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Teaser Tuesday and Where Are You? 12-29-09: One Amazing Thing

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.


This week my teaser is from One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, page 30:


Farah. She had entered Tariq's life innocuously, the way a letter opener slides under the flap of an envelope, cutting through things that had been glued shut, spilling secret contents.



It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I'm in an unnamed city in the US (probably LA or San Francisco). We've just experienced an earthquake, and I'm trapped in the basement of the Indian consulate with a group of people I don't know. Read More!

The Sunday Salon: Farewell 2009

The Sunday Salon.com




Happy Sunday to all you Saloners and other readers! I hope the holidays are being sane and peaceful for you. We've had a quiet week - by design. The most exciting event was our puppy Liza Jane getting her new toys out of her stocking. She already had a stuffing-free moose, and now she's added a polar bear and a penguin to the collection. Our living room floor looks a bit like an Arctic massacre took place.

2009 is going out with a flutter rather than a bang in terms of my reading. I tapered off during the summer and in the fall, my reading was almost non-existent. But I'm back in the groove and 2010 looks like a good reading year. Most of what I plan to read is already on my shelf, which is a great feeling. And I generally move books along after I've read them, unless it's one I know I'll want to re-read in the not too distant future. So I'll be making room for more books throughout the year!

Some of my 2009 reading highlights (starred books are the best of the best):
  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak*
  • The Help by Kathryn Stockett*
  • The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent*
  • The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
  • Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich*
  • The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey*
  • The Colour by Rose Tremain*
  • The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  • The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon*
  • The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan*
  • The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
  • The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver*
  • The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
  • A Mercy by Toni Morrison
  • Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
  • Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
  • Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
  • The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
  • Gilead by Marilynne Robinson*
  • Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence by Matthew Sanford
  • Stitches by David Small (graphic memoir)
I've reviewed some of these; in the sidebar, 'Books I've Read in 2009' has links to reviews.

I'll be starting 2010 off with a classic, Dr. Zhivago and some more Orange prize winners/nominees for Orange January, from among these:
  • Home by Marilynne Robinson
  • White Teeth by Zadie Smith
  • The Mammoth Cheese by Sheri Holman
  • The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
  • The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer
  • What the Body Remembers by Shauna Singh Baldwin
  • Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett
  • Ursula Under by Ingrid Hill
Got suggestions?


Happy 2010 to all of you - may the year be peaceful, prosperous and include plenty of good books! Read More!

The Sunday Salon: 12-13-09

The Sunday Salon.com




I was hoping to have a book review to post this week, but alas, I have yet to finish one for December! I'm making progress on The Lacuna, and enjoying it a lot, just not reading much at a go. Hopefully after next week's choir concert, I'll have some more reading time and energy. Some of the music we're learning for the concert is quite challenging - not a bad thing, but it takes a LOT of time to learn and memorize. Plus, I'm singing a solo in the matinee concert and have had an unfriendly flu bug plaguing me all week, so I need to recover my voice slowly.

So since I don't have much bookish news to report, here's a poem that is the basis for one of the songs we're singing in the concert. It's written by Carolyn Forché:


Song Coming Toward Us

I am spirit entering
The stomach of the stones

Bowls of clay and water sing,
Set on the fires to dry
The mountain moves
Like the spirit of the southeast morning

You walk where drums are buried
Feel their skins tapping all night
Snow flutes swell ahead of your life
Listen to yourself

I am spirit living
Thin wooden years
Around the aspen

You live
Like a brief wisp
In a giant place


Have a wonderful Sunday, whatever you're doing today. Maybe next week I'll have a book report! Read More!

Planning Ahead to 2010

Even though I'm still in a reading slump, I'm making plans for reading in 2010. Just a couple of challenges this year, and nothing so grandiose as 125 books. Plus: most of what I've got on my lists are books that are already on my shelves!

First off, I joined the 1010 Category Challenge over at Library Thing. The idea is to come up with ten different categories in 2010 and read any # of books in each category - you decide the # for yourself. Though many people are reading 10 in each, I decided to go easy on myself and choose five for each one.


I've picked my categories and have most of the books chosen in each one, though that's flexible.

Here are my categories:

  1. A day without Orange is like a day without sunshine - Orange prize winners and nominees
  2. We Like Short Shorts! - short story collections
  3. She’s a Classic - classics written by women
  4. Booker, Dano! - Booker prize winners and nominees
  5. Dust Collectors - books that have been on my shelves more than two years
  6. Border crossings - books from countries other than the US or UK
  7. The Bigger they are, the harder they fall - chunksters, 500 pages and over
  8. News to me - authors new to me
  9. Pulitzer Prize winners
  10. The whole truth and nothing but the truth - nonfiction
Bonus category:
11. Play it again, Sam - re-reads, or books I started and didn't finish and want to try again.

Yesterday I stumbled across the 2010 version of my favorite 2009 reading challenge: What's In a Name. I jumped right into this one in '09 and met my challenge by the end of February.

Six new categories this year and some possible books to meet the challenge:
  1. A book with a food in the title: The Mammoth Cheese; Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit; Sexing the Cherry; Fruit of the Lemon; The Fortune Cookie Chronicles; Winter Wheat
  2. A book with a body of water in the title: Peace Like a River; Pilgrim at Tinker Creek; The Sea, The Sea; The Sea
  3. A book with a title (queen, president) in the title: Madame Bovary; The Master; The Princess Bride; The Queen of the Tambourine; The Emperor of Scent; The Senator’s Wife
  4. A book with a plant in the title: The Poisonwood Bible; Like Trees Walking; The Lotus Eaters
  5. A book with a place name in the title: A Sand County Almanac; The View from Castle Rock; The Septembers of Shiraz; The Little Giant of Aberdeen County; Moonlight in Odessa
  6. A book with a music term in the title: Song of Solomon; A Continuous Harmony; The Fish Can Sing; An Equal Music; Dirt Music
A few of these are crossovers with the 10/10 challenge. That's all perfectly legal!

I'm looking forward to a lot of these books. Mostly right now I'm looking forward to finishing a book this month.


Image from Vladstudio. Read More!

The Pink Glove Dance: Breast Cancer Awareness

This video has gone viral -- it was filmed at a Portland hospital - where I had surgery in August! I knew these people were cool.

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Teaser Tuesday and Where Are You? 12-01-09: The Lacuna

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.


This week my teaser is from The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, page 57:

Mother is right about the city ending just south of where we live. It isn't South America, but the streets turn to dirt lanes and it's like a village, with families living in wattle huts around dirt courtyards, children squatting in the mud, mothers making fires to cook tortillas. Grandmothers sit on blankets weaving more blankets for other grandmothers to sit on. Between the houses, gardens of maize and beans.


It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

It's 1929, I'm 13 years old and live with my mother in a hacienda on Isla Pixol, an island jungle in Mexico. Read More!

Friday Fill-ins 11-20-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.


1. We need the towel rack, grab bars and shower curtain rod installed to FINISH the new bathroom! woot!

2. I flushed our new toilet for the first time and it made me smile.

3. If you want to get in touch with me, email is the best bet

4. I have potty mouth today because I'm so excited about our new bathroom!

5. Massachusetts has a proposed 5% sales tax on elective cosmetic surgery; I think I have no opinion about this, other than it seems arbitrary.

6. Being with our friends and family makes for a happy holiday.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to some quiet time at home, tomorrow my plans include a rehearsal and attending a house concert and Sunday, I want to perform with Gwen in our own house concert ! Read More!

Teaser Tuesday and Where Are You? 11-17-09: Elizabeth and Her German Garden

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.




This week my teaser is from Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth Von Arnim, page 56:
I have been much afflicted again lately by visitors - not stray callers to be got rid of after a due administration of tea and things you are sorry afterward that you said, but people staying in the house and not to be got rid of at all. All June was lost to me in this way, and it was from first to last a radiant month of heat and beauty; but a garden where you meet the people you saw at breakfast, and will see again at lunch and dinner is not a place to be happy in.


It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

It's the end of the 19th century and I'm living on a German estate north of Berlin, enchanted by the wild gardens; I spend every waking moment outside, after leaving the stultifying dullness of Berlin society. Read More!

The Sunday Salon: 11-15-09

The Sunday Salon.com


I was going to wish you a happy Ides of November, but apparently, according to Answers.com, in November, ides are on the 13th:
Ides: pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)The 15th day of March, May, July, or October or the 13th day of the other months in the ancient Roman calendar.

Who figures these things out anyway? OK, I'm just stalling here, because I've hardly read ten pages this week. I'm in what is known as a reading slump. It's not that I haven't anything interesting to read - my shelves are full of luscious books waiting to be devoured. I'm actually stuck in the middle of two excellent books: Life and Fate by Vasilly Grossman - a Russian tome about WWII and the Holocaust; and The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls - a memoir about Walls' exceedingly dysfunctional family. So what's not to love?

I'm afraid if I set them aside and move on to other reads, I won't ever pick them up again, and I really do want to read them. And I have some very compelling books waiting in the wings: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, the newest recipient of the Man Booker prize and The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver's first novel in nine years. Oh, so hard to resist. But resist I will. I feel compelled to finish the other two books, I just need to plunge back in.

What about you? What do you do when you're in a reading slump? Do you power through a book or two or just take a break?

I hope you're enjoying your Sunday, wherever you are. It looks like it will be a rainy one here in Portland.
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Weekly Geeks 2009-42: Podcasts?


I haven't done a Weekly Geeks post for quite awhile! This week's topic:


Share with us a podcast you love, preferably book related, but not necessarily so. Give us the link, of course, and share with us details about that podcast and why you enjoy it so much. If you have a couple or three favorites, share them all!

I used to listen to podcasts a lot more when I was working - often to drown out the noise of downtown construction or of chatty co-workers. The ones I listened to most are not necessarily book-related, but authors are often interviewed and it sometimes piqued my interest about their books. These are all such high quality shows and the podcasts are all quite reliable (not all programs are!)

  • Fresh Air with Terry Gross. I'm so glad this is a podcast because I rarely remember to tune in when it's on the radio. Terry is a fabulous interviewer and her guests cover a very wide spectrum, from authors to generals to actors.
  • Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippet - this is where I heard Matt Sanford interviewed about his book, Waking, that I reviewed last week. She has very thought provoking shows with guests such as Karen Armstrong, Rachel Naomi Remen, the late poet John O'Donohue and Mary Doria Russell.
  • The Story with Dick Gordon. Wonderful interviews with everyday folk who have interesting stories to tell.
  • This American Life with Ira Glass. Just brilliant. Sometimes funny, often poignant. David Sedaris is a regular guest as is Sarah Vowell. Hint: you need to download this one the week immediately following the airing of the show for the free podcast; after that they're available for 99 cents each (still a good deal).
I'm grateful for this theme this week because now I'm remembering how much I enjoyed listening to these shows while I worked or rode the bus. I must make time for them again.
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Friday Fill-ins 11-13-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.

1. The last band I saw live was probably the same band I’m going to see tomorrow – Motherlode

2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is time with our families.

3. My Christmas/holiday shopping is almost non-existent.

4. Thoughts of music fill my head. (Of course, now that you mentioned bagpipes, Amazing Grace is running through my head!)

5. I wish I could wear pierced earrings.

6. Bagpipes can sometimes make me feel melancholy.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to quiet time at home, tomorrow my plans include a band rehearsal, dinner with friends and a concert, and Sunday, I want to read and sing. Read More!

Teaser Tuesday and Where In the World Are You? The Glass Castle

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.


This week my teaser is from The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls page 56:

After dinner, the whole family stretched out on the benches and the floor of the depot and read, with the dictionary in the middle of the room so we kids could look up words we didn't know. Sometimes I discussed the definitions with Dad, and if we didn't agree with what the dictionary writers said, we sat down and wrote a letter to the publishers. they'd write back defending their position, which would prompt an even longer letter from Dad, and if they replied again, so would he, until we stopped hearing from the dictionary people.


It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

Hmm, where am I? Bouncing around between small mining towns, big cities (Phoenix, Las Vegas), West Virginia, the desert; living in trailers, an abandoned train depot, available shacks, with family - never very long in one place, with parents like mine. Read More!

Liza and the shoes

Our six month old puppy Liza loves to go for walks. She can tell when I'm putting on my shoes that it's time - see how she "helps" me put them on?

Read More!

Sunday Salon: RW&R Rising from the Dust

The Sunday Salon.com


Poor little blog, you look so lonely. I've been off spending time with my photo blog and neglecting you. So in honor of my decision to pay more attention to you (including writing book reviews) I've decided on a makeover. What do you think of your new look?

So first, Saloners and other readers (if there are any of you left!) a little update on my reading progress. I was aiming for 125 books for 2009, but at some point last month, I realized I'll be lucky to reach 100. And that's just fine. My challenges were tending to cause me angst, which defeats the whole purpose of reading books, yes? I do have a fun challenge set up for 2010 (more details later) that involves a lot of the books I've been wanting to read anyway, and almost all of which are on my bookshelves already.

Just to have some closure on my challenges: out of nine challenges, I've completed all but two. Here are the stats:
  • What's In a Name: 6 of 6
  • Dewey's Books: 5 of 5
  • Decades: 6 of 10 (I'll be reading at least one more of these before year's end)
  • Pub Challenge: 9 of 9
  • Booker Prize Challenge: 10 of 12 (The 2009 winner, Wolf Hall, is waiting in the wings, very close at hand)
  • Orange Prize Challenge: 12 of 12
  • Essays: 20 of 20
  • Short Stories: 25 of 25
  • Classics: 4 of 4
As of today, I'm at 79 books read for the year.

And as promised, here is a book review.
===================================================================

Waking by Matthew Sanford

I heard Matt Sanford on an NPR program about a year ago and his story touched and fascinated me. In 1978, at age 13, he was in a terrible auto accident that killed his father and sister and left Matt a paraplegic. In this memoir he tells of years of pain, anguish and coming to terms with his paralysis and the grief of losing his father and sister.

Matt spends a number of years in a gray world, disconnected emotionally and spiritually from his body. At some point he becomes aware that his healing story will not involve walking or becoming like one of the super hero paraplegics paraded in front of him for inspiration. Eventually Matthew is introduced to yoga and experiences what he calls an "energetic sensation within my mind-body relationship." He pursues yoga intensely - though it is not a linear progression; he experiences many setbacks. Eventually, Matt goes on to teach yoga to both walking people and those with disabilities.

I was drawn to Matt's story partly because of my own experience with yoga and with progressive physical limitations. It is a good reminder to all of us to stay conscious of our bodies, not to take them for granted; and that we can change the healing stories that practitioners tell us and that we tell ourselves.

Beautiful writing; highly recommended.
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How to Tell People They Sound Racist

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Friday Fill-ins 11-06-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.



1. Plans and schedules are necessary evils.

2. I'm happy when things flow.

3. The last thing I drank was coffee (duh).

4. One of the most valuable things in my life is friendship.

5. I like feta cheese on my pizza.

6. Dear November, Thank you for the beautiful autumn leaves.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a quiet evening, tomorrow my plans include not much and Sunday, I want to do more of the same.

.
Read More!

Friday Fill-ins 10-16-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.




1. So are we going to New York in September?

2. A finished bathroom! is what's up ahead.

3. I love to sing.

4. I have a virus of some sort.

5. I walk a puppy almost every day now.

6. A good book is one of the true elixirs of life!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to getting over my virus, tomorrow my plans include reading and Sunday, I want to go visit my Dad. Read More!

Teaser Tuesday and Where Are You? 10-13-09: Life and Fate

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.




This week my teaser is from Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman page 231:
Nearly everyone believed that good would triumph, that honest men, who hadn't hesitated to sacrifice their lives, would be able to build a good and just life. This faith was all the more touching in that these men thought that they themselves would be unlikely to survive until the end of the war; indeed, they felt astonished each evening to have survived one more day.


It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I'm in Russia; it's 1942 and I'm alternately in a German concentration camp, a Russian labour camp, Kazan, Stalingrad, on a cattle car bound for the gas chamber and a tank corps in the Urals. Life is not easy for any of us. Read More!

Friday Fill-ins 10-02-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.




1. I have a history of procrastination; I’ve been meaning to write about it but keep putting it off.

2. Fluent Spanish is something I wish I knew.


3. I'm eating (or recently ate) too much.

4. Time to get on the road to better health.

5. So that's it, that's all she wrote!

6. Enough is better than nothing!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to pampering our puppy after her surgery, tomorrow my plans include tile shopping and the farmers market and Sunday, I want to read!

. Read More!

Friday Fill-ins 09-25-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.




And here we go!

1. One week ago I was a week younger than I am today.

2. I thought I could fly like Peter Pan when I was young.

3. Mama told me I couldn’t.

4. It’s all up to you and me.

5. Take your time figuring out what to do with the rest of your life – and have fun doing it.

6. Gas will pass!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a Middle Eastern dinner, tomorrow my plans include driving to the beach and introducing our puppy to the ocean and Sunday, I want to hang out at the beach and read and nap.

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Teaser Tuesday and Where Are You? 09-22-09: The Earth Hums in B Flat

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.


This week my teaser is from The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan page 279:
I don't know why my feet are taking me along this road. There are plenty of other roads to walk. Maybe I need to take notice of my feet as well as listen to my own head. Maybe my feet are telling me something my head doesn't know.






It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I'm a precocious 12 year old girl living in a small village in Wales. Read More!

Friday Fill-ins 09-18-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.




1. My car really needs to be washed.

2. The autumnal equinox is coming up next.

3. Lately, things seem a little crazy with the health care issue causing so much polarization. I don’t understand why people think it’s not a good thing for everyone to have health coverage.

4. My cottage / studio is one of my favorite 'hiding' places.

5. What happened to hope?

6. Good health care for all is not impossible!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a quiet reading evening, tomorrow my plans include the farmers market, if it’s not raining, and shopping for tile for our new bathroom and Sunday, I want to read.

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Teaser Tuesday and Where Are You? 09-15-09: Women of the Silk

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.


This week my teaser is from Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama, page 64:

The house rattled hollow in the strong, persistent winds. At night, when the winds blew, they were like voices coming through the house. Yu-sung lay in bed for hours listening to what they were saying. Sometimes she imagined them to be the voices of her daughters, returning to tell her of their lives. 'It is all right, Ma Ma,' they told her. But when she sat up slowly, so as not to disturb Pao, and listened harder for their distant voices, the noise was simply the winds of a storm approaching.



It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

It's 1925 and I'm in Yung Kee, China working in a silk factory.

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Friday Fill-ins 09-04-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.


1. I feel that no one should die because they cannot afford healthcare. No one should go broke because they get sick, and no one should be tied to a job because of a pre-existing condition or to get health care.

2. Singing with my friends is always fun.

3. Right now, I can hear these things: my laptop fan; my puppy barking in her sleep (dog dreams); fireworks from downtown where the symphony is playing The 1812 Overture.

4. It feels like fall and I'm glad it’s going to rain soon.

5. The last time I played my guitar was too long ago.

6. My birthday falls on this Labor day weekend.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading, tomorrow my plans include a birthday dinner and Sunday, I want to celebrate my birthday and go to a block party. And Monday I want to celebrate my birthday at a brunch with friends and then go to a root beer party!

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Friday Fill-ins 08-28-09

Janet is our fantastic host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.




1. He was a complicated man who did a lot of good things for this country. Ted Kennedy RIP.

2. Autumn chill, long nights, quiet days is what I look forward to most this time of year.

3. My best friend is not a term I use.

4. My intention is always to be honest with you.

5. Appearances can be fun and creative!

6. The last person I gave a hug to was Laurie. Why don't we do that more often?

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading my book and watching The Matrix, tomorrow my plans include going to a house concert to hear my friends perform and Sunday, I want to finish my current book, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay!

. Read More!