'm reading a book about the first climber to explore the Alps and a book about Marco Polo. Plus there's this week's New Yorker, which looks like one I'll read cover-to-cover.

The Duchess

2008-12-28T09:29:00.000-08:00

This is the book that the Keira Knightly movie is based on, and I picked it up expecting it to be a dishy historical novel. Instead, it's a serious biography about Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. The Duchess, as it turns out, was far more than the tabloid scandal parts of her life - the gambling debts, the affairs, the illegitimate child, the best friend who was also her husband's mistress.

She was the leader of both the fashionable and political world in London for decades. She was involved in politics at a time when women weren't supposed to be involved in such things, and she drew lots of scorn and derision for her campaigning on behalf of candidates for Parliament.

I was surprised by both the book and the woman.

Telegraph Days

2008-12-26T18:14:00.000-08:00

I'm not a fan of the Western genre, and the only other Larry McMurtry book I've read is Lonesome Dove, but I couldn't put this book down. It's been in my bookshelf for years, a hand-me-down from my mother, but I'd never gotten the urge to read it. Then late one night last month, while I was up with the baby, I grabbed it, desperate for something to read.

The story is told by a young woman living in the Texas/Arkansas/Oklahoma area of the wild west. She comes into contact with Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid, and the Earp brothers, among others during her lifetime.

It's a quick, entertaining read.

Franklin and Lucy

2008-12-26T08:17:00.000-08:00

This was the book I wanted to read when I checked FDR and Lucy out of the library, and it's a far better biography. It's exactly the type of biography I prefer to read - one about the people themselves. Countless volumes have been written on FDR's political life and presidency, but those aren't the parts of FDR's life I'm interested in. I'd rather learn about the person, not the politician, and the book definitely delivers.

The book thoroughly explores FDR and his relationships with women, from his mother to his wife Eleanor to his several mistresses. Specifically it looks at his long-term relationship with Lucy Rutherfurd, whom he met when she worked as a social secretary for Eleanor.

When Eleanor discovered evidence of FDR's relationship with Rutherfurd, she offered him a divorce, but Sara Delano, FDR's mother, threatened to cut off her financial support, which was significant, if FDR left his wife. Eleanor made FDR promise to not see or contact Rutherfurd again, but he didn't honor his word. Lucy visited FDR at the White House when Eleanor was away, and she was his frequent guest at Warm Springs. She was even there the day FDR died. Her presence was kept from the press and from Eleanor, but she eventually found out that Lucy and FDR had been seeing each other, often with the help of Anna Roosevelt, FDR and Eleanor's daughter.

The book is a fascinating look at the private side of FDR, one that most people never knew existed.

The Wordy Shipmates

2008-11-23T07:51:00.000-08:00

I love Sarah Vowell, I'll admit that at the outset. Her book Assassination Vacation is one of my favorites. I just re-read it last month for the heck of it. So when I heard about her new book on the Puritans and the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, I was thrilled.

And then I read the book and was a bit disappointed. There's something missing - it's pretty heavy and a bit dreary. There aren't any of her roadtrips, like in AV, and her attempts to tie the Puritan Era to our modern era are a bit of a stretch. I can't quite put my finger on what I think it needs - maybe a bit more levity.

So while I still love Sarah Vowell, I don't think I'll be reading this one again.

FDR and Lucy

2008-11-21T07:10:00.001-08:00

When my mother was here after Elizabeth was born, she was reading a book called Franklin and Lucy, which was about FDR and his longtime mistress Lucy Rutherford. She said it also talked abut the other women in his life, including his wife. It looked interesting, so I tried to check it out at the library. I ended up having to reserve it - I just got an e-mail telling me it's ready for me.

In the meantime, I checked out FDR and Lucy, which is also about FDR and Lucy Rutherford. FDR met Lucy when she came to work for Eleanor Roosevelt as her social secretary. When Eleanor started to suspect that Lucy and FDR were having an affair, she let her go, but FDR promptly hired her on at the Navy Department, where he was assistant secretary at the time.

Eleanor offered to give FDR a divorce so that he could be with Lucy, but Sarah Delano, FDR's formidable mother, threatened to cut off her financial support. Instead of a divorce, FDR had to promise never to have contact with Lucy again.

Turns out he didn't keep that promise, and his daughter and secretaries enabled his meetings with Lucy through the years. Lucy was even with FDR when he died; she was whisked away before Eleanor arrived and her presence was kept out of the press for decades.

I'm still going to read Frankling and Lucy. From what my mother said, it goes into more detail about more people in FDR's life, including Eleanor.

The Insanity File

2008-11-21T07:02:00.000-08:00

I've become fascinated by Mary Todd Lincoln ever since reading this book. The last time I went to the library, I looked for a biography of her that looked good, but there were slim pickings. I did find The Insanity Files though, which was fascinating. Much of the book comes from Robert Todd Lincoln's personal files, which were found in his home long after his death by his grandson, Robert Lincoln Beckwith.

The files detail Mary Todd's deteriorating emotional state, including her conviction that her son was on death's doorstep even though he was just fine and her hallucinations of Chicago being on fire. It also gives detail on her spending sprees - buying trunkloads of curtains for houses she didn't own, boxes and boxes of gloves that were never worn. Today, she would probably be diagnosed as having bi-polar disorder.

Over the years, Robert Todd was blamed for his mother's institutionalization, unfairly. This book goes a long way toward proving that Mary Todd was ill and needed help.

Insanity Files does a good job of detailing the mental health system of the late 1900s - which was basically non-existent. People deemed insane were confined to state hospitals, which were nothing more than holding pens. The lucky, and the wealthy, could opt for private institutions, which is where Mary Todd ended up, but they were basically nice holding pens.

Mary Todd's story is such a heartbreaking one - losing three sons and a husband. I still want to find a good biography of her.

The Phantom Tollbooth

2008-11-04T07:14:00.000-08:00

I have learned that the surest way to get my oldest daughter not to read is to recommend a book. So I've left a pile of my favorite childhood books on one shelf of the big bookshelf in my room, and I've let Ella discover them on her own. I was thrilled when she came out last week with The Phantom Tollbooth, which was one of my favorite books as a child. Ella loved the book, and last night she came out with a letter she wants to send to Norton Juster. Here it is, sic all:

Dear Norton Juster,
I really liked The Phantom Tollbooth. My friend M and I both have read the book. I really think that you are a good auther. M and I have wanted to ask you to write another book of Phantom Tollbooth. Some of my favrite chapters were 3, 9, 17, 18, 2, 19, 14 and 15. On the map you can follow along ware you are. M and I want to be Rhyme and Reason for Holween next year. I thoght that in point of view was funny how people grow down. I never really thoght about ware numbers, word, and colors come from until now. I wonder how did you get the idea for Phanton Tollboth?

From,
Ella

I was very concerned last night that perhaps Mr. Juster was no longer alive and that I'd have to break the news to Ella, who would be crushed. Fortunately, according to his publisher, he's still alive, and he published a book in 2005. I'll look it up when I'm at the library today. I still need to find an address to send the letter to.

I think I'm going to leave my Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie books where Ella can find them next.

Very little reading going on here

2008-10-27T05:43:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to keep up with my reading, but it's been hard. For those of you who don't follow my other blog, here's why I'm not reading much.

Her name is Elizabeth Anne, and she was born on October 5, five weeks early. She spent a week in NICU, but she's home now and doing very well. I, however, am exhausted. By the time I make it to bed each night, I only manage to read a page or two before falling asleep. Some day I'll finish the books stacked up next to the bed, but for now, I need the sleep more than I need to read.

The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage

2008-10-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't read much about Lincoln, and I've read even less about Mary Todd Lincoln, his wife. I knew that she was unstable and had been accused of being a traitor and of spending way too much money, particularly given that the country was at war. But that was about it.

This biography is about the Lincolns' marriage - not about the presidency or politics - and it was very interesting, if a little flowery at times. Daniel Mark Epstein likes to imagine the Lincolns walking in the moonlight together, and I think he put a little too much thought into just when each of the Lincoln children was conceived.

But I learned so much, like that their marriage really was a love match. They married despite her family's objection to Lincoln; she came from a wealthy and prominent Kentucky family, and he really was a backwoods attorney trying to make it in the big city of Springfield. What amazed me most was that Mary Todd Lincoln knew from the get go that Lincoln was destined to be president, and she was willing to put up with a lot to get him there.

Of course, Lincoln had to put up with a lot himself, including Mary Todd's instability and abuse. There are accounts of her hitting him in the face with a log of firewood because Lincoln wasn't paying enough attention to her.

Mary Todd got worse during Lincoln's presidency. The pressure of living in the fishbowl of the White House, with reporters following her on errands took a toll, as did the death of her son Willie, who died of typhus. She had already lost one son to illness, and losing a second really pushed her over the edge. She also suffered a pretty severe head wound in a carriage accident, and her son Robert Todd Lincoln claimed that she never really recovered from the injury, mentally or physically.

Mary Todd really did spend too much money, money that she was afraid to tell her husband about. She ended up causing problems by promising favors to people in exchange for wiping out debts or extending further credit. Of course, Lincoln didn't help matters much by being completely uninterested in money. One of his secretaries recounted how Lincoln would have six or seven of his presidential paychecks stashed in desk drawers and in his pockets.

The final chapter of the book is hard to read. Things seemed to be turning the corner for the Lincolns - the war was ending, the country was celebrating, Lincoln was popular among the Union loyalists. Lincoln's last night was supposed to be a celebration.

Epstein ends the book with Lincoln's assassination, adding only a note that he won't address the rest of Mary Todd's life because the book is about their marriage. He does say that the rest of her life was tragic - another son, Tad, died, and Robert Todd ended up becoming estranged from her because of her behavior. As sad as it may have been, I think I'm going to go in search of a good biography of Mary Todd. She fascinates me.

The Year of Living Biblically

2008-09-21T14:42:00.001-07:00

I had heard an interview with A.J. Jacobs about his book on NPR and had put it on my list of things to read. I've recently discovered that I can order books from the library and have them held for me. I realize I'm probably the last library user on the planet to discover this service, but I'm now taking full advantage of it.

I picked the book up Friday morning and finished it last night; I simply couldn't put it down. Iwas fascinated by his quest to live for a year according to the rules in the Bible, both old and new testaments. Actually, did you know that Jews call the "old" testament the "Hebrew Bible" because they don't recognize the new testament. I didn't.

I'm not a religious person, nor did I grow up in a religious household (don't ever get my dad started on organized religion unless you want a half-hour discourse on what's wrong with it), so I actually learned a lot about both Judaism and Christianity from the book.

What seemed to start out as an excuse to write a book turned into a true spiratual quest for Jacobs, who calls himself an atheist. He ends up taking the commandments from the bible very seriously, and living by them affects every aspect of his life. He attends prayer groups and religious conferences. He spends the weekend on an Amish farm and travels to Israel, where he meets one of the few remaining Samaritans. He visits the Creationism Museum and Jerry Falwell's mega-church.

In the end, he remains an atheist, but he refers to himself as a "reverent atheist," which is a term I like. He doesn't believe in a god who intervenes in elections and football games, but he does see the wonder and grace and miracles that exist around us. It's an apt description of how I view the world and religion.

Next, I'm going to order Jacobs's book "Know it All," which chronicles his year of reading the encyclopedia.

Dark Star Safari

2008-09-18T18:08:00.000-07:00

I tried reading Paul Theroux's Elephanta Suite, which is a collection of novellas set in India, and I just couldn't get through it. I read the first story and half of the second before giving up. The characters were all unpleasant people doing unpleasant things in pretty unpleasant places. Bleah.

So on the advice of my former boss and frequent book swapping partner, I decided to try one of Theroux's travel books. Dark Star Safari is an account of Theroux's trip from Cairo to Cape Town, the entire length of Africa. He travels by train, bus, taxi, private car, boat - basically every mode of transport except an airplane.

His descriptions of the countries and the people he meets are fascinating, if a bit depressing. The cities in certain countries seem to be deteriorating rapidly. And according to many of the people Theroux meets, foreign aid money isn't helping things. Many African countries have become so dependent on handouts that they have lost any incentive to build their own industries. Or else the corrupt government officials take all the money, leaving the citizens in misery.

I did get rather tired of Theroux's holier-than-thou attitude about his trip compared to the safaris and trips tourists take. He mentions over and over again how rich people coming in for safari don't get the real feel of Africa - well after reading his descriptions of the real Africa, I'm not sure I'd want to get a real feel for it.

While I'm not sure I'll read any of his fiction again, I'll look for another of Theroux's travel books the next time I'm at the library. Odds are I won't be visiting any of the places he does, so I can at least read about them.

The Call of the Weird

2008-09-07T16:46:00.001-07:00

My husband and I stumbled on Louis Theroux's (son of author Paul Theroux) Bravo documentary series "Weird Weekends" a decade ago and loved it. The premise of the show was that Theroux spent time getting to know people who live on the fringe of normalcy in some form or another - Survivalists, White Supremacists, porn-industry actors, Ike Turner, a pimp, members of the Heaven's Gate cult, etc. The show was addictive but short lived.

In The Call of the Weird Theroux goes back to revisit some of his documentary subjects to see what's going on with their lives. He finds some interesting things. The porn actor he profiled has left the industry and moved away from Los Angles, but isn't really happy with his life. The surviving members of Heaven's Gate still speak fondly of their leader and their days in the cult. The pimp is still a pimp even though he's married with a child. The Survivalists' camp in Idaho has mostly broken apart. Apparently the non event of Y2K put a dent in their apocalyptic theories.

For anyone who saw any of Theroux's shows, I highly recommend the book. Heck, I recommend it even if you didn't see the shows. He gives enough of a background on each subject that having seen the show isn't a necessity. This is Theroux's first book, and I hope it's not his last. His father has an impressive list of books to his credit, and I hope Louis follows in his footsteps.

Edith Wharton overload

2008-08-22T14:00:00.001-07:00

I'm still working my way through Hermione Lee's comprehensive biography of Edith Wharton, and it's taking me forever. Lee assumes that if you're reading the biography, you've read all of Wharton's works, which I haven't, at least not since college and grad school. So I'm re-reading some of her novels. I refuse to re-read House of Mirth because the ending annoys me. Lily Bart just needed to get over herself instead of winding up in the position she does.

I did re-read Custom of the Country, which is my favorite of Wharton's novels, aside from Age of Innocence. Undine Spragg is such a great character, going after exactly what she wants, consequences be damned.

My beach reading books were The Reef and Sanctuary, and I didn't really love either of them. I remember reading both ages ago but didn't remember much about them. Now I know why. The characters are overly introspective and annoying.

When Ella and I went to the library to provision for the beach trip, I also picked up a collection of Wharton's novellas, which is next on my list. I think after I read that, though, I'll be taking a long break from anything Wharton related.

Things I Learned from Knitting (Whether I Wanted to or Not)

2008-07-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

I picked up Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's new book with some birthday money. It's such a slight little thing that I'm not even sure I should count it as a real book for my reading tally. It's a little collection of essays on the lessons McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot, has learned from her years of knitting. Since I'm still relatively new to this whole knitting gig - less than a year of sock making - I still haven't learned many of the ones she lists.

But like the Yarn Harlot, I have learned that knitting teaches you patience. Knitting is the only thing in my life right now that makes me sit still and be calm. I've knitted myself out of looming panic attacks and survived interminable waits at airports thanks to knitting. I'm glad I got started on it again, and at this point, I don't see myself giving it up any time soon.

Beautiful Cigar Girl

2008-07-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

The full title is The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder. My former boss from the Attorney General's office loaned me this book, and I was just thrilled. Her niece is the curator of the Poe Museum in Richmond, VA and had sent the book to her. I figured that any book recommended by the head of the Poe museum would be a good one.

The book covers the sensational murder of Mary Rogers, a girl who had worked at a cigar emporium in New York City. She was famous throughout the city for her beauty and modesty, and many credit the cigar store's success with her presence. Men would go to the store just to catch a glimpse of her.

A year or so after quitting her job at the store to help her mother run their boarding house, Rogers was found dead, floating in the Hudson River, her corpse showing signs of horrible trauma. The case was a media sensation, with the papers competing to scoop each other with new details.

The book also covers Poe's life, which was just such a tragic one. I had never read any biographies of Poe, and I didn't know much other than he was found in a gutter in Baltimore, incoherent and close to death.

Poe had such great potential, and came so close so many times to achieving success, but he really was his own worst enemy. It turns out he had a great talent for publishing and successfully ran several magazines in Baltimore, New York and Richmond. But he always ended up fighting with the owners and either getting fired or leaving under bad terms.

He published all of his poems and stories during his lifetime, but he never managed to make any money of them. He earned a whopping $9 for "The Raven," which was greeted with huge critical acclaim.

Poe ended up using the murder of Mary Rogers as the framework for a short story that was to be a follow-up to his successful "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," featuring the same sleuth, C. Auguste Dupin. In the first installment of the story, Poe promised that Dupin would solve the murder using nothing but "rationization" and the accounts published in the papers.

Ultimately, the murder was never solved and the case slowly faded from the press, and Poe ended up tweaking his fictional account of the murder when he re-published it in a collection of his work. He died shortly afterwards.

I loved this book and am going to have a hard time giving it back to ETB. I may also search out other biographies of Poe and pick up a collection of his works. I love when books I read make me want to read other books on the same topic.

Loving Frank

2008-07-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

This is the first piece of fiction I've read in months, and I read it at my mother's suggestion. It's a novelization of the relationship between Frank Lloyd Wright and his long-time mistress Mamah Borthwick Cheney.

Borthwick and Wright met when he designed a new house for her and her husband, the upright and staid Edwin Cheney. Wright and Borthwick's affair started during the planning for the garage addition to the house and continued for years afterwards.

I had a very hard time working up any sympathy for Borthwick. While I know women in 1910 had few options in terms of career and life choices, and I know she was desperate to be more than just a housewife and mother in Oak Park, Illinois, I can't justify her choice to abandon her children. She tiptoed out before dawn one morning, leaving her children sleeping at the home of a long-time friend, so that she could join Wright on a trip to Europe. She ended up staying in Europe for more than two years, not seeing her children once during that time.

According to the book, their affair caused quite the scandal for years - both when it was discovered and when they moved in together at Taliesin, the home Wright built in Wisconsin. Wright lost contracts and clients because of their relationship. The families on both sides, his and hers, were devastated by the furore.

Basically, you get the impression from this book that Wright was not the nicest of men. He refused to pay workers, telling them they should be honored to contribute to his genius. He wanted students to skip formal training and instead work in his studio, for no pay, just for the opportunity to study at his feet. Borthwick gave up her family to be with him and to pursue a career as a translator for a European women's rights writer. They were both just so selfish, and I had a hard time with that.

I ruined the ending for myself accidentally. I went to the Taliesin Web site to see what the house looked like and then went to Wikipedia hoping for more pictures. Unfortunately, the Wikipedia entry gave away a very surprising ending. If you don't already know what happened and intend to read the book, DON'T do any research.

Even though I knew what was going to happen, the ending left me gasping and devastated. And that's all I'll say.

The Suspicions of Mr. Wicher

2008-07-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

I heard a review of this book on NPR's "All Things Considered" and immediately added it to my reading list.

It's about the murder of a young boy inside his locked him. From the outset, it's pretty obvious who committed the murder, and I won't give it away here. The interesting parts of the book are the details of the investigation and the look inside Victorian-era middle class life in England.

Detective work as we know it today was in its infancy at the time. Scotland Yard had just been formed, with just a few detectives on the staff. There were few scientific methods of detection available, and the detectives and investigators relied mostly on their instincts and hunches.

When assigned to this case, Mr. Wicher was something of the shining star of the detective force. He'd been profiled by Charles Dickens and used as a model for several characters in the burgeoning detective fiction genre.

Unfortunately, his conclusions about this case, while absolutely correct, weren't believed by the public, which followed the case closely, and some of his superiors. He ended up resigning shortly after the first trial. He was later redeemed by the murder's confession, but I'm sure that was small consolation to him.

The book wasn't quite engaging as I had hoped, mostly because there really isn't much mystery about who committed the murder, but I still enjoyed reading it for the historical aspects.

The Monster of Florence

2008-07-14T14:45:00.001-07:00

I'm a sucker for true-crime books and shows. If any of my neighbors ever go missing under mysterious circumstances, I'll be right there to help the cops.

I picked up this book last week because I couldn't find the book I really wanted. The trip to the bookstore was unplanned, so I didn't have my usual reading wish list with me. I also wanted to pick up Edith Wharton's Custom of the Country, but the store didn't have it in stock.

I am so glad I grabbed The Monster of Florence. I stayed up way too late two nights in a row because I couldn't stop reading.

The first half of the book deals with a series of gruesome murders in the hills around Florence. The killer stalked and killed couples "parking" in the hills, shooting the man and mutilating the woman in each case. To this day, the murders have not officially been solved.

The second half deals with the botched investigations and trials and the eventual involvement of the authors in the cases. They were both investigated as part of a grand plot initiated by a secret sect of devil worshippers. One of the authors, Mario Spezi, ended up in prison for a time because the judge in the case was convinced he was actually the murderer.

While the murders have never officially been solved, the authors leave little doubt as to who they think is responsible, and given the evidence they present, I'd have to agree.

When You are Engulfed in Flames

2008-07-03T05:57:00.000-07:00

I *heart* David Sedaris. Every time he comes to Austin to give a reading, I go hear him. I was fortunate enough to get to meet him one of those times. I love his style of writing and his wry sense of humor. I love the way, in interviews, he doesn't seem to realize how funny he is.

So I had been eagerly awaiting this new book. But I was a tiny bit disappointed. Me Talk Pretty One Day is still my favorite of all his collections of essays. I do like this book better than his last, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.

I guess most of my disappointment stems from the fact that I've read or heard him read pretty much every essay in the book. Most of the pieces had already been published in "The New Yorker," to which I subscribe.

The tone of this book is more gentle than that of previous collections. Many of the essays are about his relationship with his boyfriend Hugh, and they are really very sweet. After reading them, you can see why Sedaris has been with Hugh for almost 20 years. Although, I am still baffled about why Hugh is with Sedaris, unless Sedaris doesn't give himself the credit he deserves for his side of the relationship. When I said that to one friend, she suggested that maybe Hugh stayed because of the money. But you find out in these essays that they've been together since before Sedaris was rich and famous. They met back when Sedaris was still working as a housekeeper, back when he was heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol.

My favorite section of the book, though, is the piece with Sedaris's journal entries from the three months he and Hugh spent living in Japan. I laughed out loud at many of the entries.

Now that this book is published, I'll just have to wait for my next favorite author, Sarah Vowell, to publish her book this fall.

Einstein

2008-07-02T15:38:00.000-07:00

This biography, by Walter Isaacson, who wrote an excellent bio of Benjamin Franklin, was fascinating. I thought I knew a lot about Einstein, when in fact I didn't.

The things I didn't know surprised me.

Einstein had a very productive few years in his early career when he came up with the theory of relativity and the e=mc2 formula, but he still couldn't get a job as a professor.
Because of politics on the committee, he didn't win the Nobel for relativity or e=mc2, but rather for one of his other lesser-known theories.
He was treated like a rock star when he visited the states, with lectures attended by standing-room only audiences. On one trip to the states, he had to disembark his ship onto a tugboat in the harbor to evade the crowds waiting on the docks.
Even though Einstein developed the e=mc2 formula that led to nuclear fission and the atomic bomb, and even though he was one of the scientists who warned Roosevelt that the Germans might be developing nuclear weapons, Einstein was never involved in the Manhattan Project. He never even received security clearance even though many of his fellow physicists worked on the bomb project.
The FBI collected a dossier on Einstein that eventually contained thousands of pages of documents, all in an effort to prove he was a communist. However, they never could pin anything on him.

The earlier parts of the book, which are filled with explanations of Einstein's theories were tough going at times. There's a reason I struggled with physicis in high school - I just don't get it. But once I slogged through those sections, the book was really entertaining. Einstein was a fascinating man.

Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters who Ruled Europe

2008-07-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

My former boss from the Attorney General's office and I get together several times a year and have a grand book swap. We have similar tastes in books, so I always look forward to what she brings me.

She brought this book, which is about four sisters from Provence, France who all became queens during the 13th Century. One was queen of France, one of England, one of Sicily (mostly a purchased title by her husband), and one of Germany (also a purchased title).

This was without a doubt the most engaging and readable history book I've come across in a long time. The amount of contemporary documentation available to Nancy Goldstone, the author, is incredible, so she is able to provide very complete pictures of the lives of these women.

One of the things that amazed me about the stories of these women is how long kings and queens would leave their countries for. The king and queen of France go on a crusade to the Holy Land, which goes horribly awry, and are away for several years, leaving the country in the hands of the queen mother while they are gone. Could you imagine such a system now?

I also didn't know that there were royal titles essentially up for sale. One of the sisters became queen of Sicily, very briefly before dying, because her husband offered the pope a lot of money and fronted his own army to overthrow the ruler who was already there.

I'd say that example is so different from how things work today, but given our current political system, I'm not so sure that's accurate.

The Buccaneers

2008-06-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

I'm working my way through a biography of Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee, and it's very slow going. Part of the problem is that Lee assumes the reader has actually read ALL of Wharton's books - from her tracts on architecture and gardening to all of her novels and short stories. I've read pretty much all of her major novels and most of her short stories, but I've never read her non-fiction bits.

The one novel that I hadn't read is the one that Wharton didn't actually finish - The Buccaneers. She died before she finished the book, leaving a summary of what she planned to have happen to the characters. A modern author completed the book for publication in the early '90s.

It's immediately apparent when you get to the part where Wharton leaves off and the new author takes over. The voice and pacing and characters change perceptibly.

The story centers around a group of American young women who come from money that is too "new" for New York society, so one family's governess suggests that they all try a season in London. The girls take London by storm and end up marrying various members of the aristocracy and government, not all of them happily. The title of the book comes from one of the British husband, who compares his wife and her American friends to buccaneers taking over London and getting what they want.

Despite the things I didn't like about the book - the noticeable change in authors, the change in tone and style - I really did like the story and was upset when it ended. I wanted to know what happened next.

The Princes in the Tower

2008-06-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

Alison Weir has made a good career of writing about the Tudor reign, and this book is one her better ones. She managed to get her hands on good source material written by contemporary historians who had first-hand access to the events in question.

In The Making of the Tudor Dynasty the authors devote all of two sentences to the murders of King Edward V and his younger brother Richard, while this book is devoted to the events leading up to and after the murders.

I am always amazed, with histories like these, at how much material there is for researchers to use. These events happened centuries ago, yet there are documents still in existence that give amazing detail as to what was going on.

Weir's ultimate conclusion, based on all the evidence she found, is that Richard III really did have his nephews murdered to secure his seizure of the throne of England - don't worry, I didn't just spoil the ending for you.

Still, even though the conclusion is a forgone one, it's still a gripping book. Weir knows how to write a good story.

The Making of the Tudor Dynasty

2008-06-01T14:05:00.001-07:00

I've read a lot about Henry VIII and his wives, but I didn't know much about Henry VII and how he came to power. I attempted to read a book about the Wars of the Roses, but I just got bogged down and gave up.

This book, by two British scholars, leaves out a lot of the extraneous history and focuses solely on the Tudor family and its Welsh origins, which, for the most part, makes it easier to follow than the other history I attempted. At times, however, the writing is too dry and scholarly.

It's definitely true that history is written by the victors. Richard III, who usurped the throne from the young Edward IV, comes across completely as a bad guy, while Henry VII, kept in exile in Brittany for most of his young life, is the hero, coming in to rescue England from its inept ruler.

I would have preferred, however, that the authors had carried on a bit with detail of Henry VII's reign instead of ending the book very quickly after the Battle of Bosworth. It seemed like they spent so much time getting to the point of the Tudors coming into power, only to end it with a litany of the men who benefited by their support of Henry VII.

A Voyage Long and Strange

2008-06-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

Tony Horwitz wrote this book after visiting Plymouth, MA and seeing the rather disappointing Plymouth Rock. Then he realized he didn't have a very good idea of what happened in the century between Columbus's "discovering" American in 1492 and the Pilgrims' landing in 1620.

As it turns out, a lot of people explored America, both before and after Columbus, who never actually set foot on North America, and the before the Pilgrims' arrival - mainly Spanish conquistadors. The Spanish explored a large portion of the North American continent, including the Pacific coast, the Grand Canyon and the Oklahoma prairies.

Having grown up in Florida, where the conquistadors are part of local lore, I already knew a lot about them, just like I knew that St. Augustine, FL is the oldest, continuously settled European city in the US.

In the book, Horwitz follows the trails of many of the explorers through the US, looking for signs of their presence. He even travels to the Dominican Republic, where Columbus first landed, hoping to get a glimpse of the supposed remains of the explorer.

It's a fascinating journey, both through our history and our country - one well worth reading.

Songlines

2008-04-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

Another by Bruce Chatwin - I was on a roll. I don't like this book as much as In Patagonia, mostly because the lives of the Aboriginals he chronicles seem so dreary and hard. They've been relegated to the worst, hardest sections of Australia to live in abject poverty and watch their traditional territories taken over by cattle and sheep stations and railroads. But given what our country has done to Native Americans, who am I to judge?

Anyway, while Chatwin starts out learning about Aboriginal "songlines," the creation stories and maps that are sung of the country, the book turns into something that's much, much more. He includes sections on Darwin and evolution, nomads, migratory birds, and philosophy, to name just a few.

The book peters out in the end, but it's still worth a read.

In Patagonia

2008-04-30T11:45:00.002-07:00

I've been struggling my way through Oh, Albany, by William Kennedy, and I needed a break. So I trolled the bookshelves and pulled out Bruce Chatwin's account of his travels through Patagonia. It's been years since I've read it, but it's one of those books that is worth re-reading every once in a while.

Chatwin has an amazing talent for meeting people and getting their stories and setting them down in print. Because of his writing, Patagonia is on my list of places to visit before I die. I figure I'll hit it on my way to the South Pole, which is also on my list.

Blink

2008-04-30T11:45:00.001-07:00

Malcolm Gladwell is a god, period. That's al I have to say about this book. Other than - Read it!

John Adams

2008-04-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

I grabbed David McCullough's book while at Costco one day, not realizing that it had been made into a miniseries. I tried to watch it, but I just couldn't stand Paul Giamatti's stammering and mumbling.

The book, however, is divine. I've all of McCullough's works, save two, and I've yet to not enjoy one of his books. He is a brilliant researcher and writer, and he does a masterful job with John Adams.

John Adams was an amazing man. He, along with Jefferson, Franklin, and Washington, can rightly claim to be a founding father. Someone said that Jefferson was the writer of the Declaration and Adams was it voice. It's quite possible that the experiment in liberty and democracy that is our country would never have succeeded without Adams's efforts. Reading the book, I realized just how close our country came to not surviving. Nothing like this had ever happened before.

I'm more grateful for what our country has accomplished, and more embarassed at what the current administration has done to undo the efforts of the founding fathers.

The Dirt on Clean

2008-04-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

My sister handed me the book while we were in Albany, NY for our grandmother's memorial service. I declined at first, thinking it was a diatribe about how Americans' obsession with cleanliness was fueling the drug-resistant bacterium and MRSA virus.

I'm glad I took a second look, though. Instead, the book is a history of humans' bathing habits through the millenia, from the ancient Greeks and Romans, who had elaborate bathing rituals, none of them involving soap, through the Middle Ages when no one bathed, to the present with Americans' hyper-cleanliness.

The reasons for not bathing were the most interesting to me. About the time of the plagues running through Europe in the Middle Ages, "experts" decided that illnesses were caused by the skin letting in vapors or humours, and the way to prevent this from happening was to avoid water at all cost. Bathing, it was thought, opened the pores, allowing bad things into the system. People really went their whole lives without bathing - they'd get water on them when baptised and again when they were buried. Blech.

And while the rest of the world considers Americans to be obsessed with cleanliness - just look at how much we spend per year on soaps and lotions - I'm quite happy with my daily shower. I just can't start the day without it. I don't care that it's not strictly necessary for good hygiene.

Yes Man

2008-04-03T17:35:00.000-07:00

Danny Wallace's memoir of a British Gen-Xer who has a chance encounter on a bus with a man who tells him to say "yes" more is an amusing little read, once you get past all the Britishisms. At times the slang seems a bit forced. Also, rumor has it that Jim Carrey has optioned the book, which is just dreadful. I'd hate to think of him mugging his way through the story.

Wallace embarks on a year of saying yes to pretty much every question he's asked, including offers in spam e-mails and flyers people hand him on the streets. He buys a car because a guy asks him if he wants to. He goes to Amsterdam because he said yes to one of those Nigerian scam e-mails. He goes on a date with his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend because they invite him. THe catch through all of this is that only one other person knows what he's up to. Many of his friends end up rather puzzled by his behavior.

Good things do happen to Wallace - he gets a new job, he meets a girl, he makes new friends, he travels the world. But saying yes to everything seems to be an extreme way to go about it all.

The Queen's Fool

2008-03-17T14:04:00.001-07:00

This is by the same author as The Other Boleyn Girl, which should tell you a lot. It's about a young girl who fled the Inquistion in Spain because her mother was burned at the stake for being a Jew. She and her father end up in London, and because the girl has visions she ends up in the courts of King Edward and Queen Mary as an Innocent Fool.

It was the perfect mindless book to keep me entertained during my four-hour layover at JFK and during the seven-hours I spent on the plane from JFK to Austin.

I think, though, that this officially ends my period of historical fiction set in Tudor and Elizabethan times. I've had it with heaving bodices and beheadings.

The Innocent Traitor

2008-03-17T14:01:00.001-07:00

It was a great airplane book, that's about all I can say. The book is about Lady Jane Gray, the girl who sat on the throne of England for 9 days before Queen Mary and her supporter re-took the country. After much dithering, Queen Mary ordered Jane and her husband Guilford Dudley be executed as traitors.

Brideshead Revisited

2008-03-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

I love this book. I've read it six times, at least. I wrote a paper on it in graduate school and actually got an A from my toughest professor. I pulled it off the shelf last week for two reasons.

First, I saw somewhere that a movie is being made of it, which is just pointless. The BBC miniseries with Jeremy Irons, Diana Quick, Anthony Andrews, Laurence Olivier and John Geilgud is perfect. The miniseries follows the book, almost verbatim, and really captures the spirit and the mood of it. There is no reason to make a two hour movie to replace a 14-hour miniseries. I don't know how you'd even condense the story to fit without losing critical pieces.

Second, because of my grandmother, who died on Friday. My mom told me that when Nona had been asked about being given last rights, she said yes. None of us have ever known my grandmother to be a church-goer, so it was a bit surprising that she had a priest in at the end. There's a line in Brideshead, which is quoted from something else, about God calling someone back with a "twitch upon the thread." Mom quoted that line when telling me about Nona.

I decided that two references to the book in one week was a sign that I should read it, and I'm glad I did. In a strange way, it was a comfort to me during this difficult week.

"Roman Fever"

2008-03-04T11:54:00.000-08:00

My former boss just joined the 21st Century and bought herself an iPod. To get her started, I sent her a gift of a Selected Shorts program of Edith Wharton short stories recorded at The Mount, which was Wharton's home.

When my boss sent me an e-mail thanking me for the gift, she mentioned that "Roman Fever," which is in the collection of stories I sent, is her favorite short story ever. I've read it before, but I felt the need to read it again, because it really is such a grand piece of fiction.

It's about two wealthy widows from New York City spending time in Rome while their young daughters are gadding about with their suitors. The women knew each other when they were young women, visiting Rome together. It turns out that they were both in love with the same man at the time. I can't really say anything more without giving away too much. But this story has the best closing line in any book or short story I've ever read - ever.

Wedding of the Waters

2008-03-04T11:46:00.000-08:00

The subtitle of the book, by Peter L. Bernstein, is The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation. That should have been a small clue about the true subject of the book.

My mother bought it for my father for Christmas thinking it was about the actual construction of the Canal. She had it shipped here to await their arrival, and I sneaked a peek a few times, then asked my dad if I could borrow it when he was finished. My mom brought it to me when she was here for Lily's birthday, and I dove right in.

Most of the book is about the politics that went on around the building of the canal - those who supported it, those who were against it - and the elections on state and national levels that were affected by the canal. The author also spends a great deal of time on the financial impact the canal had on New York State and the country. The canal spurred a great deal of industrial growth in New York. Towns sprang up along the canal path, along with manufacturing plants. Farmers were able to grow more crops because they could sell them to more people thanks to being able to ship them down to Albany and then on to New York City. People took tourist excursions on the packet boats that travelled the canals, leading to a need for inns and restaurants.

While all the information on the politics and industry was interesting, I would have loved the book to include more about the building of the canal itself. The men building the canal had to learn as they went - there were no structural engineers in the country at the start of the canal's building - and they had the most primitive of tools and explosives available to them. That they accomplished so much with so little is a true testament to what mankind can do when it puts its mind to it. I also would have liked more maps and pictures. I want authors to show me the things they're describing. Plus, I just love maps.

The Tipping Point

2008-02-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

Malcolm Gladwell is a genius, pure and simple. Who would ever think that a book about fads and epidemics and children's TV shows could be so freaking entertaining. Lots of others have written much better reviews than I could ever hope to, so I won't even try. My goal right now is to get B to read it.

City of Glory

2008-02-18T08:30:00.000-08:00

I'll start off by saying that I'm fascinated with the history of New York City. Whenever I run out of things to read, I pull down this huge book about NYC called Gotham, which traces the history of the city from its earliest days as a trading post through the turn of the century - 1900, that is.

So when I was at the bookstore and saw this book, by Beverly Swerling, I took a look at the blurb on the back cover. The reviewer for The Washington Post gave it a thumb's up, and since it was a historical novel about New York, I bought it.

Well, I'm not sure how accurate the history is. Swerling describes herself as an amateur historian, and she seems to have gotten her hands of a map of New York City from 1814, which is when the book is set, and used that to excess; she talks a lot about the locations of various buildings and homes. A few real people wander through - Jacob Astor, President Madison, Dolley Madison - and a few historical events are included - the sack of Washington by the British, the Battle of Lake Erie. But that's about it.

However, by the time I got disgusted with the lack of real history, I'd been sucked into the story, hook, line and sinker, and I found I couldn't put the book down. I read until after midnight Saturday night because I kept wanting to finish one more chapter.

Swerling has two more books in this "series," dealing with some of the same characters, and I think I may just have to get the books the next time I'm at the bookstore.

Plum Lovin'

2008-02-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

My mom left this Janet Evanovich book here when she came for Lily's birthday. She had bought it for the plane ride, and boy is it the perfect airplane book. I've never read any of the Stephanie Plum series before, and I doubt I'll read any other of the books, unless mom leaves another one here.

Evanovich does a good job writing an entertaining tale, and the characters are funny, but it was just a touch too fluffy for me.

Imperial Life in the Emerald City

2008-02-06T15:34:00.000-08:00

Of all the books and articles I've read about the war in Iraq, this book left me the most discouraged and depressed. The author, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, had amazing access to CPA, Department of Defense, and State Department employees who worked in the Green Zone after the war. And the stories they tell him are just so horrible. There were so many mistakes made, so many opportunities to do real good wasted.

What was most disheartening was how people who actually knew what they were doing were frequently replaced by Republican party loyalists, junior staffers from congressional offices, or staff from the Department of Defense - the White House didn't want folks from State Department working for the Coalition Provisional Authority, no matter their level of expertise.

Of the many stories Chandrasekaran relates, two really upset me. The first involved the Iraqi stock market. A former stock broker who had joined the Army was initially tapped to get the stock market back in operation. He talked to the employees and the stock brokers and realized that all they needed to get back in business was a few chalk boards and some cell phones. He pitched the idea to the powers that were and was overruled. Some Republican loyalist was put in charge, and he decided that what Iraq needed was a new, efficient, modern, and non-corrupt stock market. He talked about computer systems and online networks - in a city that gets 12 hours of electricity a day, max - but nothing ever happened. Within a week of the CPA's handing over control of the country, the stock market, which had been closed during the whole occupation, was back in operation, under Iraqi control - using white-erase boards and cell phones. Years were wasted.

The other story was about the medical system. One medic got put in charge of the hospitals. He met with the hospital directors and asked what their critical needs were. They said power and medicines. So the guy managed to get big generators to every major hospital in Iraq. The doctors viewed him as a hero. But then the CPA put another Republican loyalist in charge. This guy was a former health plan administrator. He decided that the country's most crucial need was a new formulary for prescription medicine. Nevermind that most hospitals couldn't even get their hands on any drugs, let alone ones on the new formulary. You have to wonder how many people died while administrators argued about what medicines to include in the new plan.

Chandrasekaran doesn't indict all the men and women who went to Iraq. Most of the people there were doing the best they could under the most difficult of circumstances. He blames the the people in DC who were making the big decisions. They went into the war without any idea of what would happen next, and their lack of preparation showed. So many lives were lost; so much money was wasted. And for what, exactly?

I finished the book even angrier about the war and the current occupant of the White House than I was when I started. This book should be required reading for every person who thinks the war has been a success.

The New Kings of Nonfiction

2008-01-30T17:49:00.000-08:00

I ordered this book, which is a collection of nonfiction essays edited by Ira Glass from This American Life, from the TAL Web site. The nonfiction essay is my favorite form of writing, the kind of writing I wish I was better at. It's also why I've maintained my subscription to The New Yorker since I was in college. And why I usually read it cover to cover each week.

I was so excited when the book arrived that I dove right in, ignoring my children and reading at the dinner table. It turns out that my excitement was justified. There were some absolutely outstanding essays in the book.

My favorites were Malcolm Gladwell's on the theory of Six-Degrees of Separation, Dan Savage's on his attempt to reform the Seattle Republican Party from within, Susan Orlean's on an averge 10-year-old boy, and some writer whose name I can't remember at the moment on her life as a hostess at a hot New York nightclub.

Other essays were so-so, like the one on how people remember World War II. It had some interesting bits, but it dragged on way too long. Another was on the author's adventures at the World Series of Poker. I don't know enough about poker to really grasp the full impact of the story.

I completely skipped the essay by David Foster Wallace. I attempted to read The Infinite Jest when it was published and was showing up on all the Best Of lists that year. But when I got 3/4 of the way through and still had no idea what was going on, I gave up. I had begun to suspect that the jest in the title was really on the reader, that I'd get to the end and still not have a clue. A friend who managed to get through it confirmed my suspicion, so I'm glad I didn't struggle through.

But back to the book - I'd highly recommend ordering it. Make sure you order it from the TAL site so that they get the credit for the sale.

Malcolm Gladwell

2008-01-23T18:05:00.000-08:00

OK, so this isn't about a book I've read; it's about an author I want to read.

I've resisted picking up The Tipping Point or Freakonomics by Malcolm Gladwell because I figured they were both probably filled with dry statistic and economic lessons. I don't know why I thought that given the books' popularity with people who have read them. One friend, a freelance business writer, raved about both to me. But I tend to be stubborn and not do things lots of people tell me to do. I still haven't seen Ghost or Indecent Proposal or The English Patient precisely because I had too many people tell me they were the BEST MOVIES EVER!

But I think I'm about to reverse my position on Gladwell. He has an essay in The New Kings of Nonfiction about the six-degrees-of-separation phenomenon that was completely entertaining and fascinating. When I was finished I actually understood the principle.

And then I just saw a repeat of The Colbert Report with Malcolm Gladwell and I loved it. First, he's not the stereotypical dry economist or academic. He's youngish, with wild fuzzy hair. The show ended with Gladwell, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, a gospel choir and Colbert singing "Let My People Go." It was great. Enough to make me want to buy and read his books.

At Large and at Small

2008-01-16T05:57:00.000-08:00

Anne Fadiman's collection of familiar essays is the most charming little book I've read in a long time. It's a small book, filled with stories about things near and dear to her heart - coffee, ice cream, moving, night owls and morning larks, Charles Lamb - but it's so much more than that.

The art of the familiar essay is to write about something you love, say coffee, but to include bits of history on coffee, quotations from other coffee lovers, anecdotes of your personal history with coffee, and to make it all entertaining. Fadiman pulls it off in style. I smiled through the whole book.

Fadiman has another book I love called Ex Libris, which is a whole book about books. Each time I'm feeling a little down or overwhelmed, I'll pull out this book and read an essay or two. It's a treat to spend time with someone who loves books as much as I. My favorites are her essays on her family's compulsive need to catch typos and misspellings in menus and on her struggle to combine her book collection with her husband's - two areas with which I am all too familiar.

Fadiman has a third book, called The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which I haven't read yet. After reading At Large, I may have to pick it up the next time I'm at the store.

2008-01-09T17:47:00.000-08:00

B picked up this Michael Crichton book at the airport when he went to Chicago a couple of months ago. I picked it up last week because I was looking for something quick and easy to read while I had a migraine.

I think all of my eye rolling may have made my migraine worse, but I was too stubborn to put the book down. I'll say this for Crichton, he knows how to write a gripping story. But he has the same problem as Hiaason - too many dang characters.

The plot centers around genetic engineering and unscrupulous biogenetics lab stealing genes from unsuspecting patients and around transgenetic animals, specifically a half chimp/half man and a half parrot/half man. The parrot looks like a parrot, but he has a personality and can think and speak on his own.

I rolled my eyes a lot while reading the book because Crichton likes to fill his stories with lots of "facts" and explanations that are meant to alarm the reader. After reading this book, one might think that scientists are on the verge of really stealing genes from people and of creating human/animal hybrids. Crichton includes a long bibliography and recommended reading list at the end of the book, like the reader is supposed to do further research.

I've enjoyed a lot of Crichton's books - Jurassic Park is a fun read, and the Great Train Robbery was a pretty amazing novel - but I can't say I'd recommend this one.

Nature Girl

2008-01-01T08:34:00.001-08:00

I generally like Carl Hiaason's writing. He's got a breezy style and a sharp wit. His books are good beach and airplane reads. I picked up Nature Girl at Target last month because I was in the mood for something fun to break up all the history I've been reading.

My complaint with this book is the same I have with most of Hiaason's others - there are too many characters.

This book has a good basic story - a slightly loony woman named Honey decides to take revenge on a telemarketer named Boyd who calls her during dinner and then insults her. It's a cause I can get behind, and her plan for Boyd is pretty ingenious. But then Honey's son Fry and her ex-husband Perry get dragged in. As does Boyd's mistress and his wife and the private dective Boyd's wife hires to get proof that Boyd is cheating on her. Then there's a half-Seminole Indian who calls himself Thlocko who's taking refuge in the Everglades because a man died on his airboat tour. And an FSU co-ed who becomes the Seminole's willing hostage. All these folks end up on the same island in the middle of the glades, which is just stretching belief a little too much. Oh wait, there's also Honey's lecherous ex-boss who is stalking her. And a group of religious nuts who think Boyd is the Saviour, born again and delivered from the sea.

I think Hiaason needs a new editor, one who is willing to overlook Hiaason's success and able to get him to trim a bit.

Skinny Dip is still my favorite of all his books, although this one is in the top three.

Catching up and books half read

2007-12-29T06:38:00.000-08:00

I haven't been in a book-reading mood lately, which is odd for me. I think it has something to do with my being beyond tired by the time I collapse into bed at night. I manage to read for about 15 minutes before I pass out, book on my chest, bed-side light still on.

I've also been catching up on articles in the pile of New Yorker magazines I have next to my bed. Work and knitting have kept me from reading the magazines when they arrive. This week I read an interesting article on the former director of antiquities at the Getty in Los Angeles, an article on how simple check lists are saving thousands of lives in ICU units around the country, and a review of Led Zeppelin's recent concert at the Millennium Dome in London. Last week's New Yorker was the winter fiction issue, and since I'm not a big fan of the short story form, I just skimmed through.

But now I'm caught up, and I can finish reading Nature Girl, by Carl Hiasson, and Yes Man, by some British author. I borrowed the book from my sister while she was here for Christmas. My father-in-law gave me cash for Christmas, and I think I may use part of it to go book shopping. I don't have anything in my bookshelves that is really jumping out at me, despite a stack of unread books. I think it's time for something new. Plus, I have more yarn than I know what to do with right now.

Marie Antionette

2007-12-16T06:19:00.000-08:00

This is the book, by Antonia Fraser, that Sophia Coppola based her movie on. I, for one, loved both the book and the movie. I think the people who had problems with the movie should read the book, because Coppola nailed it.

What amazed me the most about Marie Antoinette is that she wasn't the person we've learned about in our history books. She never said, "Let them eat cake," for one. She was actually a devoted wife and mother - she insisted on nursing her babies in an era when wealthy women, especially royal women, sent their babies off to wet nurses. She also personally supervised her daughter's education. When things started going really wrong for the royals, Marie Antoinette was offered the chance to flee the country, but she refused, saying her place was with her husband - which sealed her fate.

Yes, she spent lavishly. Yes, she had lots of parties. But those things were expected of the women at court. She had seen how other queens had been relegated to minor positions in the court while their husbands carried on with mistresses and decided that she wanted nothing to do with that. Antionette carried on as if she was her husband's mistress, making sure to entertain him and keep him interested.

Much has been made of her building the Petit Trianon, when in fact the palace already existed. She just refurbished it. Antionette used it as her escape from the intensely public life at Versaille, where people were allowed to wander through as the King and Queen ate their meals. While at the Petit Trianon, she was also able to dispense with the rigid formaily of the court, where she couldn't get dressed in the morning without having 10 different women hand her various pieces of her clothing.

And while she was queen, with the resultant priveleges, she didn't always have it easy. Her one job was to produce an heir to the throne, but her husband went more than 8 years without consumating their marriage, despite Antionette's best efforts. Not only did she have all of France waiting for her to get pregnant, Antionette had a constant stream of letters from her mother and brother, the Empress and Emporer of Austria, castigating her for failing in her one job.

Marie Antoinette's end was incredibly tragic. She was separated from her husband and her children. She was put on trial and accused of horrible, and very untrue, crimes against the nation. But throughout, she behaved with dignity.

Fraser's book really was a revelation. It entirely changed my perception of one of the most loathed women in history.

The Other Boleyn Girl

2007-12-04T12:21:00.000-08:00

I've read several biographies of Henry 8 and his wives, all of them, so I figured I'd read a "historical novel" about them all. The author, Philippa Gregory, is known as the "Queen of Historical Novels." I'm not sure that's a title I'd want.

The book was very frustrating at first, because, silly me, I expected it to conform to ummm, history. But no. Gregory takes a few theories about the lives of Mary and Anne Boleyn and runs with them. Like the theory that Anne surrounded herself with gay courtiers, including her brother George, and this was one of the reasons she was executed.

And while I knew that Henry had had a daliance with Anne's younger sister Mary, I'd never read anywhere that Mary gave birth to two bastard children by Henry.

Finally, I gave up trying to reconcile myself to the history and just read it at trashy fiction. As soon as I read it that way, I started having a lot more fun with the book, because boy is it trashy. It was the perfect thing for me to read this weekend when I was awake in the middle of the night with asthma-induced insomnia.

The cover of the book claims that it is now a major motion picture starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansen and Eric Bana. I haven't heard about the movie yet, so I'm wondering if it is so bad that it went straight to video.

Elizabeth I

2007-11-29T18:20:00.000-08:00

I've long been fascinated by Elizabeth I, and this biography, by Alison Weir, is the best I've read. The others focused solely on Elizabeth's struggles with the religious strife in England during her reign or solely on her courtships and possible marriages and, of course, the hot topic of her legendary virginity.

Weir does a good job of balancing these two vital issues, while also spending a fair bit of time on what life was like in the royal court and on Elizabeth's very real problems. For being the most powerful woman in the world in an era when women were considered property of men, Elizabeth was a bit of a mess. She wavered on decisions, she made snap judgements and then regretted them, she flirted shamelessly with men and demanded their undying loyalty, and she couldn't make up her mind on what to do with her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots.

But when you learn about Elizabeth's life, you understand a lot more why she was such a mess. She was her father's favorite child, at least until her mother, Anne Boleyn, fell from grace and was executed. After her mother's death, Elizabeth was sent pretty much into exile, only being allowed at court when her stepmothers permitted her. When her old sister Mary, a devout Catholic, took the throne, all Protestants, including Elizabeth found themselves at risk of imprisonment and/or execution. Elizabeth even spent time in the Tower of London - the prison part, not the royal apartments. Once she became queen, everyone around her wanted her married off, which would have meant that she wouldn't be the real ruler of England. Whomever she married would have become King and taken over control. Throughout her reign she lived in fear of a possible uprising by any number of factions that claimed stronger rights to the throne that she supposedly had as a woman. She feared naming an heir, believing that if she did she would probably be murdered or taken from the throne in favor of a male.

Even though she was indesicive and insecure, she held her ground through it all and brought the country through some terrible times. She was much loved by her subject, and her ragtag navy defeated the Spanish Armada. That victory alone secured her place in the hearts of her subjects.

Speaking of Elizabeth I, if you get a chance, watch the newish miniseries with Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons. It's not always entirely accurate, but it is spellbinding. Helen Mirren does an amazing job of showing Elizabeth's many sides.

1776

2007-11-23T18:52:00.000-08:00

As I've said before, I'd read the phone book if it was written by David McCullough. 1776 was a revelation for me. I'd only known the school-book version of the American Revolution, which is all about how a rag-tag band of rebels beat the odds and bested the mighty British Army. The books leave out the fact that the first year of the revolution, after the successful capture of Boston, thanks to Henry Knox transporting cannons from Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain all the way to Boston in the middle of winter, was pretty much a disaster.

Washington didn't have battle experience; he hesitated; he changed his mind, all of which led to military fiascos. The Americans lost the Battle of Brooklyn very decisively. The only reason there was an army left after the battle was the astonishing retreat across the East River in the dead of night and shroud of fog. Otherwise, the American Revolution probably would have ended there. After Brooklyn, Washington retreated the troops all the way up Manhattan and into Westchester County and then into New Jersey, losing critical forts and troops - through injury, death, illness and desertion - the whole way.

The Battle of Trenton, in the dead of winter in 1776 was the crucial turning point for the whole escapade. Without that victory, we'd probably still be having afternoon tea.

Our family friend Jean recommended a book called Rabble in Arms, which is a fictionalized account of the Revolution from the Loyalists' point of view, and I'm now inspired to read it. One thing you do realize from McCullough's book is how many residents of the colonies were loyal to England. The success of the British on Long Island and at the Battle of Brooklyn was largely a result of the food, information, and shelter they received from residents who were loyal to the crown.

My only wish is that history books in school could be as entertaining and educational as this one. History class would have been a lot more fun, and I think I would have learned a lot more back in high school and college.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2007-11-15T13:49:00.000-08:00

Spoiler alert - if you haven't read the book, don't read this entry.

I ordered the book from Amazon with guaranteed delivery on the publication date, but I ended up going to the bookstore that morning and picking up a copy so I could get started on it. I figured that with two copies of the book, B and I wouldn't have to share.

I started the book somewhat reluctantly - it was the last time I'd be opening a Harry Potter book for the first time. But then once I started reading, I didn't want to put the book down. Fortunately, the kids spent the night with their grandmother, and I spent the day in bed with a migraine, so reading conditions were perfect. I traded calls with my sister and my boss at Holt, each of us answering the phone saying, "I haven't finished; don't tell me what happened," instead of hello.

Bottom line, the book didn't disappoint. There are certain parts that just didn't fit. The whole section inside the Ministry getting the locket from Umbridge was a bit contrived, and the bit in the middle as Harry and Hermione wander the country not doing much of anything dragged on. But oh, having Dobby die was just too much for me. I cried. I also cried that one of the Weasleys and Lupin and Tonks died. That just wasn't fair.

But I was thrilled that Neville got to be a hero at the end. His character developed so much through the series, and I'm glad Rowling let him shine.

The final showdowns between Harry and Voldemort was somewhat anticlimactic though. Once I knew Harry had survived the scene in the forest, I knew he'd make it through the final battle without a problem. It was just a question of how it would happen.

One final bit that didn't sit well with me was having Harry and Ginny marry. I always saw Ginny and Neville marrying each other. And I pictured Harry and Luna together. But the final line of the book was just perfect. As was having Harry name his son for Dumbledore and Snape. As nasty as Snape was, I always knew he wasn't a bad guy, even after he killed Dumbledore. I was so glad to be right about that one detail.

And Rowling's revelation about Dumbledore's being gay - didn't bother me in the least. I kind of shrugged and said, "Hmmm. Interesting," and let it go at that.

The Devil's Teeth

2007-11-12T10:02:00.001-08:00

I picked this book up on a whim at BookPeople because the cover and the back blurb looked interesting, and I am so glad I did. I've always been fascinated by sharks, perhaps because I grew up going to the beach at least once a week. I briefly contemplated studying marine biology - at least I thought about it until I saw the core chemistry and biology classes I had to get through before I could start on the marine biology stuff.

The book is about a group of scientists that have been studying great white sharks that congregate off the Farallones Islands, which are 27 miles off the coast of San Francisco. It's the largest group of great whites in the world that have been seen congregating in the same place year after year.

Susan Casey, the author, obtained permission to go to the Farallones to be with the shark researchers. The islands are federally protected areas, and people can't even set foot on them without jumping through all kinds of hoops. The researchers Casey met are as interesting as the sharks they're studying.

I finished wanting to visit the Farallones, or at the very least just cruise by them, and to read more about sharks. But I haven't done either yet.

The Great Bridge

2007-11-08T08:01:00.001-08:00

Basically, I'd read the telephone book if it was written by David McCullough. I love his style of writing, and I've read all of his books except for the one about Teddy Roosevelt. After I read this book for the first time about five years ago, I made it a life's goal of walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Two years ago, I went to NYC with two friends, and as we were planning the trip I told them the only thing I HAD to do was walk across the bridge. One laughed at me, until everyone she told about the trip said to her, "You just have to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It's the coolest thing!" So she gave up and agreed to join in the adventure.

I think the walk across the bridge meant more to me just because I knew the story of it. Roebling the father died before the bridge got underway. Roebling the son became the chief engineer after his father's death, but spent most of his time observing the progress from the window of his house in Brooklyn Heights due to debilitating pain from the bends, which he got after visiting one the caissons used to dig the foundations for the towers. Roebling's wife then oversaw much of the day-to-day opersations on behalf of her husband.

It's a miracle the bridge got built at all. I realize I'm not an engineer or an architect, but the Brooklyn Bridge is a piece of engineering genious and a work of art, all at the same time.

During our trip, Heidi, Lisa and I all walked across the bridge, marvelling at the architecture and the view. After brunch in Brooklyn Heights, Heidi and Lisa took off to do their own thing, and I walked back across the bridge, stopping at the midpoint to just sit and watch the world go by.

I re-read the book this past year, after I bought a huge photograph of the bridge for our bedroom. Having walked the bridge and seen it in person, the enormity of the feats of engineering really hit home. The bridge is just so huge. It's amazing it was built given the technology and machinery available at the time. I'm looking forward to my next trip to NYC so I can stroll across again.

The Red Tent

2007-11-05T06:35:00.000-08:00

I'm so close to finishing this book, but I can't bear to pick it back up and read the last 20 pages. It's been a slog so far. I'm amazed I've read as much as I have. I picked it up on a whim at the bookstore a week ago when I dashed in to grab a gift card for a birthday party we were late getting to. The book was right at the front and had a big sign saying it was a special printing in honor of the book's 10th anniversary. I figured that any book that had a special 10th anniversary printing must be worth reading. Plus it was a NYT best seller. I should have remembered that Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh have both had NYT best sellers, so that label doesn't mean much.

I'm sure there are lots of women who have and who will love this book. It's set in old testament days and is about Dinah, sister of Joseph - Joseph with the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I had hoped there would be some real historical lessons woven through the story, but no. It's supposed to give voices to the women of the old testament, who are mentioned in passing and don't have a real role in the Bible. But I'm not sure the author has succeeded here.

Most of the action takes place in the "red tent" of the title, the special tent where women are banished for three days during that time of the month because they are unclean. Diamate, the author, presents this tent as a magical place, where women bond with each other and celebrate the teachings of the women who went before them, blah, blah, blah. I found it stifling and overly mother-earthy.

So maybe I'll finish it some day and find out what happens to Dinah in Egypt, where she flees after her brothers slaughter her husband and all the men in his village. Or maybe I won't.

"Ham of God"

2007-11-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

I had loaned my friend my copy of Plan B by Anne Lamott and had forgotten about it completely until she read my post on Spalding Gray, which has a rant about people not returning boks. Anyway, my friend returned the book to me yesterday, and I threw it in my diaper bag. I pulled the book out this morning while waiting for my doctor's appointment, and I read "Ham of God." I had forgotten how much I love this story; it's probably my favorite of all Lamott's pieces. She read it when she performed in Austin, and I cried while listening to her.

I'm not a particularly religious person, but I do believe in moments of grace, pure grace. This story is one of the best examples of grace I've ever heard: an unexpected, unwanted ham turns into salvation for a woman who desperately needs it.

And the story contains what is going to be my new mantra when I'm having one of my little panic attacks - left foot, right foot, breathe.

I'm going to re-read the whole book because I need the grace that Lamott offers in her writing.

My bookshelf

2007-10-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

Ever since we bought this house, five years ago, we'd been struggling for a good way to store books in our bedroom. We have a very long wall at the foot of our bed, but it's interrupted by an air intake for the A/C unit, which means we can't cover it over. We couldn't figure a creative way to build in bookshelves while avoiding the intake.

As a result, most of our books resided in an old bookshelf that B had built years ago, but when we turned the guest room into Campbell's bedroom, the bookshelf had to go. As a result, all the books moved into our closet onto the top shelves, which quickly reached the point of collapse.

Then I went to IKEA, which opened in Austin last winter and has quickly become my favorite store, other than Target, and I found my dream bookshelf. Making it really, really perfect is that it has an open back, which means that we can put it in front of the air intake without a problem. As a thank you to B for putting the bookshelf together with me, I even gave B a few shelves for his Stephen King books.

And I have a cubby just for my grammar/style/editing collection. B laughed and called me a geek because I have enough of those books to warrant a whole cubby just for them.

As big as the bookshelf is, it doesn't hold all of our books. Some still reside on the top shelves of the closet - most of them are B's science fiction and horror books (we have VERY different tastes in literature), but quite a few of mine are ending up there as well.

The girls are developing quite a collection of books, too. I cleaned up their bookshelf the other day, hoping to weed out some of their books. But other than the give-away books from fast-food chains, I didn't get rid of any. Their collection is slowly creeping up the bookshelf; soon we'll have to find new places to store the knick-knacks that are on the upper shelves.

Some day I hope to have a house big enough to have my very own library. My great uncle Donald had a lroom that had been converted to a study that was filled to the brim with books. The house my grandparents lived in when I was little had a real library, with a big fireplace and leather chairs and shelf after shelf of books. I never read any of them, but I loved curling up by the fire in one of the big chairs with my own books. I think sitting by the fire there fostered my love of reading.

In the meantime, I'll continue amassing my collection and hope for a bigger house with more space for bookshelves.

Fraud

2007-10-28T06:35:00.000-07:00

I first heard David Rackoff on NPR, reading a piece about camping in the wilds of Alaska. I laughed out loud at the story, so I went out and bought his book. I didn't laugh so much. The stories are entertaining, but not laugh out loud funny, at least not to me. They read like he was trying to be another David Sedaris, who is a friend of Rackoff's, but he couldn't quite get there.

While Rackoff's written word doesn't crack me up, his spoken word does. I've heard him read many times on NPR's "This American Life," and his pieces can send me into hysterics. One time I was running while listening to him read a piece about his adventures in TV watching after years of not watching any. I was laughing so hard I couldn't run. I literally had to stop and stand on the sidewalk, doubled over, to catch my breath from laughing. I'm sure people driving by thought I was a loon.

Perhaps I should download his books onto my iPod - maybe I'd find his stories funnier if I listened to him read them to me.

Books I haven't finished

2007-10-25T13:21:00.001-07:00

When I was in college and graduate school, I mastered the art of reading several books at a time. I had too many to read to be able to devote all of my attention to just one book. I still read books that way; I'm likely to have two or three in progress on my bedside table at any given time.

It took me much longer, however, to accept that I didn't have to finish every book I started. In school I had to because I would likely have to write a paper or exam on the book, and the professor expected me to have read them all the way through. I slogged through an alarming number of books as a non-student thinking that I was going to be tested. Then I was reading We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates, and I just hated the book. I hated the characters; I hated the writing. I dreaded picking it up to read. Then one day I realized it was just stupid and pointless to keep going. So I put the book back in the bookshelf and didn't pick it up again until it was time to donate it to Ella's school's used-book sale.

Right now I have several books in progress that I haven't yet decided whether I'll finish.

One is a biography of Edith Wharton, who is probably my favorite writer, by Hermione Lee. I tried to read Wharton's autobiography, called A Backward Glance, and got frustrated with how shallow it was. She didn't reveal much about her childhood or troubled marriage or life as a writer. It was mostly a recitation of all the people she met and had dinner with. I quit reading when she devoted pages to her car rides with Henry James. So when Lee came out with seemingly exhaustive study of Wharton, I splurged and bought the hardcover edition. And now it's just sitting on the table. Lee is certainly exhaustive in her research; I know lots about where Wharton lived and the books she may have read, but I can't say that I've actually learned anything about Wharton that I didn't already know. Perhaps one day, when I'm out of other things to read, I'll pick it up again.

I quit reading Elinor of Aquitane by Allison Weir out of frustration. Elinor was one of Europe's most powerful women, but so little is known about her. Weir's book largely consists of speculation about what Elinor may have done and where she may have gone. I want first-hand documentation, please. Give me letters, personal accounts, something other than speculation based on items listed in royal accounting books.

I also gave up on Wars of the Roses, also by Weir. She tries to cover too much ground in too short a book and ends up not doing a thorough job on any of it. Plus, those damn Brits keep changing their names, and I just can't keep up. One minute someone is the Duke of X, then he gets promoted or knighted or whatever, and then he's Earl of Q. I can't remember everyone's multiple names, and Weir doesn't help with tracking them at all.

I think those are the only books I've left unread lately. It's a much shorter list than I anticipated. Next up, maybe, the list of books I want to read.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

2007-10-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

I've been working my way through this series of books, picking up a book here or there from the bookstore or borrowing one from my neighbor. It's the perfect kind of series to read in this way - a little bit here and a little bit there. I've finished book four, and I don't remember which incident happened in which book, but I have the whole series of events socked away. I don't have any problem picking up the next book and jumping right into the story.

The books are set in Botswana and center around Precious Ramotswe, the first lady private dective in the country. The stories revolve both around the cases she solves and her personal life, which includes a fiance, Mr. J.L.B. Matekwoni, and two foster children.

The language and dialogue are absolutely charming throughout. And while some of the storylines are heartbreaking - the backstory on the foster children made me cry - the books are just delightful.

I think I may pick up book number 5 this afternoon.