Category General Book Talk

Ah, Maeve. *sigh*

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Maeve Binchy 1940-2012

I got a text this evening from a friend who said she thought of me when she heard the news of Maeve Binchy’s death today.  I hadn’t heard the news yet, so I was thankful to hear it from a friend!  I’ve written before on my blog about how Binchy’s books make me feel and even chose one of her books as my favorite read of 2011.

I have vivid memories of discovering her books in the Rushford Public Library and devouring all that were on the shelf, and years later finding comfort in their presence in the corner where we sat for library board meetings.  When I’m asked for a book recommendation, I always ask if they’ve read her books.  If I’m asked to pick out a book from the library for someone, her books are top on my list.  I know that her books have greatly influenced my love of Ireland and all things Irish.

In 2011 I read her most recent book, Minding Frankie, and I was worried before I started reading that maybe it had been so long since I’d read a Binchy book that I had glorified them too much and I wouldn’t love it as much as I remembered loving her books.  But it felt like coming home and ended up being my favorite book I read in 2011. Her books are so comfortable and the characters and communities are beautifully and vividly and simply described.

I am thankful that I discovered her years ago and have had her books and characters in my life for probably more than 20 years.  I checked amazon.com tonight and found a short story she published in 2011 (A Week in Summer) and I immediately downloaded it.  I can’t wait to curl up to another new Binchy book and I’m sad that there won’t be any more.

Off to read a little Binchy before bed.  🙂

Do you have a favorite Binchy book? Who is the author you always find yourself recommending to people?

Binchy Bibliography, compliments of Wikipedia:

Novels[9]

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Book and Movie Updates

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I am so lucky to live very close to a great movie theatre in Rochester and once a year they host an International Film Festival. It started last Friday and runs through Thursday. For the past few years I have tried to go to at least a few movies during the festival.  Memorably, I saw Mid-August Lunch a few years ago, which has inspired my Ferragosto vacation, and I saw a great Greek film, but I don’t remember the name.  It was laugh out loud funny, especially in a theatre filled with Greek descendents!  How fun.

This year I knew that the craziness of my work and family schedule wasn’t going to allow too much viewing, but I did get to see two movies that I wanted to see at 9:30 PM on Saturday and Sunday!  Saturday night I saw “A Separation,” which was the 2011 Oscar Winner of Best Foreign Film from Iran and Sunday night I saw “Sound of Noise,” a Swedish film.

“A Separation” was not what I expected.  It was a beautiful story about a woman who wanted to leave Iran in order to pursue a better life, but her husband refused because he was caring for his elderly father with Alzheimer’s. And their beautiful 11 year old daughter is caught in the middle.  A divorce is not granted to them, so they separate for a time as they try to figure things out. And then the story begins.  There is so much in the story without it being preachy or overt.  It’s hard to say that it has a sad ending, but it does. It doesn’t feel sad, but it feels like real life.  Anyway, I’m so glad I got to see it.

Sound of Noise

Sound of Noise (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And then last night – “Sound of Noise.”  What fun.  First of all, it is a Swedish film and the first five minutes we couldn’t see the subtitles!  Someone asked aloud if anyone in the theatre could translate!  They got the problem fixed and I don’t think we missed too much of the story.  Essentially, a son of musicians with total lack of a musical sense is an anti-terrorist police officer and starts to investigate a group of musical terrorists who are wreaking havoc on their city.  Musical terrorists.  How fun is that?  They are percussionists who are performing a piece entitled “Six Drummers and a City.”  They use bodies and medical equipment in a hospital, they use money and banking machines at a bank (“This is an exhibition!”), they use jack hammers and bull dozers at a classical concert, and finally they use electric wires and power at a power plant.  What fun.

I will not be able to see the Italian movie starring the same actor that was in Mid-August Lunch, but I put it in my Netflix queue.  And maybe I’ll check out the listings for Wednesday, after I’ve had some sleep!

On the book front, it’s pretty pathetic.  I finished reading The Hunger Games, Chasing Fire, and Mockingjay.  I ripped through the first two books and it took longer for me to read the third.  Maybe if I had taken a break I would have had more motivation to finish?  They were good.  It’s hard to recommend books like that, when the topic they are about is so distasteful, so I won’t recommend them, but I’m glad that I read them.

And then I was trying to help Beth figure out her nook library lending, so I went and checked out the first book that looked semi-interesting that was available on the RPL site – and it was a Harlequin romance from the 90s!  What a fun little break for the mind.  Ah.  🙂

So now, what to read?  The pile of books by my bed hasn’t gone down one bit and I’m still behind in my magazine reading.  I’ll see what inspires…

Off to read!

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World Book Night is here!

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The books are ready to be in someone else’s hands!  World Book Night is here!  The date was chosen because it is the date of William Shakespeare’s birth, and what better way to celebrate by putting good books into the hands of light or non-readers.  I chose to give “The Book Thief,” because it is a novel written for young adult readers which tells a meaningful and important story.

In a few minutes I am going to venture out and approach strangers and ask them about their reading habits.  It’s such a great thing, putting great books into the hands of people who may not be drawn to books, but it is also feeling daunting right now.  I’m an extrovert but approaching strangers is a little out of my comfort zone.

Maybe it’ll be a life changing experience for me, the giver, as well as for the receiver.

I’ll keep you posted!

For more information on World Book Night you can visit http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/.

Follow me on Instagram for photos of the day!

Books: A Moveable Feast

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English: Winter, 1922 Ernest Hemingway and Had...

Image via Wikipedia

 

It’s February and I’m reading A Moveable Feast with Wallace at unputdownables.net.  We’re halfway through the book now and I am enjoying it, although I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much if I hadn’t read The Paris Wife and heard the author tell of her experience in writing the book!  Many are not enjoying it as much – his writing style, his attitude and self-importance.  Below are the comments that I made on Wallace’s blog on this week’s reading (to chapter 17).

 

 

*****************

 

I am caught up!

 

I am enjoying the reading and find myself looking things up all the time! From words that he uses (inaccroachable:http://www.fictionaut.com/groups/matchbook/threads/307) to the phrases that he uses (clearly marked for death: http://secondandpark.com/2010/02/hemingway%E2%80%99s-delightfully-callous-disses/ ).

 

Some things that I’m keeping in mind about him as I read this come from listening to the author of The Paris Wife and my suppositions that I arrived at while reading that book. He is very young during this time and had already faced tragedy in the Great War. He was injured and fell in love with his nurse, who wrote him a Dear Ernest letter after his recovery and return to the US. I think he probably had some “demons” (read: PTSD) from the war that affected how he had relationships with people. Paula McLain also talked about how he could never be without a woman. He went from relationship to relationship, never ending one until another was started. It is noted that he hated his mother, his father committed suicide (as did Hadley’s) and he received ECT (shock treatments) at Mayo Clinic in his 50s.

 

He’s definitely not a sympathetic character, but that last paragraph (see below) does give insight into the depth of his feelings for Hadley and his acknowledgement of her hurt. I guess he contacted her late in his life – a few weeks before his suicide. It’s hard to see much of Hadley in this book (so far… I haven’t read ahead!) but I guess I keep in my mind other accounts of their relationship.

 

Hadley and I had become too confident in each other and careless in our confidence and pride. In the mechanics of how this was penetrated I have never tried to apportion the blame, except my own part, and that was clearer all my life. The bulldozing of three people’s hearts to destroy one happiness and build another and the love and the good work and all that came out of it is not part of this book. I wrote it and left it out. How it all ended, finally, has nothing to do with this either. Any blame in that was mine to take and possess and understand. The only one, Hadley, who had no possible blame, ever, came out of it finally and married a much finer man than I ever was or could hope to be and is happy and deserves it and that was one good and lasting thing that came out of that year.

 

Off to read!

 

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World Book Night

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I signed up to be a “giver” on World Book Night in April.

I read about it on another book blog and when I looked into it further, I thought it was a worthy and great thing!  The goal is to get copies (20 per giver) of a great book in the hands of non-readers or light readers on April 23 (UNESCO’s International Day of the Book – the date Shakespeare and Cervantes died).  There was a list of books to choose from and it is important to choose a book that you are passionate about sharing with others – which was pretty easy for me!  I could have easily picked 6 or 7 on the list that I have loved and have recommended to others already.

The Book Thief

Image via Wikipedia

I chose “The Book Thief” as my first choice, because I think that, although there are endless stories about the Holocaust, they are all worthy of hearing so we never forget.  I chose “Bel Canto” and “Little Bee” as my second and third choices, because they are just wonderful books that really touched me emotionally.  Just so great.

The deadline to sign up is February 1 and they will be notifying people mid-February if they are chosen to be givers of books and more details on where to pick up the books.  Click below if you’re interested!

http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/

Off to read!

A. A. Milne – Now We Are Six

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Young Milne with bear

Last night before I went to bed, I read that it was A. A. Milne’s birthday – January 18, 1882.  I have always been a huge fan and still count “Now We Are Six” as one of my favorite books.  It was given to me as a gift when I turned six and it has been a gift that I give to the six year olds in my life.

It is filled with smart and witty poetry on many topics that children (and child-like adults) love to read about – kings and dragons, shipwrecks and friendships, fooling adults and questioning adults.  Most of the poems are long-ish stories and are begging to be read aloud.  For example:

Sneezles
Christopher Robin
Had wheezles
And sneezles,
They bundled him
Into
His bed.
They gave him what goes
With a cold in the nose,
And some more for a cold
in the head.
They wondered
If wheezles
Could turn
Into measles,
If sneezles
Would turn
Into mumps;
They examined his chest
For a rash,
And the rest
Of his body for swellings and lumps.  

Don’t you want to know what happens?  There are four more stanzas of the poem and a clever, funny ending.  Ah.  Good stuff.  The Knight Whose Armour Didn’t Squeak, King John’s Christmas, The Old Sailor, and King Hillary and the Beggarman are all great stories, and the list goes on.  I’m sure I appreciate it more now than I did when I was six.  I know I included a few of the poems in my “poetry notebooks” in 9th and 10th grades, favorite poems we collected and illustrated (by cutting up old greeting cards and magazines – remember those pre-clip-art days?).

I also remember back when the internet was brand new finding a game of Pooh Sticks online and being so happy that I would be able to look at classic Pooh illustrations and learn about the man who wrote these books.

Does anyone else have a love of A. A. Milne’s work?  What is your favorite?

Off to read!

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Author: “The Paris Wife”

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I love to meet authors, or if I can’t meet them personally, to listen to them speak about their books and their passion for writing.  I find it fascinating.

Paula McLain, author

In the beginning of December I noticed a sign at the Rochester Public Library that Paula McLain, author of “The Paris Wife” was going to be speaking in January.  I knew that Deadra loved this book and so I put in my request for it and invited Deadra down for the afternoon event.  I started reading the book right before Christmas and ate it up.  It was hard to remember that it was historical fiction and not a memoir or biography of the woman who was Ernest Hemingway’s first wife.  It is a beautifully written book and made me want to know more about Papa.

Paula talked about how she got the idea to write the book from Hadley’s point of view and how she read thousands of pages of letters that Hadley had written to Ernest while they were courting.  Unfortunately, Hadley destroyed her letters from Ernest after their messy divorce (reminded me a little of the Love Letter Bonfire that Beth and I had a few years ago!), but as a result, she really got an understanding of how Hadley thought and felt.

Ernest Hemingway's 1923 passport photo

Ernest Hemingway's passport photo 1923 Image via Wikipedia

Paula recommended we look at Hemingway’s passport photo from 1923 and challenged us to see if we didn’t get a little swoony at the sight.  Deadra and I agreed that it didn’t do it for us, but I found this picture of him in 1921 that does make him look a little dreamy.  (Sorry it’s so small!)

Ernest Hemingway 1921

I also found this wedding photo from Hadley and Ernest’s wedding, which I thought was pretty fun.

Hadley and Ernest Hemingway, Wedding Day 1921

It was fascinating to listen to Paula talk about her passion she found while researching for this book and I’m glad that I read the book before listening to her discussion.  I also liked to hear the reaction she is getting from the descendents of the Hemingways.  Made me tear up a little!

I will read Hemingway – Deadra and I think “A Moveable Feast,” his last book – sounds like a great one to read, so it will go on my TBR list!

As I was listening to her speak, I wondered if I could challenge myself to find an author discussion/book reading each month for the year 2012… I know I will keep looking for them and going when I can!  I just love hearing authors talk about writing!  If you click on the picture of Paula McLain above, it is linked to an interview done with her on The Hemingway Project blog.  Good stuff!  

Off to read!

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Books: Flood and Food

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The first book I read in 2012 was one written by and about the Rushford Volunteer Fire Department and their response to the flood of 2007.  Their thoughts were collected by Bonnie Flaig Prinsen and the book was published with help from the Rushford Community Foundation.  It is a great document for posterity and it was good to read it.  I entered the information into Goodreads, which is something I haven’t done before, so I hope it gets other views!

The next book I had was terribly overdue to the library so I did some intense browsing/speed reading so I could return it today.

The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home CooksView a preview of this book online

The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks

It was a great book about creating meals from real ingredients.  It is something that I like to do – bake bread, make cakes from scratch – and I thought it was very well-written.  I loved reading about the evolution of cake mixes and how in the 1950s the women could tell the difference and didn’t like that they just had to add water, so they created them so that we could add eggs, oil AND water.  The rest of the ingredients should read flour, sugar, salt, soda, but the ingredient list goes on and on.  Crazy.

It was a great book and would be a great gift for someone who is wanting to change their fast-food ways and to learn how simple it is to really prepare real food.

Next I plan to read my back issues of magazines and dig into the pile of books that are on my nightstand!  They are books I own, books I was given as gifts, and books I borrowed.  And I’ll read the next book for book club – The Center of Everything.  Again, I love the book club in a bag concept!

Cover of "The Sun Also Rises"

Cover of The Sun Also Rises

On a book and movie related note – I mentioned that I read and loved “The Paris Wife” and I’m excited about meeting the author on Sunday!  Tuesday night I watched the movie “Midnight in Paris” (love it! own it!) and watched carefully the scenes featuring Ernest Hemingway and I ordered the movie “The Sun Also Rises,” based on a Hemingway book of the same name.  Very interesting to put it all together – Hemingway living in Paris, with his first wife, drinking in bars and his melancholic diatribes, and the wounded expatriate living in Paris and going to Spain for the bull fights.  I hope to actually READ some Hemingway in 2012 – not just read about him!  I love it when one book leads you to another…

Off to read!

 

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The Last Book Blast from 2011

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The Uncoupling

The Uncoupling

I liked this book enough, but it wasn’t great. I’ve read another Meg Wolitzer book and have another on my TBR shelf. She picks interesting topics. This one is about a high school production of a Greek comedy about a sex strike that women start to try to bring about the end of a war and the “spell” that it casts on the community that it is being performed in.
The Book Thief

The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak (Goodreads Author)
Finally finished this – we discussed it at book club last Tuesday. What an amazing book. I underestimated its heft, both in the number of pages and in the content. I loved the writing style of Zusak and am hearing great things about his next book so it will be added to my TBR list!
Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas, and Found Happiness

Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas, and Found Happiness

by Dominique Browning (Goodreads Author)
I honestly skimmed this book. I read the beginning but didn’t connect at all with the author so then I just skimmed through before returning it to the library. It may be helpful to some, but I didn’t find any great insight in there. 🙂

I Feel Bad About My Neck: and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman

I Feel Bad About My Neck: and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook, with Nora Ephron narrating her own writings. Until the end. Yikes. Then I was just depressed, thinking about getting older and the “d” word that eventually happens to family and friends. Not that it’s a surprise, but it just was a depressing chapter to end on.
The Paris Wife
View a preview of this book onlineThe Paris Wife
by Paula McLain (Goodreads Author)
I really liked this book about Ernest Hemingway and his first wife – The Paris Wife.  The author captured Hadley’s voice so brilliantly and you can really feel their love for each other.  I want to know more about this era and the “characters” that inhabited Paris during this time.  I cannot wait to meet the author at the Rochester Public Library next Sunday!
Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina

by Leo Tolstoy, Richard Pevear (Translator), Larissa Volokhonsky(Translator)
I’m thankful for the readalong that was organized by Wallace, as I don’t think I would have tackled or finished this book without the deadlines and the discussion along the way! Everyone added such intelligence and insight to the book and it made it more interesting and enjoyable! 

I knew very little of the book so I encountered many spoilers along the way. It is what it is but I wonder if I would have enjoyed more without the spoilers? 

I look forward to watching some movie versions of this classic!
Well I’ve been a bad blogger in December.  It’s been a good year and a good month of reading, so I’ll simply recap the rest of the books that I haven’t blogged about, using goodreads reviews.
Check out my new page above listing all the books I read in 2011!  It’s fun to see them all in list format.  Fun for me, anyway!   They’re also attached at the end of this post.  Happy 2012!
1 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy (12/30/11)
2 The Paris Wife Paula McLain (12/27/11)
3 I Feel Bad About my Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman** Nora Ephraon (12/13/11)
4 Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas, and Found Happiness Dominique Browning (12/12/11)
5 The Book Thief* Markus Zusak (12/11/11)
6 The Uncoupling Meg Wolitzer (12/6/11)
7 What a Woman Must Do Faith Sullivan (11/16/11)
8 Bossypants** Tina Fey (11/12/11)
9 Gift from the Sea Anne Morrow Lindbergh (11/10/11)
10 A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life Donald Miller (11/10/11)
11 The Wisdom of My Grandmothers Adriana Trigiani (11/2011)
12 Vaclav and Lena: A Novel ** Haley Tanner (11/2011)
13 A Vintage Affair: A Novel Isabel Wolff (10/22/11)
14 Then Came You Jennifer Weiner (10/17/11)
15 My Life in France** Julia Child (10/13/11)
16 Loving Frank * Nancy Horan (10/11/11)
17 Ella Minnow Pea Mark Dunn (10/4/11)
18 Summer and the City (The Carrie Diaries #2) Candace Bushnell (9/29/11)
19 Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People ** Amy Sedaris (9/28/11)
20 Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes Elizabeth Bard (9/22/11)
21 The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake ** Aimee Bender (9/20/11)
22 Attachments Rainbow Rowell (9/7/11)
23 The Lover’s Dictionary David Levithan (9/7/11)
24 Rich Again Anna Maxted (9/3/11)
25 The Invention of Hugo Cabret ** Brian Selznick (8/29/11)
26 The Piano Teacher Janice Y.K. Lee (8/28/11)
27 Anybody Out There? (Walsh Family #4) ** Marian Keyes (8/24/11)
28 The Happiness Project Gretchen Rubin (8/17/11)
29 Wedding Season Katie Fforde (8/16/11)
30 Wild Designs Katie Fforde (8/14/11)
31 The Housekeeper and the Professor Yoko Ogawa (8/7/11)
32 The Art of French Kissing Kristin Harmel (8/4/11)
33 Love Letters Katie Fforde (7/31/11)
34 The Girl Who Fell From the Sky Heidi W. Durrow (7/30/11)
35 House Rules Jodi Picoult (7/27/11)
36 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Lisa See (7/23/11)
37 A Visit from the Good Squad ** Jennifer Egan (7/19/11)
38 The Girl in the Garden Kamala Nair (7/16/11)
39 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (#7) ** J.K. Rowling (7/12/11)
40 Olive Kitteridge * Elizbeth Strout (7/9/11)
41 Second Thyme Around Katie Fforde (7/2011)
42 Highland Fling Katie Fforde (6/28/11)
43 Stately Pursuits Katie Fforde (6/23/11)
44 Minding Frankie Maeve Binchy (6/16/11)
45 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (#6) ** J.K. Rowling 6/16/2011
46 The Carrie Diaries(#1) Candace Bushnell (6/11/11)
47 Sweet Revenge (A Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery, #14) ** Diane Mott Davidson (6/9/11)
48 Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Jamie Ford (5/31/11)
49 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoneix (#5) ** J.K. Rowling (5/25/11)
50 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (#4) ** J.K. Rowling (5/4/11)
51 Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand ** Helen Simonson (5/2/11)
52 The Hundred-Foot Journey: A Novel Richard Morais (4/19/11)
53 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (#3) ** J.K. Rowling (4/13/11)
54 Saving CeeCee Honeycutt * Beth Hoffman (4/9/11)
55 Heart and Soul Maeve Binchy (4/2/11)
56 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (#2) ** J.K. Rowling (4/2011)
57 Jane Eyre ** Charlotte Bronte (3/24/11)
58 Mockingbird Kathryn Erskine (3/24/11)
59 Juliet, Naked Nick Hornby (3/20/11)
60 Plain Truth * Jodi Picoult (3/9/11)
61 Traveling With Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story ** Sue Monk Kidd (3/4/11)
62 One Day David Nicholls (2/27/11)
63 Brava, Valentine: A Novel ** Adriana Trigiani (2/22/11)
64 Faking It (Dempsey’s #2) Jennifer Crusie (2/15/11)
65 Every Last One ** Anna Quindlen (2/9/11)
66 The Summer We Read Gatsby: A Novel Danielle Ganek (2/6/11)
67 The Position Meg Wolitzer (2/2/11)
68 The Magicians ** Lev Grossman (1/29/11)
69 The Virgin of Small Plains Nancy Pickard (1/16/11)
70 Her Fearful Symmetry ** Audrey Niffenegger (1/13/11)
71 Sarah’s Key Tatiana de Rosnay (1/8/11)

What I’ve been Up to!

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Tina Fey as Sarah Palin (left) and Amy Poehler...

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It’s been nearly a week since I last posted!  Wow.  I’ve looked at the “new post” page over the week and haven’t had too much to say.  I had an enjoyable four days and three nights babysitting in St. Paul and had some good quality reading time while there.  I finished a few books so I’ll catch you up on what I’ve read.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

I listened to this on audio (a MUST if you’re going to read the book) and I even took time to look at the PDF and watch the SNL clip included on the last CD.  Tina Fey is a brilliant comedian that is fun to listen to and reminisce with.  I enjoyed her perspective on women in comedy, specifically women on SNL (and Second City).  She not only talks about the changes that she saw during her reign at both institutions, but also tells really funny stories about her life.  I drove around smiling the entire time I listened and even laughed out loud a few times.

A great listen!

I first read Faith Sullivan’s “Cape Ann” book ages ago and when I came across this one in the library I quickly picked it up.  It was a sweet and easy read about three women – Bess (18), her aunt Harriet (40 something) and great-aunt Kate (59).  They live together in a small Minnesotan community and the story takes place in 1952.  The story is told from all three women’s perspectives and conveys a lot of emotion in few pages.

A sweet story.

I’m still plugging through with the Anna Karenina readalong and last week even finished my pages on time and was the first one to post on the blog!  I’m not sure that will happen by morning, but you never know!  The segments we read each week average around 80 pages and are very do-able.  I found last week’s segment very thought-provoking and it has led to several conversations throughout the week.

I stopped at the library yesterday to pick up the book I had on hold

Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put on My Pajamas, and Found Happiness

and then grabbed an audiobook The UncouplingThe Uncoupling.

I refused to be lured into the stacks to find more books to add to my ever-growing TBR pile by my bed.  I have several books that I want to read, either my own or on loan from friends, and I have to make some headway in Anna Karenina, read my November O Magazine, and read “The Book Thief” for book club in a few weeks.  I was successful in leaving the library without books, but I did grab three DVDs!  Ah, the library lure.  Good stuff.

Well, off to read!