tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68117903057506577712024-03-12T20:53:06.636-04:00The Shore BookwormMariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-40341363540765743692013-11-16T09:07:00.001-05:002013-11-16T09:08:05.866-05:00Another Try<br />
Holy cow!! More than a YEAR since the last post?!?! That is worse than bad.<br />
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Well, I certainly have plenty of time on my hands, so that is no excuse. I have been pretty sick, so I supposed I could use that, but that seems so evasive. So I am just going to apologize and renew an attempt to share the fun I have reading. I am going to add some of what I am watching, too. I never watch regular TV, partly because it is crap and partly because I never remember when what I like is on. Pathetic.<br />
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And I want to get as much writing done as possible because in addition to MS, I have received the devastating diagnosis of Stage IV breast cancer. I am never going to win the Pulitzer Prize. But I can have a good time with this.<br />
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I am going to keep things super simple, just giving thumbs up or down unless there is something spectacular to describe.<br />
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So, reading:<br />
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I went through a Maeve Binchy phase. She is not my favorite, but sometimes her multilayered novels with a wide variety of characters are just like comfort food.<br />
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Even better were the books of Marcia Willett, which I could not read fast enough for their very Englishness and human, flawed characters.<br />
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These two were terrific fun, written in the '30's, telling the story of impoverished Miss Buncle and how she triumphs through writing a novel about her little village and it's inhabitants.<br />
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Viewing:<br />
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I have long adored Stephen Fry and recently discovered a series he did for UK television. He plays a small town solicitor who is perpetually solving other people's problems. A wonderful cast and amusing stories make for true escapism.<br />
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(Also on Netflix.)<br />
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When the original Inspector Morse was on PBS in the 1980's, I was busy having and raising four children, so I missed the whole series. I have been catching up recently with the introduction of "Endeavor", the prequel to the stories.<br />
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So now I am madly in love with John Thaw, which is extra heartbreaking as he passed away in 2002. But his body of work is remarkable in these mysteries and the ancillary series of Inspector Lewis and Endeavor just add to the fun.<br />
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My only quibble with Endeavor is in endeavoring (tee hee) to establish Morse as the solitary figure he becomes, they overdo it a tad, making him appear more creepy and emotionally disturbed than quirky. But the writing and acting are just wonderful, across the board. <br />
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<!-- AddThis Button END -->Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-28817335036106563532012-08-20T07:36:00.000-04:002012-08-20T07:38:33.837-04:00 And Now for Something Completely Awful…I love mysteries, especially, no surprise as an Anglophile,
English mysteries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are some
really, really great reads out there, probably more suspense than truly a mystery,
but artfully written with plots that make sense and characters with personality
that come to life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost novels,
really, with a twist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Off the top of my
head some fantastic ones, some that I have mentioned here before, include
Denise Mina’s <i>Garnet Hill</i> series (actually anything she has written), <i>Case
Histories</i> by Kate Atkinson (anything she’s written as well),<i> In a Dry Season</i> by
Peter Robinson, anything by P.D. James.<br />
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Then there are what the industry has named “cozy”
mysteries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the surface, they sound
like they will be fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The protagonist is
usually a female, of varying ages, who lives in a small town and stumbles upon
a mystery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is frequently a love
interest as well, and most of the time the relationship is a conflicted one.</div>
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Now I have not written a book myself, so I am reluctant to
be critical of someone who has done something I haven’t had the gumption or
discipline to do myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I have to
say, I have found that “cozy” mysteries usually mean awful, terribly written,
preposterously plotted non-mysteries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The dialogue is stilted and the narrative is full of clichés.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The characters are flat, one dimensional
cardboard cut outs, straight out of central casting.</div>
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Some examples:</div>
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From<i> Million Dollar Baby</i>:</div>
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The door creaked open ominously…</div>
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Marjorie slid him a snotty look.</div>
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A fiendish glint leapt into her eyes.</div>
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From <i>A Killer Read:</i></div>
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Mark turned beet red.</div>
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(<i>speaking of a tenacious individual)</i> “She reminds me of a
Jack Daniel’s terrier…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <i> </i></span><i>Umm, do you mean
a Jack RUSSELL terrier?!?</i><br />
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From <i>Hearse and Buggy</i>:</div>
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The front door of the shop opened, its telltale door-mounted
bell announcing the presence of a shopper.</div>
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She followed the finely graveled road as it wound to the
left and headed down into a valley of farmland, the peace and tranquility of
her rapidly approaching surroundings allowing a sense of true contentment to
seep in past the worry she’d felt lapping at her heart all day long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Now that is a mouthful!</i></div>
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The winner for the most enormous hole in the plot: <i>The
Orchid House</i></div>
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The gist of it is this, starting in the 1930’s, a manor house
with landed gentry has one Son and Heir.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Possessive mother marries him off to Eligible Girl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eligible Girl cannot understand why he is not
as, er, affectionate as she would like. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eligible
Girl, now Neglected Wife, discovers Son and Heir in passionate embrace with –
gasp – his best male friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Consequences ensue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Son and Heir
goes off to war, is imprisoned by the Japanese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He survives and while waiting to be shipped home he meets The Love of
His Life (female, that male stuff was just a phase).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She gets pregnant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He goes back to England promising to send for
her. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he never does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, he sends his estate manager to
Thailand to find her, which he does, at death’s door, so he brings her baby
back to England and he and his barren wife raise it as their own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AND NO ONE EVER SUSPECTS A THING!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Eurasian child born to a thoroughly English
couple?!?!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one ever notices?!?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a big shock to everyone when the “truth”
comes out?!</div>
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Oy vey.<br />
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But there have been a few good ones as well.</div>
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As far as cozies go,<i> Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes </i>by
Denise Grover Swank was a cute, fun read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nicely written and funny it also is moving in places as the main
character comes out of the shell her narcissistic mother kept her trapped in,
solves a mystery and maybe finds love as well.</div>
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I loved <i>Darkside</i> by Belinda Bauer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a small town in England, someone is
killing elderly people and taunting Jonas Holly, the local policeman, who is
already stressed from caring for his wife who has multiple sclerosis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This story and its ending haunted me for
weeks, it was stunning.<br />
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<i>The Chaperone</i> by Laura Moriarty was truly unusual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The premise is 15 year-old Louise Brooks (a
real life character who was soon to be a major silent picture star) needs to be
chaperoned on a trip to New York City from hometown Wichita, Kansas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Local matron Cora Carlisle volunteers for the
job, having her own personal reasons to want to visit New York.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The twists and turns of the story are both
implausible and believable at the same time, with likeable, complicated
characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I loved the twenties
atmosphere and the follow up to the story.</div>
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Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-20111915534846856672012-08-12T23:35:00.000-04:002012-08-14T10:55:30.324-04:00Another TryA girl can change her mind, can’t she?<br />
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I realized if I am going to commit to writing at least one post a week about books and put it on my Nourish blog, I might as well just put it here. So that is what I’m going to do…<br />
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Back to my Kindle. I, a person who reveres books and had sworn to uphold the printed word, have only read about five hard copy books in the past year. The rest, over 120, are all on Kindle.
I never imagined I would be so enamored. But convenience definitely wins in this case. I no longer have the luxury of hopping in the car and driving to the bookstore to browse. It is so easy, actually too easy, to just peruse the Amazon site to find something I want to read, whether it is 3 o’clock in the afternoon or 3 o’clock in the morning. The disadvantage is how deceptively ‘reasonable’ many kindle books appear to be. “Only $8.99?!?” “Only $9.99?!?” The next thing you know, those $8.99 and $9.99’s have really racked up. I have found many free books on line, though, as well as some that are a dollar or two, so there are bargains out there.<br />
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Looking at my overflowing bookshelves, it amazes me I could have brought another 100 books in the house. I am not sure if I am sorry or not. Some of what I have read has been wonderful and some simply awful. It would be nice to have a hard copy of the books I really loved, but I always can do that anyway. And the books that fall into that category are few. More are in the “I enjoyed that” group and can easily forgo owning. And, of course, the awful ones are no great loss.<br />
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So while I will always prefer a real, in-my-hands book to read, the Kindle is a great alternative for someone like me who is virtually housebound.<br />
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_________________________________ <br />
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A few of the things I’ve read this year:<br />
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I found a really fun, beautifully written series by S. J. Rozan. Set primarily in New York City, it follows private detectives Lydia Chin and Bill Smith, at first tentative and then firm partners. I love the details on Chinese culture that come from the Lydia Chin character and Bill Smith is utterly believable as a jaded, wounded misanthrope. Rozan uses the interesting technique of having the novels alternately narrated by Lydia and Bill, so the tone of the story is completely different depending on the narrator. Their bond is platonic on the surface but full of tension underneath. Great ancillary characters, too.<br />
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Two non-fiction books I had really looked forward to left me with differing reactions.<br />
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<i>The Receptionist: An Education at the New Yorker</i> should have been riveting. I wanted it to be riveting, I kept waiting for it to be riveting, but…it just left me cold and bored. Which is some feat because I LOVE stories about other people’s lives. What could be more fascinating than all the characters at the New Yorker during the 1950’s?!? Surely a beautiful, brilliant and educated receptionist who watched the comings and goings for more than 20 years would have a fantastic story to tell. But Janet Groth just didn’t engage me for some reason. I could not muster all that much interest in her and her angst-ridden love life (which was entirely separate from the New Yorker.) The best part was at the end when she goes into detail about the travails her family had endured due to her father’s alcoholism, something she had made veiled references to throughout the book. But it is too little too late. And I was entirely creeped out by her description of Joseph Mitchell, a writer I have revered, who apparently, although married, had a penchant for lunches with pretty young women. She was his Lunch Partner for a time until she was replaced by someone younger. Ick.<br />
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On the other hand, <i>The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Family’s Century of Art and Loss</i> by <a href="http://www.edmunddewaal.com/">Edmund De Waal</a> <i>was</i> riveting (his website is beautiful as well; I've linked it to his name.) Dramatically written in elegant, poetic prose, it is the story of De Waal’s secular Jewish family and their talent for collecting valuable art, beginning in nineteenth century Paris, continuing through to Vienna and the horrors of the Nazi regime to present day. Going back over a century, he describes various relatives and the roles they played in creating this treasure trove, with the focus on a collection of antique netsuke purchased by his fifth great uncle. It is a beautiful and heartbreaking story that will fascinate anyone who loves art and history and the triumph of a family over changed circumstances.<br />
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Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-91144760874115562222012-08-08T15:27:00.000-04:002012-08-08T15:27:47.302-04:00Time to Admit Need For a ChangeIf this blog was a child I would be in prison for neglect. I clearly bit off more than I could chew when I started it. But I love books!!!! What am I to do?!?<br />
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I have given it a lot of thought and have decided that I will try to do a weekly Bookworm post on my Nourish blog, complete with the Bookworm logo, and [choke, choke] shut this one down.
I am also considering transferring the posts over gradually to my other blog and keeping them in an archive there.
It will be the same content, except maybe there will finally be content, as I haven’t posted here in months.<br />
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I hope you will all come along with me. I am going to aim for every Sunday right now.
We'll see how it goes and if it works I will make it permanent. Thanks so much for your readership and support all this time!!!<br />
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<a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=shorebookworm"><img alt="Bookmark and Share" height="16" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" style="border: 0;" width="125" /></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=shorebookworm" type="text/javascript"></script>Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-54237323254450054752011-09-25T11:24:00.000-04:002011-09-25T11:24:05.628-04:00A Bookish Confession<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I have to come clean.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">I have a Kindle.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">What's that you say? You didn't hear me?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">I have a Kindle. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">You still can't hear me? Alright, alright!! I HAVE A KINDLE!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">There. I've admitted it. Me, the book elitist who put up a Pledge to the Printed</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Word. I have succumbed because I think the Reader in me ultimately was stronger than the Booklover. I never thought I would find myself saying those words and I am just shaking my head in wonder at this turn of events.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">It was a gift. That's how it started. I expected to hate it. And it did take some getting used to. I can't tell you how many times I went to turn a non-existent page (you must press a button instead). And I read so fast that I found myself pushing the button too fast as well, going on to the next page before I had read the last few words. So in a way, it has forced me to slow down.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It is unbelievably, and expensively, convenient. Two o'clock in the morning and you have nothing to read? No problem. With one click a book is delivered, usually less than $11, to your device. And in less than a minute, you are reading.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Many Kindle versions of books are ten dollars or less. But those ten dollars can rack up really, really quickly when you read three or four books a week. And then you feel you don't even have anything to show for it. At least with a book you can still look at it, put it on your shelf, see it in all it's tangible bookish glory. The Kindle is all about virtual. Your book is just a title on your Kindle home page. Yes, you can read it again. But it is still not the same. And, at least for my model, there are no pictures!! So that leaves biographies out. I love biographies and the pictures are my favorite part. However, there are also a lot of free books out there in the public domain, great stuff like Twain and Jules Verne. One of the free books I read was <i>The Red House Mystery</i> by A. A. Milne. Before he wrote the Winnie the Pooh stuff, he wrote one of the first modern detective stories and, while it was dated, it was great fun.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Because of my limited mobility, I have not been able to browse in a bookstore in a long time. I truly miss that. That, to me, is the all time high point in book shopping. To be intrigued by the cover art, a title, and then to have a synopsis on the back be as promising as you would hope, it doesn't get any better than that to a geek like me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Until I get a lift for my power chair, which is $1900 away, I am forced to virtual browsing. I wouldn't say I have a love/hate relationship with my Kindle. I don't love it and I don't hate it either. It is more like a grateful/tolerant relationship. I tolerate it's shortcomings as an un-book and I am grateful I have access to such a wonder of technology. It will never, ever take the place of a real, in-your-hands book. But, at two in the morning, it is a nice substitute.</span><br />
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Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-57685778898713415132011-08-21T14:04:00.000-04:002011-08-21T14:04:22.158-04:00Another Perspective on "The Help"<i>The Help</i> by Kathryn Stockett has been a publishing, and now a movie, phenom. On the immediate surface, it is a nicely written story of triumph over racism by oppressed black maids. But scratch that surface just a tiny bit, heck just blow some of the dust off of it, and you are left with some considerable problematic issues at the heart of the book.<br />
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Because of who I am, I was ripe for <i>The Help</i>. When I originally went back to school for my Master’s, I started in the Social Work program. I am simply fascinated by people’s stories: where they came from, how they got to where they were, how their lives were different, or the same, as what they had envisioned for their future. Unfortunately, that fascination did not extend to helping people solve their problems. I just wanted to hear their stories and yell “Next!” Not helping people with their problems is less than a stellar quality in a therapist. So it was time to reconsider my goals. But my love of a good story has abided.<br />
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Therefore, when I found <i>The Help</i> last summer, I really enjoyed it as a decent, engrossing read. The book told many intertwined stories and it told them smoothly. I am a sucker for a well-crafted narrative and I especially love it when it is complex and multi-dimensional, which <i>The Help</i> was. Contrasting the experiences of middle class white women and their maids in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960’s, individual stories abound. Even though it is fiction, the stories in <i>The Help</i> ring utterly true. Black women labored for white families cooking, cleaning and raising their children with insulting pay and crushing hours. They were heaped with abuse and insults, both petty and egregious. You just know every anecdote about racism, indifference, paternalism and humiliation told in <i>The Help</i> has a basis in reality. As you read you cheer on these women who are brave enough to share their experiences with Skeeter, the character who is the driver of the plot. A forward thinking recent college grad, she has the brilliant idea to interview the help to get their perspective on the inequities in the South of the early 1960’s. Initially reluctant, multiple women are eventually persuaded that they are answering a call from God, serving a higher good…WAIT!! STOP!!!!<br />
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While it bothered me a little at the time, it took almost a year for some things to fully occur to me.<br />
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The 1960’s? Mississippi? Where beatings, shootings and church burnings to prevent integration were routine? Where Medgar Evers was murdered in front of his wife and children in 1963 (as is briefly referenced in the novel)? Where in 1962 the Governor of the state defied <b>the President of the United States</b> by blocking the enrollment of a black student at the University of Mississippi?!?! In this setting, black women, maids, of humble origin and little education and with absolutely no one to protect them, chose to tell their stories for a book? For a white girl?!? Amazing!! Then this must be the story of how that happened and, boy, do I want to read that original book!<br />
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Except…there was no original book. Nothing like this ever happened. Oppressed and exploited women did not rise up at the behest of friends and their preacher to tell the stories of their mistreatment. Because, pure and simple, it would have cost them their lives. Right there, we have a major plot problem for <i>The Help</i> – the characters are lively, the stories are compelling, but the entire basis for the book is not only improbable, it is impossible. No black woman was going to risk her life and that of her family to indulge a white girl in her curiosity. They were too busy simply surviving. That is why there is no tell-all book.<br />
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So it couldn’t have happened, big deal, you say. So it is a fairy tale. Other books are about made up scenarios. Well, I still have a problem with it, because it does not promote itself as a “what if” book. What if black maids banded together and told their stories in the 1960’s? What if it became a best seller and discussions about race led to a better understanding and an abbreviated civil rights struggle? <i>The Help</i> does not ask those questions. It tells us, <u>this</u> is what happened. It tells us to feel good about the victory of good over evil. And we know in our hearts it didn’t.<br />
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I haven’t seen the movie yet, so I cannot comment on it with any credibility. I have watched several trailers for it and, to be honest, it looks beautiful. The acting is earnest and funny. The dignity of the main black character, Ailbilene, is transcendent as portrayed by actress Viola Davis. But I became more and more uncomfortable as I watched the clips and listened to commentary by people involved in making the film. They spoke of the bravery of these fictional women. Check. But they spoke of the bravery of these women speaking out <i>as if it were an actual fact, as if this had happened</i>. And that was just embarrassing to listen to. There was cheering as ‘the book’ was published, a triumph for these ladies. But in real life there was no such triumph. There were just more years and years of subjugation and exploitation.<br />
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The Association of Black Women Historians took enormous issue with the film and book and issued a blistering condemnation. A published statement says, in part, <i>The Help</i> “distorts, ignores and trivializes the experiences of black domestic workers.” I do have to disagree with that. If anything, the book creates rich, multi-dimensional black characters that are worthy of admiration and honor. The ABWH goes on to denounce the perpetuation of the “Mammy” stereotype “…asexual, loyal, and contented caretakers of whites.” Again, I disagree. In the novel, these strong and decent women seethe against the injustices they face every minute of the day. I do agree with their opinion that <i>The Help</i> misrepresents history and minimizes the Civil Rights movement.<br />
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There are others in the black community who argue this book is significantly racist, written from the perspective of a white savior (Skeeter) raising these poor downtrodden beings out of the mire. Once again, I do not see that. Maybe that is because I am white and inherently insensitive to the nuances of racism. I am the first to admit that is entirely possible. But I had the reverse impression about the albeit mythical situation. The characters were doing Skeeter the favor by sharing their private and personal experiences. She is clueless really, they are the ones who have the knowledge and ultimately the power to make or break her book.<br />
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I do agree with the argument that racism is presented as an evil centered in that period only and we can sentimentally look back and say “Phew, thank goodness we don’t act like that anymore!” I have been doing a lot of reading about the controversy and some of the comments people leave make it obvious the concept of ongoing racism is truly foreign to them. They really believe that people of color no longer face discrimination or injustices. Others are clearly astonished by the perceptive and intelligent black characters. It is both appalling and embarrassing to see the ignorance that people demonstrate with remarks like “Why do we have to talk about such unpleasant things?” and “I don’t even notice people’s color” or, worst of all “I have <i>a</i> black friend and she…”<br />
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On the whole, I think the novel has opened an interesting door for discussion and consideration. I am disappointed that Stockett and the story, movie and book, have produced such vitriol. Because the novel is well intentioned. And because it is a perfect opportunity to talk about the status of race relations in America today in an amicable way. Racism diminishes all of us. It should go without saying that we need to always try to have insight into what it would feel like to be on the receiving end of it and do what we can to eliminate it. We need to recognize subtle racism and how it reduces value in our culture. We need to transmit these messages to our children in the strongest way possible.<br />
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What I would love to see is a real “Help” created. Like Steven Spielberg’s <a href="http://dornsife.usc.edu/vhi/">Shoah project</a>, let’s get these true voices and stories recorded before they are gone. There was and is strength and courage and nobility in the lives that were led and we need to know those brave women who were the help but were kept silenced by danger and disrespect.<br />
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I would say read <i>The Help</i> if you like a good, if fantastical, story. The narrative in <i>The Help</i> may be told through a white lens, but that is the only have the lens white people have. We can try to imagine another's experience, but that is all we can do. I feel even if it is imperfect on many levels, the book still tells a story that many people need to read. I suspect it presented some people with ideas and concepts about race that they had never considered. Just as some people are astonished by any controversy surrounding the book and movie. But even if imperfect, someone expanding their humanism cannot be a completely bad thing.<br />
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However, an even better representation of the black experience can be found in Isobel Wilkerson’s <i>The Warmth of Other Suns</i>. It is an analysis of the south to north diaspora told through the perspective of three real individuals. An absolutely haunting and gorgeously written epic, it should be required reading in every school. You read this book and you get some inkling of what it is like to feel fear and experience deprivation every waking moment just because of the color of your skin.<br />
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I wrote this in a comment in response to a woman who said “I wish we could stop looking at color.” I don't think we should stop looking at color. I think we should stop <i>assuming</i> things based on color. I wish we could consider things like skin color and national heritage to be beautiful, fascinating but superficial features. Maybe someday that will happen and we will be able to celebrate our common humanity. But until that distant day arrives, we have to continue to discuss the realities of the past and the present.<br />
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I think more than anything the book reminded me that we are all human beings. At the end of the day, we are the same in what matters to us, dignity, respect, our families, our friends, the lives we lead. We have to keep working at understanding each other and at getting it right.<br />
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</script> Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-86627579498880017552011-04-19T11:21:00.000-04:002011-04-19T11:21:21.095-04:00Sorry I’m running late this week!!<br />
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The winner for the April 9 giveaway is – drum roll please – Rachele!! Yay! Congratulations Rachele and thank you to all of those who stopped by and left comments. There were actually only 4 of you, but that’s ok, it is a cozy group! Lol<br />
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Rachele, just send me an e-mail with your address and I will get the books out to you.<br />
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Alright, this week’s giveaway…<br />
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<i>The Last Kashmiri Rose</i><br />
By Barbara Cleverly<br />
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Set in Calcutta in 1922, this is the first in a mystery series featuring Scotland Yard Inspector Joe Sandilands. The Inspector is a survivor of the Great War and he has been stationed in India for six months. He is about to head home when he is asked to investigate a suspicious death. His inquiries find there is probably a connection to a series of mysterious deaths that have occurred over the preceding decade. All the vicitms have been offiecer’s wives and they have all died experiencing what has been known to be their greatest fear.<br />
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A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, this is a well written and memorable story with an unusual twist in the solution to the mystery.<br />
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<i><br />
The Thirteenth Tale</i><br />
By Diane Setterfield<br />
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The Thirteenth Tale contains all the Gothic elements: a reclusive writer with a secret, a young writer with a troubled past, the unraveling of a long ago mystery. I found it a bit long, but it was a huge hit in 2006 when it was published, becoming the number one bestseller on the New York Times list within a week.<br />
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<i><br />
The New Yorkers</i><br />
By Cathleen Schine<br />
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This book follows five people who live on the same block in New York City and end up being connected by their dogs. Over the course of a year, we follow their ups and downs, falling in and out of love and learning about each other and themselves. A really nice story about engaging people, set in one of my favorite places in the world.<br />
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<i>Water for Elephants</i><br />
By Sara Gruen<br />
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A huge bestseller, I resisted this book for over a year. I am so contrary. For one thing, I hate going along with the crowd. For another, I hate, hate, HATE circuses. Even when I was a kid.<br />
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So I was really shocked when I started reading and couldn’t put it down. Not your typical circus story, it is mostly a story about love and loss and devotion. And it has pictures! It is wonderfully illustrated with archive photos. Simply wonderful.<br />
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So there you have it. Leave a comment between now and Sunday, April 24 and you will be entered in a drawing for these books. <br />
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For those of you who don't win but are interested in these titles, I added links to Amazon. <br />
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(Because the pool of entrants is so small, I am going to apply an amendment, borrowed from the radio station I listen to, <a href="http://www.wqxr.org/">WQXR</a> in New York. To give everyone a chance, winners will be limited to once every four weeks.)<br />
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<a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view&current=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" /></a> Did you like this post? Let others know! <a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=shorebookworm"><img alt="Bookmark and Share" height="16" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" style="border: 0;" width="125" /></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=shorebookworm" type="text/javascript">
</script>Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-33166455780258165792011-04-09T07:27:00.000-04:002011-04-09T07:27:23.288-04:00This Week's GiveawayCongratulations Nicky! You won this week’s drawing!! Four fabulous books will soon be wending their way to your hands. Just e-mail me with your address and I will get them out to you. <br />
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Thank you to those of you who stopped by and left comments! I really appreciate your readership and your kindred love of books. Jeremy, don’t worry about missing the cutoff, I have four more books for this week!<br />
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<i>Second Violin: An Inspector Troy Thriller </i><br />
John Lawton<br />
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Set in England and Europe in the days leading up to World War II, this novel tells the converging stories of several people. The Troy family in England, with their enigmatic patriarch, is prominent and powerful. The youngest son has chosen a different path, that of an ordinary London policeman. While he is investigating what he believes is a serial killer murdering rabbis in London, there are parallel plots about the situation in Germany and internment camps in England. There is a lot going on, but the author ties everything together and, at the end, even gives a brief run down of how the characters fare through the years.<br />
<i><br />
The Various Haunts of Men (Simon Serrailler Crime Novels)</i><br />
Susan Hill<br />
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The first in the Simon Serrailler series, a demented killer is targeting victims in a small cathedral town in England. The author makes the characters very real and it is ultimately a very sad story.<br />
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<i>The Girl She Used to Be</i><br />
David Cristofano<br />
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<i>In the Shadow of Gotham</i><br />
Stephanie Pintoff<br />
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Both reviewed <a href="http://theshorebookworm.blogspot.com/2011/02/some-recent-reads.html">2/12/11</a> <br />
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Leave a comment through Friday, April 15 and you will be entered in the drawing. <br />
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Good luck and thanks for reading!<br />
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<a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view&current=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" /></a> Did you like this post? Let others know! <a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=shorebookworm"><img alt="Bookmark and Share" height="16" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" style="border: 0;" width="125" /></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=shorebookworm" type="text/javascript">
</script>Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-86528495195298769322011-04-02T10:18:00.001-04:002011-04-02T10:48:37.831-04:00Too Many BooksDid I say that?!?! <br />
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I am someone who believes you can never have too many books. But I am up to my eyeballs and have nowhere left to put them. I have bookcases in my living room, bedroom, den and upstairs and books are still double and triple stacked. While I have a pathological love for an overabundance of books, my practical side realizes that I really should weed some out.<br />
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Pant. Pant. Pant. I’m hyperventilating.<br />
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So after taking some deep breaths and a boatload of Xanax, I have decided to do some giveaways. Every week or so I will offer a few books, drawing a name from anyone who leaves a comment that week.<br />
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These are second hand books, but they are in good shape, read only once and FREE to the lucky winner. Yay!<br />
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So here are this week’s books:<br />
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<i>The Alibi Club</i> by Francine Mathews (reviewed 4/1/11) <br />
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I didn't love it, but maybe you can keep track of the action better than I could.<br />
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<i>The Fate of Katherine Carr</i> by Thomas H. Cook<br />
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Writer George Gates is haunted by the unsolved murder of his son. He becomes involved in the case of Katherine Carr, a woman who went missing years earlier and has never been found. Is her disappearance linked to his son’s death? An interesting novel about justice.<br />
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<i>Missing</i> by Karin Alvtegen<br />
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Sybilla is a 30-something woman living by her wits on the streets of Stockholm, occasionally fleecing a businessman out of a meal and a hotel room. When one of her marks is murdered, she goes on the run and tries to prove her innocence. The novel goes back and forth in time, telling the story of how and why she chose the life she leads.<br />
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<i>Birth Marks</i> by Sarah Dunant<br />
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Hannah Wolfe is a London based private investigator. She is asked to find a missing ballet dancer who is later found, pregnant, drowned in the Thames. She continues to follow the case, not believing the woman was a suicide. Written in 1993, the book's premise is dated by current science, primarily DNA testing. But it is still a tolerable mystery.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GajLuxu2GQo/TZcvKCSGhxI/AAAAAAAABZ0/DjKfbV8hfQ0/s1600/005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="237" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GajLuxu2GQo/TZcvKCSGhxI/AAAAAAAABZ0/DjKfbV8hfQ0/s320/005.JPG" /></a></div><br />
Leave a comment from now until Friday, April 8 and you will be entered in the drawing. Good luck!<br />
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<a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view¤t=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> Did you like this post? Let others know! <!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --> <a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=shorebookworm"><img src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" width="125" height="16" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0"/></a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=shorebookworm"></script> <!-- AddThis Button END -->Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-22853144235818171532011-04-01T17:12:00.001-04:002011-04-02T10:22:46.485-04:00Recent ReadsKate Atkinson was a tall act to follow, so I am not surprised that the other books I’ve read since were just ok to really good, but not nearly as wonderful as <i>Started Early</i>.<br />
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<i>These Things Hidden</i> by Heather Gudenkauf is told chapter by chapter from different character perspectives. Not my favorite technique, especially when some of the chapters were only a few paragraphs long and some of the individuals sound exactly same.<br />
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The premise is a crime committed by a teenage girl, previously considered to be a paragon. While the story is slow in building and coy, you guess right away, correctly, that it has something to do with a baby and an unwanted pregnancy. It develops that she gave birth unattended and disposed of the baby girl in a river behind her house. She is subsequently convicted of murder, but as a juvenile is out in five years. She is sent to a halfway house in her hometown, tries to reconnect with her sister and start over.<br />
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The plot was pretty predictable, but there were a few twists, one I expected and some I didn’t. The ending makes it worthwhile.<br />
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<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0778328791" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />
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I have enjoyed most things I’ve read by Penelope Lively. Her prose is elegant and spare, which makes even a commonplace plot worth reading. Although most of her stories are pretty original. I did not love <i>Family Album</i>, her newest. I felt like I was reading something I had already read. The characters seemed stock and the story, two disparate parents, six children and an au pair over the years in a huge Edwardian house, was just as expected. It picked up a little towards the end, but by that time I was tired of slogging through everyone’s Life Review. However, the writing itself is marvelous. She just has a perfect way of wording something or describing something that makes it wonderful. <br />
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<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B003JTHRHS" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />
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<i>A Trace of Smoke</i> by Rebecca Cantrell is the first in a series that is set in Germany in the 1930’s. Hannah Vogel is a newspaper reporter barely eking out a living as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic">Weimar Republic</a> ends and the Third Reich begins. Her younger brother is murdered and, heartbroken, she vows to find the killer. A good story, nicely written and interesting historical perspective. <br />
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Francine Matthews is a pseudonym for Stephanie Barron, who writes the Jane Austen mysteries. <i>The Alibi Club</i> couldn’t be more different from the Austen books. Set at the beginning of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_occupation_of_France_during_World_War_II">German occupation of France</a> (I’m going through a WW II kick), it is violent and confusing. Filled with real life characters and fictional characters based on real people, it revolves around stolen material for creating an atom bomb. I think. I found the dozens of characters distracting and hard to follow. And the murder that opens the book is gratuitously violent and grotesque. <br />
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<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0553586300" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />
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I was really looking forward to <i>The Postmistress</i> by Sarah Blake. Beginning in 1940, it tells the parallel stories of Iris, the postmistress of a small Cape Cod town, Frankie, a war correspondent based in London during the blitz and Emma, the young wife of the town doctor. One of these three has a letter in her possession that she is supposed to deliver, but never does. The plot revolves around these women and how they are affected by war. The quote that introduces the book is by writer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Gellhorn">Martha Gellhorn</a>, who covered conflicts from WWII to Vietnam: “War happens to people, one by one. That is really all I have to say, and it seems to me I have been saying it forever.” Well written and thought provoking. <br />
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If any of these interest you, just click to purchase from Amazon!<br />
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<a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view&current=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" /></a> Did you like this post? Let others know! <a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=shorebookworm"><img alt="Bookmark and Share" height="16" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" style="border: 0;" width="125" /></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=shorebookworm" type="text/javascript">
</script>Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-63728319095980923822011-03-12T17:30:00.001-05:002011-03-12T22:39:27.451-05:00A One Sitting ReadThere are some books that are so engrossing, if you have the luxury to do so, you read them in one sitting. Or at least in a few sittings close together.<br />
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Kate Atkinson’s <i>Started Early, Took My Dog</i> is such a book. I opened it at 6 p.m. on Friday and read straight through, until after midnight. And I read as slowly as I could, just savoring the story, the characters and the twists in the plot. Her wit and talent are engaging to the extent I didn’t want it to end.<br />
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I don’t know which she is better at, plotting or characterization, because both are outstanding. I am torn between admiration and gratitude and bitter jealousy knowing I will never write anything as good.<br />
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There are a myriad of characters in her stories and every one has a role to play in the plot, sometimes minor and sometimes in a major way you never see coming. They all have a back story, told succinctly, some captured in a sentence. One snobbish woman was “…always rigged out ready for an impromptu invitation to lunch with the Queen.” Another minor character, a miserable, stingy B & B owner:<br />
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“Divorcee or widow? Widow, Jackson guessed, she had the look of someone who has successfully out-survived a sparring partner. Some women were destined for widowhood, marriage was just the obstacle in their way.”<br />
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The plot revolves around the missing, the stolen and the dead. Jackson Brodie, the protagonist of three previous novels, is a retired police officer, current private detective. Haunted by the long ago, unsolved murder of his teenage sister, he makes a career of finding the lost. Tracy is a middle aged, unhappy Security director, also a retired police officer, who in a mad moment rescues a screaming child from an abusive prostitute by <i>buying</i> her. Tillie is an elderly actress descending rapidly into senility. The actions of these people in present day are linked with past events, told in flashbacks. There is no one superfluous to the story line, everything connects. Although there is one tantalizing mystery left at the end.<br />
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Kate Atkinson’s other books featuring Jackson Brodie are <i>Case Histories</i>, <i>One Good Turn</i> and <i>When Will there Be Good News</i>. Each of them is brutal and sweet at the same time, with violence counterbalanced by characters who are fiercely protective of their dogs and their children. There is always a kind of justice as well, even if it is not above board. There can be all kinds of justice.<br />
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All of these are One Sitting Reads. <br />
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If you are interested, you can get them here:<br />
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<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B000FDFW5A" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />
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<a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view&current=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" /></a> Did you like this post? Let others know! <a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=shorebookworm"><img alt="Bookmark and Share" height="16" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" style="border: 0pt none;" width="125" /></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=shorebookworm" type="text/javascript">
</script>Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-63123435986898862682011-02-18T17:38:00.000-05:002011-02-18T17:38:10.507-05:00Finding BooksA reader today left a comment asking how do I pick out the books I decide to read. That is such a good question I think it deserves its own post. <br />
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I have dozens of sources for promising titles and I am always on the lookout for more. I am not usually a fan of traditional best sellers, so I have a lot of different places where I look for books that pique my interest. I am pretty picky and, I will admit, pretty snobby about what I read. My taste runs to good stories with some kind a twist, especially English mysteries, and they have to be artfully written. I also love biographies, memoirs and history. It is fun to read older books, written in the 20's, 30's and 40's. I love that time period and I feel reading those books is a window into that time.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bXULUWk_veU/TV7zAFv1RzI/AAAAAAAABWo/CtYqTJnqTvU/s1600/book%2Breview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bXULUWk_veU/TV7zAFv1RzI/AAAAAAAABWo/CtYqTJnqTvU/s320/book%2Breview.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Best of All</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
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My absolute favorite and prime source for finding great books is the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/review/index.html">New York Times Book Review,</a> which I have been reading practically since I was old enough to read. I do not remember who first showed me the section, someone had to have, I don’t think I was independently reading the Times when I was seven, but every week there were at least two pages of reviews of children’s books that I poured over. When I was old enough to write them down and make lists, I would note the ones that appealed to me and take it on my next visit to the library. Of course, most of them were so new the library didn’t have them yet, so I would just bide my time.<br />
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Twice a year, in the Spring and in the Fall, I would wait for the thick, special edition of the Book Review that featured children’s books. All those gorgeously illustrated picture books, all those promising new stories! That always resulted in a long list.<br />
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I still get excited by the Book Review. I know, it’s sad. But every issue holds at least one book that I know I want to read and usually there is more. A new book! What could be more exciting!<br />
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Other sources for ideas and good books:<br />
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• I have read many books after they have been dramatized, such as <i>Poldark</i> and <i>The Jewel in the Crown</i>. I really like to read the original book when I’ve seen a good movie.<br />
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• If I like an author I always look for other books by them. Sometimes I am disappointed, but most of the time I am not. I have read everything by Winston Graham, for example, the author of the <i>Poldark</i> series. He wrote many other novels, not all historical, he is simply a great story teller and a wonderful writer. <br />
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• Friends are a good source of recommendations too. Most of the time you have enough in common with your friends that your taste in reading is similar. Often that is how I have met my friends, who were mere acquaintances until we discover we loved the same writers.<br />
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• These days, Amazon is a way of exploring new titles, although I take their reviews with a grain of salt. But I have found some interesting books there.<br />
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• Since I like mysteries, I look for new titles on sites that review mysteries, such as <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.theedgars.com">www.theedgars.com</a> and <a href="http://www.themysteryreader.com/">www.themysteryreader.com</a>. Those are really great sites.<br />
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• Just browsing in the bookstore and library is also where I have found books I have really liked. First it is the art work that catches my eye, then the title and then the blurb describing the book itself.<br />
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Those are just a few thoughts, but the Book Review definitely is the top resource.<br />
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Thanks for a great question, Cube!<br />
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<a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view&current=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" /></a> Did you like this post? Let others know! <a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=shorebookworm"><img alt="Bookmark and Share" height="16" src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" style="border: 0pt none;" width="125" /></a><script src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=shorebookworm" type="text/javascript">
</script>Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-1771355394520464522011-02-12T10:15:00.000-05:002011-02-12T10:15:28.341-05:00Some Recent ReadsI have read more than I realized lately. Here are a few from the past month.<br />
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<b><i>Half Broken Things<br />
Morag Joss</i></b><br />
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Sad, sympathetic characters intersect in this story that builds suspense from the first page and you realize right away this is not going to end well. Yet you keep hoping for the best, because the protagonists are so hapless and wounded. <br />
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A middle aged woman who has spent most of her adult life house sitting with an impeccable history is on her last assignment, a luxurious country house in the English countryside. She is rapidly unraveling and the story builds as two others join her in a fantasy life. I could definitely see Judi Dench in a movie version.<br />
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<b><i>The Distant Hours<br />
Kate Morten</i></b><br />
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Kate Morten’s previous two books were great reads, really imaginative stories and well written. I found the formula is getting tired in this book about an eccentric writer, his three daughters and a mysterious connection with a modern day book editor. It starts out promising, but gets confusing before too long and leaves too many unanswered questions. She is a very good writer though and there are sections that could stand alone, but felt like they belonged in another book. Disappointing.<br />
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Her other two, much better:<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&asins=1416550550" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br />
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<b><br />
<i>In the Shadow of Gotham<br />
Stephanie Pintoff</i></b><br />
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This was a nice little mystery by a first time author, a bit farfetched but creative. Set at the turn of the last century, this, the first in a series, tells of a murder that takes place in a suburb of New York City. The main character is a police detective who spends most of his time investigating in New York. The author adds nice period detail but the story line is a bit thin and predictable.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&asins=0312628129" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br />
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<b><i>The Kind One<br />
Tom Epperson</i></b><br />
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I really liked this book, set in 1930’s LA. It reminded me of James Elroy’s books and it is pretty violent, but the story is original and the characters memorable.<br />
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It tells the story of a Danny Landon, recently out of the hospital, who works for a vicious gangster, very ironically nicknamed The Kind One. Danny has amnesia from a head injury and is an extremely reluctant criminal, which contradicts stories he has heard about his own brutal past. He lives in a quintessential California apartment court and becomes involved particularly with two of the other residents, an ex-pat Englishman and a neglected little girl.<br />
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The ending is a little improbable and wild, but over-all it is an entertaining read. A movie version starring Casey Afflek and directed by Ridley Scott is due to be released next year.<br />
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<i><b>The Girl She Used to Be<br />
David Cristofano</b></i><br />
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An utter fantasy that could only have been written by a man, but a fun read nonetheless. <br />
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Six year old Melody Grace McCartney’s craving for a special treat led her family to witness a mob killing. In return for their testimony (which does NOT result in the mobster’s conviction), the family goes into the witness protection program. Melody’s teenage rebellion and disclosure of the truth causes her parent’s deaths and now, at 26, she is still in the witness protection program, riddled with guilt.<br />
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Enter Jonathan Bovaro, son of the murdering mobster. He tracks her down, obstensibly to kill her for his family, but it seems he has fallen in love with her. She soon returns his feelings and most of the book revolves around discussions of guilt, personal identity, resolution and family ties.<br />
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Believe it or not, the overall tone of the book is light hearted, despite the subject matter. The ending was creative and surprised me. This is a quick, entertaining diversion.<br />
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</script>Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-35804743926672298292011-02-03T08:28:00.000-05:002011-02-03T08:28:09.058-05:00When There is More Than One...Finding a great, well written story is always a treat. But when it is part of a series, when you know there is more to come, that just adds to the pleasure. Here are a few of my favorites.<br />
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<b>THE POLDARK SERIES</b><br />
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I got hooked on <i>Poldark</i> after about five seconds of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Ellis">Robin Ellis</a>’ smoldering performance on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterpiece_Theatre">Masterpiece Theater</a>. That was in 1978. I started reading the series written by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Graham">Winston Graham</a> and I plowed through them with glee.<br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_Cooke">Alistair Cooke</a>, the host for so many years, later said <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Poldark_Novels">Poldark</a> was not one of his favorites in the Masterpiece Theater series, that it was too much of a soap opera. With all due respect to Alistair, I couldn’t disagree more. It is a melodramatic story in many ways. But the characters are true to life, full of flaws and bad decisions, good deeds and altruism when you least expect it. They experience grievous losses and hilarious escapades. In other words, nothing is black and white, just like real life.<br />
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There are twelve novels altogether, covering a time period from 1783 to 1820. The stories take place mostly in Cornwall, England and revolve around the Poldark family, with elements of the politics and social standards of the times thrown in. In the first novel, Ross Poldark has fought in the Revolutionary War in America and returned to find his home in shambles and his fiancée about to marry his cousin (she does, too!). <br />
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He sets about rebuilding his life, restoring his family fortune and finding love himself. Subsequent books chronicle the lives of the people around him including his wife, his children and even his archenemy. I re-read the series every few years. They are wonderfully written and fun to get lost in. I always find something I had forgotten or rediscover a terrifically wrought phrase. Winston Graham died in 2003, so I treasure what he left to us.<br />
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<b>THE RAJ QUARTET</b><br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jewel_in_the_Crown_%28TV_series%29">The Jewel in the Crown</a> was another Masterpiece Theater series that was so wonderful it was a gift to discover there were four novels behind it. Four! Yippee!<br />
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The TV series began in December of 1984 and was absolutely beautiful in the way it unfolded. It is a heartbreaking story of love and jealousy and revenge on the eve of India’s independence from England. It was based on the novels by Paul Scott, an Englishman who was stationed in India through World War II and the subsequent partition of India and Pakistan. He fell in love with the Jewel in Queen Victoria’s crown and wrote several novels with India as the setting. The Raj Quartet was not initially well received but has since gained popularity and respect as a work that tells a lush saga intertwined with history and a complicated, beautiful, mysterious country.<br />
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The four novels that make up the <i>Raj Quartet</i>, <i>The Jewel in the Crown</i> (1966), <i>The Day of the Scorpion</i> (1968), <i>The Towers of Silence</i> (1971) and <i>A Division of the Spoils</i> (1975), loop from the 1940’s to the 1960’s and back to the turn of the century. The narrative encompasses dozens of characters, each memorable in their own way as part of plot, but also because they are so rich and well developed. Their stories are absorbing and tragic. This series will make you want to hock everything and go to India to explore it’s magnificent geography and turbulent history. It is well worth reading for so many reasons.<br />
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If you are interested in any of these books, there are links below to Amazon. <br />
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There are other great series out there that I'll share in upcoming posts.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&asins=0226743446" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-32289596086105020882011-01-28T04:16:00.001-05:002011-01-30T10:16:37.579-05:00My Favorite AuthorFirst, an apology. I should rename all my blogs “I’m Sorry”, I have to apologize so much for letting months long lapses occur. Or, maybe a better idea would be to get my act together and keep them timely! <br />
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Let’s try that last one.<br />
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Thank you to my faithful readers. I am so grateful for your support and encouragement, even when I fall down on the job. <br />
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So who is my favorite author?<br />
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I actually have many favorites and they have corresponded with stages in my life. High school had J.D. Salinger, Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, Harper Lee. In college I adored F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, John Dos Passos. Since then, there have been many more I have been fortunate to discover and I will share those over time.<br />
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But when I was in eighth grade, our reading book that year had ‘further reading recommendations’ at the end of each chapter. I was always looking for new and interesting books and one that caught my attention was “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_White_Horse"><i>The Little White Horse</i></a>”.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TUKFFR3SCtI/AAAAAAAABV8/WvgZipRHfME/s1600/The_Little_White_Horse_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TUKFFR3SCtI/AAAAAAAABV8/WvgZipRHfME/s1600/The_Little_White_Horse_cover.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This was a children’s novel written in 1946 by English writer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Goudge">Elizabeth Goudge</a>. It was <i>enthralling</i>. Set in the 1840’s, it opens with the orphaned Maria Merryweather arriving with her governess at her new home, Moonacre Manor, where she is to live with her guardian and cousin, Sir Benjamin.<br />
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There are secrets and fantastic characters at every turn, along with magical touches and a heavy dose of coincidence. Everyone has a story and a past, all neatly entwined and interconnected by the author as you race to the delicious and, naturally, happiest of happy endings.<br />
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Elizabeth Goudge’s writing was sentimental and old-fashioned and charming. I was totally hooked and proceeded to devour everything she had written from the library.<br />
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Most of her books were for adult readers, but they took place in a world that was unique to her, one that was full of noble emotion, forbidden love, honor and devotion to duty. Her prose now would be considered by most people to be hopelessly out of date, but that is one reason I continue to love her and re-read her work constantly. Her stories are safe and predictable, but written with heart and full of wonderful quotes to support the themes of her novels. I read as much poetry reading her books as I did in my whole college life as an English major. She was also very spiritual and I found that to be inspiring.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TUKFDJJvaCI/AAAAAAAABV4/V6LDA1BodzM/s1600/joy+of+the+snow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TUKFDJJvaCI/AAAAAAAABV4/V6LDA1BodzM/s200/joy+of+the+snow.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Elizabeth Goudge was born in Wells, England in 1900, the only child of an invalid mother and a theology professor father. Her carefully worded and discreet autobiography,<i><a href="http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/3469707/used/Joy%20of%20the%20Snow"> The Joy of the Snow</a></i>, describes the challenges of growing up with her mother’s mental illness and how she adored her father. Her earliest writing was not successful and it discouraged her for years. But in 1934 Elizabeth wrote <i>Island Magic</i>, based on stories her mother had told her about her own childhood on the Guernsey Islands. This was a success and she became a renowned and well loved writer for the rest of her life. She died in 1984.<br />
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She is most well known for <i>Green Dolphin Street</i>, a story of star-crossed love, and then for her series on the Elliot family, <i>The Bird in the Tree, The Herb of Grace</i> and <i>The Heart of the Family</i>. <br />
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For years my great challenge was discovering her books at second hand book sales, each find a triumph. Then EBay came along and, while I was eventually able to collect all my favorites, it definitely took away the thrill of the hunt.<br />
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I actually wrote to Elizabeth when I was in college and she wrote back! She wrote me a charming thank you for my fan letter and I treasured it. It was lost when my parent’s basement was flooded. But I will never forget her sweet and friendly reply.<br />
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Whenever I need a true comfort fix, Elizabeth Goudge is where I turn. There is always a place for me in her delightful, gracious and bygone world.<br />
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<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&asins=1567923690" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-6599206642711041072010-09-24T09:55:00.000-04:002010-09-24T09:55:10.940-04:00When Is a Book Not a Book?I recently added a badge (to the right) pledging to read the printed word. The controversy over a “real” book as opposed to an e-book shows no signs of ending, with many of us bemoaning the potential loss of books to electronic devices. “A Kindle is not a book!!” the deepest part of me cries. <br />
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In a recent post on her wonderful site, <a href="http://idearella.com/2010/6-reasons-to-buy-a-book-made-of-paper">Idearella</a> lists some of the reasons she prefers an actual book. Some of our thinking runs along the same lines. She has inspired me to create my own list of just why it matters so much to me that I hold a book rather than a machine. It is a short list, but it is passionate. <br />
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1) <b>The Joy of Simply Holding a Book</b><br />
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<i>My earliest happy memories…</i><br />
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It could have been a Little Golden Book of my own or one of my grandfather’s childhood books or a book at the library, but I can vividly remember the sheer thrill I got simply from holding a book in my hands. Beyond the promise of being carried away, for me there is a tactile symphony attached to every book.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TJyjULZmvOI/AAAAAAAABPc/sgDqeTbxQEM/s1600/boy+reading.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TJyjULZmvOI/AAAAAAAABPc/sgDqeTbxQEM/s200/boy+reading.jpg" width="149" /></a>The Little Golden Books enthralled me with their bountiful illustrations, stretched across every page. I even memorized the tiny little drawings that decorated the back inside cover of each one. The gold colored foil on the spines cracked in the early days of reading, but gradually softened to open quietly. The pages eventually would not turn as sharply, the edges smoothed by hundreds of turnings. It became familiar, soft, comforting. <br />
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The books at my grandparent’s apartment were a mixed bag, some from my grandfather’s turn of the century childhood, some from my aunts, but all hard covers, with scratchy cloth bindings. The illustrations were soft and dreamy, soft focused idealizations of the past. The books were well worn from much handling, but heavy, so I would usually prop them up with a pillow as I read.<br />
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There was nothing like new library books. Covered with clear plastic wrappings to protect the pristine new cover from grubby little fingers, these books crackled as you opened them and the crisp pages snapped past as you read. Set aside on a special table, it was always a thrill to see when the table had been replenished and a whole new set of possibilities awaited me. The books on the shelves were less impeccable, having been read more often, but finding one I hadn’t read yet was a special delight. Sliding it out of its spot, carrying it to the circulation desk, opening up the back to the card pocket, every step of the ritual involved touching the book. Each motion had its own feel, familiarity, promise.<br />
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2) <b>The Human Connection</b><br />
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<i>Every book itself tells a story…</i><br />
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Whether it has crossed several weeks or many years, every book is distinct in its journey to your hands, it bears its own marks. Before you even open the cover, a book tells a story of where it has been. You can see it and feel it. That is an integral part of the experience for me.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TJyqzqjCTYI/AAAAAAAABPo/Pl5-lQe2-uM/s1600/Woman+Reading.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TJyqzqjCTYI/AAAAAAAABPo/Pl5-lQe2-uM/s200/Woman+Reading.jpg" width="200" /></a>A new book still intimidates me just a tiny bit, although there is definitely something special about being the first person ever to turn those pages. But it is the old books that I truly love. I have so many that I have picked up at second hand bookstores or book fairs. There is the unique scent of aging paper, marks along the way on the covers and the pages that give little clues about who was there before you. Technically, for value, we are never supposed to write in a book. But I am always so touched to find a loving inscription or a firmly possessive name written on the inside cover.<br />
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I like to wonder what they thought of the book. Did they enjoy the story, the writing? What about the characters? Did they seem plausible to my long-ago reader? A well worn book gives you the answer when it has obviously been read time and time again. And how has it happened that this once dearly loved possession has slipped away? That answer is part of the circle of life.<br />
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I am honored to own books that were once loved by other bookworms, it is a connection that spans decades in some cases and reflects history. I imagine the days surrounding their reading. Someone reading <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Miniver">Mrs. Miniver</a> in 1940 didn’t know how the War was going to end. I have a copy of a 1914 English history book full of rude, hilarious cartoons drawn in the margins by bored schoolboys almost 100 years ago. One of my favorite books is a 1935 guide to New York City. When I read it I imagine my beloved grandparents going through their normal routines in that same city in the same year while a tourist would be using the guide to explore places that were so ordinary to them. It is the closest thing we have to time travel.<br />
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People belonged to, and loved, these books.<br />
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3) <b>Books are Beautiful in Themselves</b><br />
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<i>They are just so pretty…</i><br />
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Millions of dollars are devoted to marketing books. Every detail, the artwork, the wording on the cover, the colors chosen, the font used, are meticulously decided based on aesthetics, with the primary focus being to make that book attractive to you.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TJyj-kKAZUI/AAAAAAAABPg/MQgrM_ZQpos/s1600/books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TJyj-kKAZUI/AAAAAAAABPg/MQgrM_ZQpos/s200/books.jpg" width="200" /></a>Book covers that are illustrated with old photographs or impressionist style artwork always catch my eye and I will gravitate to that book to see if it will interest me further. I have noticed lately a trend toward very decorative covers, a throwback to Victorian days when even the page edges were decorated, either in gold leaf or with a deckled pattern.<br />
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The variety of colors and illustrations and print that go into every book is another reason to celebrate simply having an actual book in front of you.<br />
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4) <b>Your Books Make a Statement About Who You Are</b><br />
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<i>You are your books…</i><br />
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Anyone walking into my house has no doubt that I am a book lover. I have book shelves or piles of books in every room. They are part of the furniture, literally, and it makes me happy just seeing all those books.<br />
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Looking at the titles will tell a further story about me. Most of my books are by English authors. There are many, many mysteries. There are a lot of biographies of people that I admire because they have overcome some adversity or because they are just interesting. You’ll find history books, many about London and New York City, two of my favorite places on earth. I actually collect vintage guide books to both cities, books that tell stories of places that my relatives may have routinely visited, but do not exist anymore except in these pages.<br />
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At least half of my books are over 50 years old, but only have value to me. I have original (not first edition), vintage copies of <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind">Gone with the Wind</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_Harvest">Random Harvest</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapes_of_wrath">The Grapes of Wrath</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_%28novel%29">Rebecca</a></i>, all those magnificent stories of the 1930’s that were made into iconic films.<br />
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You will find I like to cook, to bake especially, by seeing my collection of cook books. Before I found out I had MS, my daughter and I had planned to open our own business, a tea room. I still have the dozens of books I referred to in planning our dream. There is a whole shelf of well worn parenting books. And I have an entire collection of all the books I loved most as a child.<br />
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From room to room my books tell the story of my life, my interests, my passions. Each book is precious to me as an individual. <br />
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A story is a story and it is told through the words. I get that about e-readers. But books are stories within stories within stories, a bonus that could never be replicated by an electronic device sliding the words on a screen in front of me.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior of Shakespeare & Co., Paris</td></tr>
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</script>Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-91197051153968736262010-09-22T19:29:00.002-04:002010-09-22T19:37:04.747-04:00Giveaway Winner!The winner of the Giveaway for "Past Caring" is Lee, who can be found at his wonderful <a href="http://www.tarheelramblings.com/">Tarheel Ramblings</a> blog.<br /><br />Congratulations Lee!!<br /><br />Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by and left a comment!<br /><br />I will be sponsoring another giveaway in the next few weeks, so keep coming back!!<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view¤t=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>Did you like this post? Let others know!<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=shorebookworm"><img src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" width="125" height="16" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0"/></a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=shorebookworm"></script><!-- AddThis Button END -->Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-32615252520727867482010-09-19T03:19:00.008-04:002010-09-19T18:24:42.678-04:00American Shame<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TJW9bK6v0XI/AAAAAAAABOg/aoq3XnhMh7A/s1600/warmth_other_suns_211.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 211px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TJW9bK6v0XI/AAAAAAAABOg/aoq3XnhMh7A/s400/warmth_other_suns_211.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518525192897286514" /></a><br /><br />The Warmth of Other Suns<br />Isabel Wilkerson<br /><br />On August 30, 2010, I read a review in the New York Times that was so effusive, so glowing, I read it twice to make sure it wasn’t some kind of a spoof. But it was real. Janet Maslin had written what I think is the most <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/books/31book.html">enthusiastic review</a> I had ever seen in the Times. The book is <span style="font-style:italic;">The Warmth of Other Suns</span> by Isobel Wilkerson, an epic analysis of the migration of Americans of African descent over the 20th century from the South to the North.<br /><br />Wilkerson is a journalist and, currently, a professor in the Communication Department at Boston University. She won the Pulitzer Prize while working for the Chicago bureau of the New York Times. She was born and raised in Washington, D. C. by parents who had moved north to escape the rigid class restrictions in the South. This is part of what influenced her choice of subject matter. <br /><br />The title is taken from a Richard Wright poem: "I was taking a part of the South to transplant in alien soil, to see if it could grow differently, if it could drink of new and cool rains, bend in strange winds, respond to the warmth of other suns, and, perhaps, to bloom."<br /><br />Wilkerson spent almost 20 years researching the complicated and heartbreaking history of the black experience in the South and the movement North to find a new way of life. She combines an overview of political and social history with oral narratives from thousands of interviews. The story is ultimately reflected in the lives of three specific individuals who left the South in three different decades, the 1930’s, the 1940’s and the 1950’s. <br /><br />Ida Mae Brandon Gladney was a sharecropper in Mississippi whose husband moved them to Chicago in 1937 when a cousin was falsely accused of a ‘crime’ and nearly beaten to death. George Swanson Starling was an ambitious, prickly, smart young man who had to move North but fast. He had tried to improve the conditions for citrus pickers in Florida and discovered that he was a marked man. The growers were organizing to lynch him. This was 1945. Robert Joseph Pershing Foster was from a prominent, well educated family in Lousiana, but the color of his skin mattered more than the fact he was a doctor. In 1953 he opted for a new beginning in Los Angeles. <br /><br />The meticulous history and background Wilkerson describes is harrowing in its pervasive evil. A white American from the North can only imagine what it was like to live every second not knowing if you, a black person living in the pre-civil rights South, would accidentally step wrong. That wrong step could at best get you humiliated and beaten, and, at worst, murdered by a legally sanctioned mob. The petty and major slights and disparities are overwhelming as the author catalogs them: less education; lower pay; separate and substandard facilities and housing; routine, ingrained and systemic degradation. This was not only tolerated by American society, but nurtured. <br /> <br />I was mesmerized by the stories and voices of the three people who are featured as representative of the diaspora. Their humanity and courage is an inspiration even as I felt a deep shame for the conditions they endured. Wilkerson began her research in the 1990’s, when each of these people were already elderly. By the end of the book, as she describes the loss of each one to illness and advanced age, I actually felt bereft and choked up. I had gotten to know and admire them. <br /><br />The book is not without its issues. It can be repetitive and I would have edited parts differently. But these are small, small concerns. Overall, this is a masterpiece of research and oral history. It scrutinizes the background of Jim Crow and why it lasted so long. It evaluates the geographic distribution of the population and, with contemporary data for support, debunks the myth of the migration creating the “Welfare Culture” of the North.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Warmth of Other Suns</span> is a must for understanding a crucial part of American history.<br /><br />More reading:<br /><br />Another Times review:<a href=" http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/books/review/Oshinsky-t.html?pagewanted=all"> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/books/review/Oshinsky-t.html?pagewanted=all</a><br /><br />About Isabel Wilkerson: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Wilkerson">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Wilkerson</a> <br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0679444327" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=1560254467" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view¤t=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"> <br />Did you like this post? Let others know! </a><!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=shorebookworm"><img src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" width="125" height="16" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0"/></a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=shorebookworm"></script><!-- AddThis Button END -->Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-9295760935881653192010-09-06T05:26:00.004-04:002010-09-06T05:31:26.478-04:00A HiccupSomewhere along the way, an application for comments attached itself to my blog. I didn’t download it, it just appeared and I hated it. It was cumbersome and didn’t e-mail me when a comment was left and I have spent almost a year fighting with them to get it removed. Finally, I had to send the entire HTML code for them to remove it. AND THEY REMOVED ALL THE COMMENTS TOO!!! Which they had assured me wouldn’t happen. <br /><br />So if you left a comment for the book give away, please leave another? Or e-mail me and tell me you left a comment and I’ll add your name. I am extending the contest by another week, to September 21, for people to catch up. The book I am offering is <span style="font-style:italic;">Past Caring</span> by Robert Goddard, a great saga of mystery, betrayal and love that stretches over seventy years.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TIS0dOlfSqI/AAAAAAAABM8/Yk7wIVzJofQ/s1600/past+caring.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 270px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TIS0dOlfSqI/AAAAAAAABM8/Yk7wIVzJofQ/s400/past+caring.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513730258032872098" /></a><br />Sorry for the complication. Nothing in my life is ever easy. And I hate the people at Echo who caused all this trouble in the first place. Bastids!<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view¤t=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=shorebookworm"><img src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" width="125" height="16" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0"/></a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=shorebookworm"></script><!-- AddThis Button END -->Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-81765477526441085692010-09-04T17:14:00.007-04:002010-09-04T20:22:49.460-04:00Lost Lakes and Lost SoulsGrowing up in New York City was a wonderful experience. When I was old enough to go places on my own, like the library or other neighborhood spots that were further afield, I took full advantage. I explored the blocks around my apartment building, the <a href="http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/virtual_tour/croton_aqueduct/index.html">Aqueduct</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_of_Fame_for_Great_Americans">Hall of Fame</a> on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronx_Community_College">NYU campus</a> and generally had a ball.<br /><br />But the idea of the country was a unique novelty to me, so stories that focused around rural adventures were especially appealing.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Gone-Away Lake</span> tells about cousins Portia and Julian, who are spending the summer in the country. While exploring, they discover an abandoned Victorian summer colony. The lake the houses were built around disappeared when a local dam was created years before, so the homes were rendered worthless and no one returned. Portia and Julian soon find that the structures are not completely empty however, when they meet an elderly brother and sister who grew up there and have returned to live.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TIK5m2sN6iI/AAAAAAAABMU/GVA0wQlZaTI/s1600/goneaway+lake.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 221px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TIK5m2sN6iI/AAAAAAAABMU/GVA0wQlZaTI/s320/goneaway+lake.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513172971022051874" /></a><br /><br />The book was written in 1957, so the long ago past at that time was long ago indeed, the turn of the previous century. I was fascinated by the historical references and the link in the story between the past and the present. My own parents had no interest in anything old or antique, they were firmly planted in contemporary times, which I think made anything old fashioned especially attractive to me. <span style="font-style:italic;">Gone-Away Lake</span> is full of exploits that were extraordinary to a city kid of the 1960’s and I followed Portia and Julian’s summer with envy. I was sorry when it was over.<br /><br />But luckily for me, there was <span style="font-style:italic;">Return to Gone-Away</span>! This book has more involvement with grown-ups who were on the periphery of the first story. The best part involves the purchase of the grandest home at Gone-Away Lake by Portia’s parents. Discovery after exciting discovery unfolds as the house is explored and renovated. Improbable stuff, but such fun to imagine!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TIK5y7tZn-I/AAAAAAAABMc/zCxBkmGL-xo/s1600/Return+to+Gone-Away.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 207px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/TIK5y7tZn-I/AAAAAAAABMc/zCxBkmGL-xo/s320/Return+to+Gone-Away.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513173178527621090" /></a><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0152022724" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0152022562" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />CURRENT READING</span><br /><br />***First, don't miss my Give Away!!! Leave a comment on any post until 9/14/10 and you will be entered to win a copy of Robert Goddard's <span style="font-style:italic;">Past Caring</span>. See my 8/31/10 post for more details about this faboo book!!***<br /><br />Denise Mina<br />The Garnethill Series<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Garnethill</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Exile</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Resolution</span><br /><br />Maureen O’Donnell is my kind of heroine. Fresh out of the looney bin, she smokes, drinks and sleeps too much. She is emotionally fragile and totally believable as she makes incredibly bad, self destructive decisions, just like I would. She is involved with an emotionally unavailable man. Her family is a lethal concoction of dysfunction: incest, alcoholism, drug dealing. But most of all Maureen is brave, funny and fundamentally virtuous in all the ways that matter.<br /><br />Unfortunately for Maureen, as if she didn’t have enough to deal with, her married boyfriend is tied to a chair, murdered and mutilated in her flat. The general consensus is that she did it and we hold our breath as she desperately searches for the real killer. Her investigation turns up all kinds of ugly goings on at the psychiatric hospital she left only months before. And as she gets closer to the truth, she gets closer to being in mortal danger herself.<br /><br />Denise Mina creates a dark, funny, bleak and powerful version of Glasgow and its grittiest residents. Her dialogue is so true to life, it was as though I could hear the characters speaking out loud. And her descriptions showed she is a girl after my own heart. On a friend:<br /><br />“Unlike Liz, Leslie was great to talk to. Whatever had happened, she unconditionally took her pal’s side, happily bad mouthed the opposition and then never mentioned it again…” <br /><br />That’s what I like in my friends, don’t you? Who needs mature and self aware?<br /><br />After her success in <span style="font-style:italic;">Garnethill</span>, Maureen travels to London to solve another mystery in <span style="font-style:italic;">Exile</span>. She makes more really bad judgment calls and endangers not just herself but people she loves. <span style="font-style:italic;">Resolution</span> returns to the plot of <span style="font-style:italic;">Garnethill</span>, where the prosecution of the real murderer has gone horribly wrong.<br /><br />These stories are completely original and utterly believable. The writing is evocative and heartbreaking and moves the plots forward effortlessly. You know Maureen is going to make a mess of things because of her brutal history, but her heart is so good you understand and forgive her and endlessly root for her.<br /><br />This is a riveting series.<br /><br /><a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view¤t=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br />If you liked this post, please consider spreading the word! <!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=shorebookworm"><img src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" width="125" height="16" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0"/></a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=shorebookworm"></script><!-- AddThis Button END --><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=B00375LOPK" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=B00375LOGY" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=B00375LOQ4" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-86560903054656170352010-08-31T06:57:00.005-04:002010-08-31T07:23:26.880-04:00Rocket Ships and Historical Mysteries<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/THzg25XAtwI/AAAAAAAABKc/4n91-SIamk8/s1600/mushroom+planet.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 220px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/THzg25XAtwI/AAAAAAAABKc/4n91-SIamk8/s320/mushroom+planet.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511527277709539074" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet</span><br />Eleanor Cameron<br />1954<br /><br />What could be more enticing than the idea that you, a mere child, could build a rocket ship and then launch into space all by yourselves to a secret planet with a box lunch and a chicken for company?<br /><br />One of the prevalent themes in children’s literature is children doing traditionally adult things, things that we readers would never have been allowed to do in a million years in real life. <span style="font-style:italic;">The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet</span> operates on this premise. It opens with best friends David and Chuck reading a cryptic personal ad in the paper, looking for two boys to build a spaceship. Their indulgent parents go right along with it. Through the ad they meet Mr. Bass, a mysterious scientist who asks them to go on a rescue mission to his home planet, Basidium, an undetected satellite of Earth. <br /><br />The boys eagerly build a rocket out of wood and scrap metal (!) and Mr. Bass supplies the fuel. Because they were supposed to bring a mascot but forgot, at the last minute they grab Mrs. Pennyfeather the chicken.<br /><br />When they arrive on Basidium, they find the inhabitants are slowly dying from a nutritional deficiency. But they eventually save the day.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Cameron">Eleanor Cameron</a> (1912 – 1986) was a Canadian born writer of children’s novels. She also wrote the Julia Redfern series, but it is the Mushroom Planet collection that captivated me as a child.<br /><br />Her writing is simple and concise but completely plausible in the way she presents these implausible activities and events. Except for having to suspend your disbelief that parents would allow their children to head into outer space in a handmade rocket ship, she deftly connects the plot details. The characters are well developed and the story, especially for its day, was unique. <br /><br />When I first read <span style="font-style:italic;">The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet</span>, I was enthralled by the concept of such independence and adventure. I devoured the series, which also consists of <span style="font-style:italic;">The Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet, A Mystery for Mr. Bass, Mr. Bass’s Planetoid</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">Time and Mr. Bass</span>. <span style="font-style:italic;">The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet</span> has been in print since 1954 (I treasure my 1950's edition)and Stowaway has been reprinted. However, the last three are rare and non-library copies range from $25 to almost $500. <br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0316125407" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0316125318" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=12&l=st1&mode=books&search=classic%20children%20fantasy&fc1=000000<1=_blank&lc1=3366FF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="300" height="250" border="0" frameborder="0" style="border:none;" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><br />_________________________<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Current Reading</span><br /><br />Robert Goddard<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Past Caring</span><br />1986<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Sight Unseen</span><br />2005<br /><br /> <br />I have always loved the concept of linking the past and the present to solve a mystery and that is a plot technique prolific English author Robert Goddard employs in his many books.<br /><br />I just read these two consecutively and I was afraid they would be repetitive. But while the plot device of historical documents figures in both of them, the stories were different enough to be completely absorbing.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Past Caring</span> is the longer of the two and, I thought, the more satisfying. Set in Madeira and then in England, Goddard tells the story of an out of work history teacher who is tantalized with the prospect of solving a decades old mystery surrounding the journal of a minor Cabinet official. He had been a rising political star, engaged to a beautiful woman he deeply loved and then it all came crashing down. What happened?!? The narrative switches back and forth between the journal and the present. There are plot twists and double crosses and questionable motives galore. <br /><br />I have read so many mysteries that one of my criteria anymore is guessing the outcome. If I can early on I am disappointed and, since there are only so many stories in this world, I usually do. While I guessed part of the plot here, the rest was a surprise and worth the read. A really original story and I was sorry when it ended.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0385341172" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Sight Unseen</span> is also centered on a historical mystery involving an eighteenth century character. But in addition the plot revolves around a sickening crime the main character witnessed twenty years earlier, the kidnapping of a baby and the murder of her nine year old sister. The two stories end up being connected and the protagonist finds himself over his head when he begins to investigate. <span style="font-style:italic;"> Sight Unseen</span> is shorter, more violent and is slightly more complicated that <span style="font-style:italic;">Past Caring</span>. I questioned the conclusion as being unlikely in real life, but it was another good read.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0440242800" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Past Caring</span> Five Stars<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Sight Unseen</span> Four Stars<br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=12&l=st1&mode=books&search=historical%20mysteries&fc1=000000<1=&lc1=3366FF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="300" height="250" border="0" frameborder="0" style="border:none;" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br />________________<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">GIVEAWAY!! (AKA: Shameless Bribe)</span>:<br /><br />I will be giving away a new copy of <span style="font-style:italic;">Past Caring</span> to one lucky person who leaves a comment over the next two weeks. Leave a comment and I will draw a name at random. Good luck and thanks for reading!!<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view¤t=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=shorebookworm"><img src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" width="125" height="16" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0"/></a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=shorebookworm"></script><!-- AddThis Button END -->Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-83059120031829438552010-08-28T18:45:00.008-04:002010-08-29T22:22:38.257-04:00It's About Time...I have appallingly neglected my poor book site! But I am determined to keep it more up to date. <br /><br />Where have I heard that before?<br /><br />At any rate, back to my childhood reading. Once I as old enough to go to the library myself, I went as often as possible, sometimes every day after school. More often in summer when it was hot and the library was a sanctuary of cool relief.<br /><br />I plowed through fiction and biography in alphabetical order, starting over again when I reached the end in search of new books I hadn’t read yet. <br /><br />I will describe my all time favorites one by one. I have copies of almost all of them and they are cherished. Even after all these years, they make for wonderful reading, whether you are an adult or a child.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/THmTd7uTrII/AAAAAAAABJ8/dv0trEa2Aqo/s1600/the+good+american+witch.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/THmTd7uTrII/AAAAAAAABJ8/dv0trEa2Aqo/s400/the+good+american+witch.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510597761521921154" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Good American Witch</span> <br />Written and illustrated by Peggy Bacon<br />1957<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Bacon">Peggy Bacon</a> was an American artist (1895-1987) who led a Bohemian life early on and had studied with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashcan_School">Ashcan School</a> artists <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_French_Sloan">John Sloan</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bellows">George Bellows</a>.<br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />The Good American Witch</span> is a series of stories within a story. George and Jenny, age nine, are neighbors and close friends. Jenny’s Uncle Robert comes to visit and tells them stories of Mrs. Manage, the Good American Witch. She can grant any wish, but will require something in return, something that you value. One example is Susan Dibble, who had Dreadful Black Hair. Mrs. Manage will grant her wish for glorious blond curls, but requests her eyebrows as payment!! What Susan chooses is the point of the story. George and Jenny want to know how to find Mrs. Manage. Uncle Robert tells them it is very, very difficult because when she is needed she disguises herself as someone familiar. So you could encounter her and never know it, completely missing your chance. George and Jenny spend the book looking for Mrs. Manage while Uncle Robert tells a variety of stories about her and the children she has granted wishes for.<br /><br />It is a magical book with a wish-come-true premise, every child’s dream.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=B0006AV0D0" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=15&l=st1&mode=books&search=children%27s%20classics&fc1=000000<1=_blank&lc1=3366FF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="468" height="240" border="0" frameborder="0" style="border:none;" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br />_________________________________<br /><br />Current Reading<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/THmU-T2j3_I/AAAAAAAABKU/p-HN4ZqvB4g/s1600/when-will-there-be-good-news-pb.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 128px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/THmU-T2j3_I/AAAAAAAABKU/p-HN4ZqvB4g/s200/when-will-there-be-good-news-pb.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510599417266429938" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />When Will There Be Good News?</span><br />Kate Atkinson<br />2008<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I recently read <span style="font-style:italic;">When Will There Be Good News?</span> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Atkinson">Kate Atkinson</a>. Atkinson is an eclectic English writer, the author of <span style="font-style:italic;">Behind the Scenes at the Museum</span> (which reminded me of <span style="font-style:italic;">I Know This Much is True</span> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Lamb">Wally Lamb</a>) and <span style="font-style:italic;">Case Histories</span>. This is the third in a loose series that started with <span style="font-style:italic;">Case Histories</span>. <br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />When Will There Be Good News?</span> opens with a horrifying crime that leaves a young family dead, with one little girl surviving. Fast forward to today and a series of events, some related and some unconnected to that original trauma, all build up momentum as people and occurrences crash together, sometimes literally. <br /><br />While there are many coincidences, Atkinson paces one disaster after another so that while it feels relentless, you keep wanting to know how it will all turn out. A charming anti-heroine is the central character and you root for her with every hard knock that she accepts with equanimity. <br /><br />The writing is excellent, the dialogue authentic and the ending, while melodramatic, worked for me.<br /><br />I loved it. Atkinson is a great, creative writer and some images from the book will be with me for a long time. <br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0316012831" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=15&l=st1&mode=books&search=mystery&fc1=000000<1=&lc1=3366FF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="468" height="240" border="0" frameborder="0" style="border:none;" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view¤t=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><a class="addthis_button" href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=shorebookworm"><img src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/v2/lg-share-en.gif" width="125" height="16" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0"/></a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/250/addthis_widget.js#username=shorebookworm"></script><!-- AddThis Button END -->Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-25816912303991298312010-05-16T18:12:00.007-04:002010-05-17T08:45:22.220-04:00Books Make a DifferenceBooks have been a constant in my life, from my earliest memories. The sheer pleasure of rich, evocative illustrations, the ability to journey on the words, the skills and knowledge acquired tangentially have all combined to create how I think and what I do today, fifty five years on.<br /><br />For children, books are crucial to developing confidence, validation and having plain old fun. I remember the jolt of astonishment, and then pride, I felt when I realized that being smart could actually be something that impressed others. Shallow, I know, but such a kick. My childhood friend Noel and I had gone to the library together. He didn’t know how to look things up in the card catalog and was dead awed that I did. It was hard not to gloat as I showed him how, but I was kind. We were ten and I knew in that instant I never would be one of those girls who played dumb or “girly”. I was smart and would flaunt it. And books were a fundamental part of maintaining that edge. <br /><br />Kids who don’t have the joy of owning their own books are automatically at a disadvantage.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogher.com/">BlogHer</a>, a site for women who blog, and BookRenter.com are combining to provide free books to children who wouldn’t ordinarily have them. This program is organized through the non-profit organization, <a href="http://www.firstbook.org/site/c.lwKYJ8NVJvF/b.674095/k.CCA8/First_Book_Homepage.htm">First Book</a>. To donate a book, all you have to do is leave a comment after the post in this <a href="http://www.blogher.com/books-make-difference-share-which-book-changed-your-life-donate-book-child-need?page=5#comment-176468">link</a> that answers the question “What book has had the greatest impact on your life?”. That’s it. A few words from you=a book for him or her. How easy is that!?<br /><br />And by my blog post, another book will be donated as well. I am so happy to be able to take part in this project, which will have impact for hundreds of children for years to come.<br /><br />My answer to the question is this:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S_BwKBbDpWI/AAAAAAAAA_4/y0oXCkgPx-E/s1600/keller+and+sullivan.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 233px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S_BwKBbDpWI/AAAAAAAAA_4/y0oXCkgPx-E/s400/keller+and+sullivan.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5471996864738076002" /></a><br />I worked my way through the biography section of the children's department in our library alphabetically. Those life stories had an incredible impact on me, as almost all of them were tales of success and triumph over adversity.<br /><br />If I had to narrow it down, it would be "The Story of My Life" by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller">Helen Keller</a>. I lost an eye when I was four and was profoundly afraid of going completely blind. Her courage and confidence inspired me, eased my fear and gave me a sense of being able to accomplish anything that has lasted all these years.<br /><br /><a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view¤t=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />Read more about it:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref_%3Dnb%5Fsb%5Fss%5Fi%5F0%5F12%26field-keywords%3Dhelen%2520keller%2520the%2520story%2520of%2520my%2520life%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Dstripbooks%26sprefix%3Dhelen%2520keller&tag=hubpag003-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957">Helen Keller</a><img src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=hubpag003-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS1=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0812930185" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS1=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0345450213" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS1=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0618190821" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS1=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=1596433957" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS1=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=1591581699" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-31638019869612214982010-05-01T23:20:00.014-04:002010-05-02T00:13:28.648-04:00Where Was I?Oh, right, I had just found two of my favorite, but elusive, childhood books.<br /><br />I had them within days of finding them on Ebay. The pictures were so familiar, it was as though I had seen them yesterday, not over 45 years ago.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9zzYk-dqjI/AAAAAAAAA84/I2rtK0eH8-0/s1600/015.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9zzYk-dqjI/AAAAAAAAA84/I2rtK0eH8-0/s320/015.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466511651289016882" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z0JvdqNsI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/cLldiW2uyrw/s1600/016.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z0JvdqNsI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/cLldiW2uyrw/s320/016.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466512495917807298" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The picture of the little girl looking out the window in <span style="font-style: italic;">The Little Ballerina</span> was especially memorable. I have no idea why. Maybe because I wanted a dog. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9zzkj0QIII/AAAAAAAAA9A/pJ0Wt3hK9YE/s1600/017.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9zzkj0QIII/AAAAAAAAA9A/pJ0Wt3hK9YE/s320/017.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466511857136181378" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The story goes along about her weak legs (never mentioning polio) and how ballet could strengthen them.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9zzyPY6n4I/AAAAAAAAA9I/zVOLjWaEE4I/s1600/018.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9zzyPY6n4I/AAAAAAAAA9I/zVOLjWaEE4I/s320/018.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466512092170985346" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Bosh, I wanted to tell her. You'll have more fun watching Howdy Doody.<br /><br />But she triumphs at the end, as the Ice Princess. Blah, blah, blah. Unlike me who, as Dopey, brought the house down, to my eternal mortification.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z0WYmYcfI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/BaAHbOQD3eo/s1600/019.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z0WYmYcfI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/BaAHbOQD3eo/s320/019.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466512713118675442" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Hmmmm. Why the heck did I like this book so much, anyway?<br /><br />I think the pictures were engaging and she had several things I wanted: a dog, gracefulness, a dad who looked and acted like Ward Cleaver and that awesome picture window.<br /><br />And it is a story of overcoming obstacles, which have always appealed to me.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z1Fb7vkcI/AAAAAAAAA9g/8-VbWygkbxA/s1600/020.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z1Fb7vkcI/AAAAAAAAA9g/8-VbWygkbxA/s320/020.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466513521467429314" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">A Doll for Marie</span> was special because she had my name!! There were lots of Mary's, Margaret's, Susan's and Anne's in my school, but no Marie. So I was hooked.<br /><br />The doll in question is a valuable antique that Marie looks at every day in the store window (I drew a circle around the doll in the window. On the photo in the computer, not in the actual book. Really, just to see if I could. It is quite a good circle.) It's the classic lonely doll/lonely girl/will they ever come together plot.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z1V8mb5VI/AAAAAAAAA9o/SrwFR9DSno8/s1600/023+copy.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z1V8mb5VI/AAAAAAAAA9o/SrwFR9DSno8/s320/023+copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466513805114336594" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The doll eventually gets sold. A spoiled dog runs off with it and another dog wrestles him for her in the street. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z14xTM3rI/AAAAAAAAA9w/vXhi4Tm6N78/s1600/024.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z14xTM3rI/AAAAAAAAA9w/vXhi4Tm6N78/s320/024.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466514403376291506" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />When Marie finds her, she's a wreck. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z2J3b8EPI/AAAAAAAAA94/vKz54i9VrGU/s1600/025.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z2J3b8EPI/AAAAAAAAA94/vKz54i9VrGU/s320/025.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466514697081327858" border="0" /></a><br /><br />But Marie carefully restores her and pampers her and presumably they live happily ever after.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z2YZKp0XI/AAAAAAAAA-A/Bp1glB7nRxo/s1600/026.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9z2YZKp0XI/AAAAAAAAA-A/Bp1glB7nRxo/s320/026.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466514946653802866" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This book is a library edition and hand written inside is 'retired 6/90'. I can never understand that. I know room has to made for new books all the time. But it seems like such a waste for a nice little story like this.<br /><br />I loved it and I am glad I have them both back in my life.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view&current=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a><br /><br />To read more about the following, check out these interesting titles from Amazon:<br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=1574325752" style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0375829962" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hubpag003-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0836231279" style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811790305750657771.post-59011933216987159412010-04-28T23:00:00.008-04:002010-04-30T13:16:58.612-04:00Oh, did you think 'back up soon' meant in less than 11 months?!? <br /><br />I should have defined 'soon'.<br /><br />At any rate, here I am, back again and raring to talk about books, my absolute favorite thing in the world.<br /><br />I LOVE books. <br /><br />I need to say it again, because I even love <span style="font-style:italic;">saying</span> I love books.<br /><br />I<br /><br />LOVE<br /><br />BOOKS.<br /><br />I have books in every room in my house. Even the kitchen (not just cookbooks, but plenty of those too). It gives me a little thrill every time I look into my den and see a wall of books. The fact that there were built-in Craftsman bookcases was a major attraction when I first saw my house.<br /><br />I think having a house full of books makes a statement about who you are. No, not that I am an effete snob, wise guy.<br /><br />That I love the printed word, the stories that are told, the promise of being carried away every time you open a cover. I love the way they look and feel as well as what they say.<br /><br />Here are just a few of my books:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9j5Q81d0RI/AAAAAAAAA7g/pX0Np7N-dUM/s1600/books+den.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9j5Q81d0RI/AAAAAAAAA7g/pX0Np7N-dUM/s320/books+den.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465392217417699602" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9j5c7OWEfI/AAAAAAAAA7o/L_WgI-YHU9g/s1600/books+lr.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9j5c7OWEfI/AAAAAAAAA7o/L_WgI-YHU9g/s320/books+lr.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465392423143608818" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9j5l9gvkVI/AAAAAAAAA7w/GSjavtWcVMA/s1600/books+lr2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9j5l9gvkVI/AAAAAAAAA7w/GSjavtWcVMA/s320/books+lr2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465392578376470866" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9j5vpTMrWI/AAAAAAAAA74/JDA6sTXpx9E/s1600/books+lr+3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9j5vpTMrWI/AAAAAAAAA74/JDA6sTXpx9E/s320/books+lr+3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465392744749641058" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9j6DTCqlgI/AAAAAAAAA8A/M3ToTzqRWxU/s1600/books+bedroom.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OOy5b3i5kc4/S9j6DTCqlgI/AAAAAAAAA8A/M3ToTzqRWxU/s320/books+bedroom.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465393082372101634" /></a><br /><br />Not everyone feels the same way and some extremely well read people I know do not have even a fraction of the books I have. I would really enjoy hearing your feelings about <span style="font-style:italic;">your</span> books.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://s210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/?action=view¤t=bookblogsg.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb221/Mlacooper/bookblogsg.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a><br /><br />For reading more about:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref_%3Dnb%5Fsb%5Fss%5Fi%5F2%5F10%26field-keywords%3Dcraftsman%2520style%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Dstripbooks%26sprefix%3Dcraftsman%2520&tag=hubpag003-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957">Craftsman Style</a><img src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=hubpag003-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D15%26ref_%3Dnb%5Fsb%5Fnoss%26y%3D12%26field-keywords%3Ddecorating%2520with%2520books%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Dstripbooks&tag=hubpag003-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957">A Home Full of Books</a><img src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=hubpag003-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D15%26ref_%3Dnb%5Fsb%5Fnoss%26y%3D22%26field-keywords%3Dbook%2520lovers%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Dstripbooks&tag=hubpag003-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957">Book Lovers</a><img src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=hubpag003-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10106720865034468249noreply@blogger.com0