Teaser Tuesday: The Red Tent

"Then Inna told Bilhah to take Rachel's place so she could catch the baby; perhaps the birth blood would rouse Rachel's womb to fill again, too. And so Rachel washed in the river of life."

-- The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.

Ack! It's passages like this -- and there are lots of them -- that make me squirm like a pre-pubescent girl in junior high health class. Apparently I am not mature enough or enough in touch with my womanhood to enjoy this book.

I find that if I skim over all the parts about childbirth and menstruation, the story is very interesting. But a lot of the book is about childbirth and menstruation. It's hard to avoid. That's what the whole "Red Tent" thing is all about -- where the women go to breed and bleed.

And I thought the Old Testiment itself was gruesome.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday

Two books did come into my house last week in time for Mailbox Monday and In My Mailbox.  I got Roger's Version by John Updike and Passing On by Penelope Lively, both from Second Glance Books.

But my long list is the box of books I culled from my sister's garage sale inventory last week, most out of the hands of early bird customers who wouldn't wait for me to get the books out of the boxes. I warned them that I had first dibs on anything they found.

It is a crazy mixed up batch of books, including some I wanted to read, some that had sentimental connotations, and some that just struck my fancy. I didn't have time to post the list last week, so here it is:

A Russian Gentleman by by Sergei Aksakov (My sister read it for a Russian history class in college, I suspect, although it is a novel.)



Letitia Baldrige's Complete Guide to a Great Social Life by Letitia Baldrige (Oh, the promise of the title!)


The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook by Anne Barr and Peter York (It's the British version of that 1980's classic, The Preppy Handbook. I got this for my sister when I was at school in England.)



More Die of Heartbreak by Saul Bellow (This was the first Bellow book I ever read, but I cannot remember it so it is time for a re-read.)



Echoes by Maeve Binchy (The queen of the "Aga saga" -- I'm a big fan but have not read nearly as many as my mother and sister.)



Sartor Resartus by Thomas Carlyle (This is an old, very pretty little edition. I've never heard of the book, but it claims to have Tristram Shandy in it's literary ancestry, so that was enough for me to want to give it a go.)

Twenty Select Colloquies of Erasmus by Erasmus (OK, so I'm not likely going to sit down with this any time soon . . . )

My Aunt Lucienne by Rose C. Feld (I have no idea what this might be, but it has a great 1950s dustjacket with a definite Auntie Mame look)

Alphabet of Love by Solar Forst (It's a novelty book, but I just love these Peter Pauper Press books.)



Her Best Known Rhymes by Mother Goose (A pretty little edition, too cute to let go.)

Bistros of Paris by Robert Hamburger (My sister used it on her frequent trips to Paris, but I suspect it will be a while before I do the same.)



Buch der Lieder by Heinrich Heine (This is a beautiful, old book. It's poetry in German, so it has little practical use in my house.)

Joy Street and The Royal Box, both by Frances Parkinson Keyes (My sister and I are both big fans of FPK, inspired by our mother, who read the books when she was growing up.)

In Celebration of Wine and Life by Richard Lamb (great pictures of wine-related art works)



Be Cool by Elmore Leonard (the one mystery writer my husband will read)



The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham (I know I read this, but have no memory of it at all.)



Hungry Hill and Rule Britannia, both by Daphne du Maurier (Why have I never read any of her books?)

The Green Knight by Iris Murdoch (I thought I owned this, but I didn't.)



An Italian Education: The Further Adventures of an Expatriate in Verona by Tim Parks (I read his first one, Italian Neighbors, but not this follow-up.)



Weird Tales by Edgar Allen Poe (I've read all of the stories in this, but it is really pretty, so I wanted it.)

Milan & The Lakes (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (It may be out of date, but the pictures are still inspiring.)



Hangover Cures by Ben Reed (It could come in handy!)



A Certain Smile, Dear Sarah Bernhardt, The Heart-Keeper, Lost Profile, and Those Without Shadows, all by Francoise Sagan (Who know my sister was such a Sagan fan? Apparently from her college days, given the age of the books. I am going to read them to understand more about my little sis.)



Panorama Italiano by Charles & Carlo Golino Speroni (This was an Italian textbook of my sisters, which is not very practical, but I like its vintage charm and all the pictures.)

Image of Josephine by Booth Tarkington (If I am ever in a Tarkington mood again after Alice Adams, at least I won't have to spend money.)

Challenge Update: Battle of the Prizes, American Version

Congratulations to Caitlin at chaotic compendiums for being the first participant to complete the 2010 Battle of the Prizes, American Version!

Caitlin read and reviewed the following three books for this challenge:

National Book Award - World's Fair by E.L. Doctorow (reviewed here)
Pulitzer Prize - Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (reviewed here)
Double-Dipper - The Color Purple by Alice Walker (reviewed here)

She also wrote a very thoughtful wrap-up post about her three choices and the challenge.

Laura at Musings is close on Caitlin's heels. But Laura elected to read two Pulitzer winners and two National winners instead of one of each and a double-dipper. So she has one more book to go.

You can find the links to Laura's three-so-far reviews and other terrific reviews from challenge participants on the main challenge post..

Again, thanks to all the participants! And there is still plenty of time to sign up because the challenge involves reading only three books by the end of January 2010.

Review of the Day: Gormenghast

Gormenghast is the second volume in Mervyn Peake’s trilogy about Titus Groan, the 77th Earl of Gormenghast. In Titus Groan, the first volume (reviewed here), Peake created the fantastic, elaborate, ritual-bound world within the labyrinthine castle of Gormenghast. This volume picks up when Titus is a restless schoolboy of seven.

Many characters return in this volume: Steerpike is still the villain – now plotting an elaborate take over as the Master of Ritual. The Countess mother is still the batty, bird-loving recluse she was, although she rises to a period of fierce capability when saving the castle’s citizens from an incredible flood. Titus’s sister Fuchsia is still sad. Flay is still in exile, although protecting the castle in secret. The twin aunts are still crazy and are driven even crazier. And Dr. Prunesquallor and his nitwit sister still tie the social fabric of Gormenghast together.

The major addition is the introduction of the professors, a large crowd of eccentric academicians with funny, Peakesian names like Flannelcat, Shred, Shrivell, Mulefire and Perch-Prism, who dominate Titus’s childhood. Major scenes involving these worthy tutors are highlights of the book, although they do not move the central plot forward. One involves a terrifying game played by the schoolboys while their schoolmaster sleeps at his desk. The other is the fabulous party the Prunesquallors throw to find a husband for Irma.

The book is less about plot – although there is a central story around Steerpike’s attempted coup and Titus’s coming of age – as it is about the richness of Peake’s detailing. Reading Gormenghast is like being lost in an elaborate Medieval tapestry.

OTHER REVIEWS

(If you would like your review listed here, please leave a comment with a link to your review and I will add it.)

Opening Sentence of the Day: The Red Tent

"We have been lost to each other for so long."

-- The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.

This is our Book Club book for March. I know it was very popular, but we haven't read it yet.

I saw the audiobook at the library, so grabbed it. But I only made through about five minutes before I had to abandon it because the reader's inflections were rubbing me the wrong way -- too melodramatic.

Fortunately, I had the paper book on my TBR shelf. I will read this one with my eyes instead of my ears and give the narrator whatever tone of voice I want.


NOTE
Book Beginnings on Fridays is a Friday "opening sentence" event hosted by Becky at Page Turners.

Welcome to Dumpsville

This week's Booking Through Thursday question asks about not finishing books:

So … you’re halfway through a book and you’re hating it. It’s boring. It’s trite. It’s badly written. But … you’ve invested all this time to reading the first half.

What do you do? Read the second half? Just to finish out the story? Find out what happens?

Or, cut your losses and dump the second half?

That is an easy question for someone with my kind of Teutonic reading habits -- if I start a book, I finish a book. Without using all my fingers, I can count the books I abandoned without finishing:

Anna Karenina

Now, before you jump all over me because this is the greatest book ever written, I'll explain. I left this at the gym when I was only a few chapters into it and it went missing. I was in college and poor, so didn't get a replacement. I now have a couple of copies but to my book shame, still haven't read it.

Tom Jones

See above. Same exact thing. Not that surprising, really, given the number of books I've brought with me to gyms over the years, but you'd think I'd learn my lesson.

A Frolic of His Own

I intentionally abandoned this one because it was making me batty. I really didn't like anything about it, in particular the lack of punctuation and speaker identification that made it impossible to know who was talking. But since then, I became obsessed with book lists and because this won the National Book Award, I will someday give it another go.

India: The Rise of an Asian Giant



I got this from the Internet Review of Books to write a review. Despite the great cover, it turned out to be a very dry book, mostly of election and agricultural production statistics. I was stuck on a cross-country plan trip with it, so got about halfway through. But then I pulled the plug. It was liberating.

Maimonides: and the Biblical Prophets

This was a LibraryThing Early Reviewer book. It is a very good book, I'm sure, on its subject. But it's more of a textbook for rabbinical scholars. I don't qualify.

There are also two audio books I abandoned after about five minutes because I didn't care for the reader's voice. But I can't even remember the names of them.

How about you? Will you dump a book halfway into it?

Review of the Day: A Year in the World

Frances Mayes did not spend one year traveling around the world and then writing about it in A Year in the World. She spend five or so years taking various vacations to places, mostly in Europe, writing about them, and then collecting the essays in calendar order with the idea that the collection would give the idea of a year of travel.

Judging from amazon reviews, her approach left many people seriously miffed because she did not actually drop out of her regular life and do all her traveling in one year, on a restricted budget. These reviewers also griped because they expecting Mayes to travel to the far corners of the globe, not just a relatively small section of southern Europe, Turkey, Morocco, and a bit of Scotland.

Such criticism always make me smile because they seem so off the point – like complaining that Mastering the Art of French Cooking contains no Thai recipes. This was the book Mayes wanted to write. She did not want to write about backpacking in Asia or South America and roughing it with the natives.

For me, this was the perfect kind of armchair travel book to feed my wanderlust fantasies. Mayes and her husband traveled to the places I have been and like to remember, like the Cotswolds and Capri, or would like to go, including Portugal, Spain, Greece, and parts of Italy unfamiliar to Mayes from her “Under the Tuscan Sun” home. They stayed in nice hotels or rented houses, often with friends; ate in nice restaurants or shopped in local markets to try their hand at cooking local dishes; and visited a lot of museums.

She writes about their trips the way a close friend would tell you about her vacation – hitting the high spots, filling in a few colorful details, and leaving out practical tips. The stories are pleasant to listen to, even if they do not give practical travel advice and get a little shaggy. 

As a plus for book lovers, Mayes often read local authors or books about the places where she traveled, and incorporates her thoughts about these books into her essays. For example she wrote extensively about the poet Federico García Lorca when they went to Andalucia, Spain, and Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel, The Leopard, when they went to Sicily. For anyone who enjoys themed reading when traveling, these literary digressions were highlights.

NOTES

Because Mayes writes so extensively about the books she reads on her travels, this book counts at one of my choices for the Bibliophilic Books Challenge.

OTHER REVIEWS

Ordinary Reader
Memphis Reads

(If you would like your review of this or any other of Frances Mayes's books listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.)

Teaser Tuesday: The Farmer's Daughter

"The therapist was terribly skinny and B.D. had the fantasy of fattening her up to a proper size. There was the old joke of getting bone splinters while screwing a skinny girl."

--From "Brown Dog Redux," the second of three novellas in The Farmer's Daughter by Jim Harrison.

That is such a perfect Harrison teaser because of the combination of Midwestern-style lust and mind wandering. His characters are generally strong-willed, rural, and stuck inside their own heads.

"Brown Dog Redux" is the fourth of Harrison's Brown Dog novellas, each published as one part of a three-novella set.

This volume also includes "The Farmer's Daughter," about an intelligent young woman growing up under unusual circumstances in Wyoming, and "The Games of Night," which apparently has something to do with a werewolf, although probably in a metaphoric, rather than para-normal fiction, sort of way.

Jim Harrison is one of my favorite authors. I've read all his prose books, most more than once. My zeal is less fervent now, and the books no longer gobsmack (a very Harrison word) me like they used to, either because I'm getting older or Harrison is, I don't know. But I still read anything new he publishes and can honestly say that his work has shaped my worldview.



Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Opening Sentence of the Day: The Farmer's Daughter

"She was born peculiar, or so she thought."

-- The Farmer's Daughter by Jim Harrison.

This is one book from my Guilt List for which I have only myself to blame because I shamelessly begged Grove Press for a review copy. This is Jim Harrison's new novella trinity -- he is one of my all-time favorites. I am quite excited that my efforts paid off.

Mailbox Monday

I fell into a blogging black hole the past few days, only getting back here in time for Mailbox Monday.

The problem was a garage sale. My sister is off on a madcap adventure to try to be a chef in Bavaria. So, wisely deciding she didn't want to pay for a storage unit while out of the country, she sold as much as she could part with of her accumulated stuff at my house this weekend.

I didn't appreciate what a LOT of work it is to have a garage sale! And I didn't realize what a dumb idea it was to invite people over for a going away dinner the night of the second day of that garage sale! We had our mom in my kitchen cooking up a storm while my sister and I sold off everything from her childhood Fisher-Price toys to her REI tent to an 1800s "dough bowl."

No time to blog. No time to read.

So, getting back into the swim of things and going back to pre-garage sale days:

Two books came into my house last week (not counting a box-worth of books I snatched out of the hands of garage sale customers, but I haven't had a second to process those).

California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker (which won the Edgar Award in 2005)



The Foreign Correspondent by Allen Furst (because I really enjoyed Kingdom of Shadows so want to read more of his books).

A New Commandment

This week's Booking Through Thursday question asks:

God comes to you and tells you that, from this day forward, you may only read ONE type of book–one genre or period, but you get to choose what it is. Classics, Science-Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Cookbooks, History, Business … you can choose, but you only get ONE.

What genre do you pick, and why?

Assuming for the sake of BTT argument that "literary fiction" far too broad to meet God's new requirement, I find myself in the position of all sinners -- trying to bargain with God: "If you'll just let me include a few books from other categories -- how about a couple of thrillers here and there? some classics? -- I'll never buy from a chain bookstore again; it's independent booksellers from here on out, I promise."

Assuming God isn't in a bargaining mood, at the risk of eternal damnation I would pick Mid-Century (20th) British Fiction -- novels from the 1940s, '50s, and '60s. That would cover my favorite authors like Anthony Powell, Kingsley Amis, and Graham Greene, as well as a large chunk of the P. G. Wodehouse bibliography.

And I could spend time getting to know authors whose works I am not so familiar with, like Dorothy Sayers (later books), Muriel Spark, and C. P. Snow. I could start with the James Tait Black Memorial Prize winners from those three decades to find new authors, and take it from there.

I know I'd be missing out on great British fiction from earlier in the 20th Century, not to mention my American favorites, international authors, and the thousands of books from genres that I never knew existed until I started blogging (time-traveling teen-age shape shifters in love with code-solving werewolves, etc.). But it's not every day God gives a new commandment, so who am I to argue?

Review of the Day: The Wall in My Head

The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain, published by Words Without Borders Anthologies, is a powerful collection of fiction, essays, poetry, and historic documents about life behind the Iron Curtain after there was no more Iron Curtain. Most of the pieces are short stories, some by world-famous authors like Milan Kundera, some by authors known only in Eastern Europe.

This is a dense book and, because the pieces are written by behind-the-Iron-Curtain authors, there are insider references and imagery that take a while to figure out. But the overall picture built up through little details and different perspectives is fascinating. For example, this snippet from "The Road to Bornholm" by Durs Grunbein really beings home what it must have been like to live through suh historic events as the fall of the Berlin Wall:

"He was surprised to read 'Bornholmer Strasse' on a sign on the Western side.  He had never considered that, on a city map, the connecting routes might continue uninterrupted, that the names might simply go on as before the Wall was built."

 This is a book that will stick with the reader long after the final page.

Teaser Tuesday: L'Affaire

"Thinking of D. H. Lawrence gave her courage, for people were always having impulsive sexual encounters in Lawrence.  It was easier to think of doing so outside London, though she had done some fairly crazy things there, too, though never with an absolute stranger and mostly when she was a teenager and sort of miserable."

-- L'Affaire by Diane Johnson

That is such a perfect Diane Johnson passage -- a mix of titillation and erudition, with a little wry commentary ("sort of miserable") on the imagined turmoils of well-to-do women thrown in.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday

I have a long list for Mailbox Monday, even though only one came in the mail. This week, I am also participating in Story Siren's version, In My Mailbox, although I should have posted it on Sunday.

Read, Remember, Recommend: A Reading Journal for Book Lovers by Rachelle Rogers Knight



Rachelle, aka Bibliobabe, got me a review copy of her fantastic book journal. It is just the thing for a list-obsessed reader like me. Thanks Rachelle!

After our big trial win on Friday, I was ready to celebrate, which I did with a little book shopping spree at my favorite used bookstore, Second Glance Books.

Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs: The Definitive Pop-Up by Robert Sabuda (I don't have kids and I have no real interest in dinasaurs, but I love creative books and this one is amazing)



Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe by Sandra Gulland (on my French Connection list, but the second in the trilogy, which means I have to find the other two)



Larry's Party by Carol Shields (Orange Prize winner)



The World of Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse (an omnibus edition of all the Jeeves short stories -- thank goodness, because I am always losing track of which ones I've read)



If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino (because it is one one of my lists, but I can't remember which one)



Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter (on the Erica Jong list)



The Waterfall by Margaret Drabble (also on the Erica Jong list)



Journey to Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture by Jose Saramago (in a nice hardback edition; I'm trying to read a book by all the Nobel Laureates)



The Message to the Planet by Iris Murdoch

Erica Jong list

Review of the Day: A Small Fortune

Celia Donnelly comes from a long line of strong women with bad luck in husbands. Unfortunately for Celia, she has to learn of these family traits while fleeing kidnappers through the jungles of Mexico, roping her ex-lover into protecting her teenage son, and unraveling a complicated financial mystery.

Although A Small Fortune is her first published book, Audrey Braun writes like a pro, with none of the plot glitches or clunky dialog that plagues many a debut novel. Her literary style flows gracefully without weighing down the action or distracting from the story.

The only off note is the opening scene, which seems a little benign for the darker escapade to follow – more Anne Taylor than Mary Higgins Clark. But by page 30 or so, Braun has caught her stride and the story hurtles forward, never stopping until the exciting, satisfying finale. The plot becomes more complicated and layered as it progresses until the book is absolutely unputdownable.

This may fall in the category of "beach book," but don't wait for sun and sand to read this page-turner!

NOTE

I got this book from the author, who is a friend and former neighbor of mine. I warned her that I wouldn't post a review if I didn't like the book, but I am pleased to not have to rely on this back-up plan. This book was completely enjoyable. It kept me up past my bedtime several nights in a row, because I didn't want to stop.

OTHER REVIEWS

(If you would like your review listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.)

We Won!

The jury came back yesterday with a big win for my firm. I'm still giddy. And still reeling.

The story is on CNN,The New York Times, ABC, NPR, The Oregonian, and even foreign newspapers.  It's been on the tv news too and lots of blogs. The entire post-verdict press conference is on YouTube. Our client is still wide-eyed in it, but he did a good job.

This is all very exciting.

This is the first day I have had off in the last three months. I am celebrating my free time along with the trial victory by going book shopping.

Hopping Around

I am still waiting for the jury to come back in the second phase of our trial. Once they are back, this six-week trial that has consumed the last four months of my life will be over. Whew!

While I wait, I've been hopping around, visiting blogs.

Last Day of Trial!

This is our last day of trial, so things are a little hectic and I don't think I'll get a regular post up -- at least not in a timely fashion.

Legal argument are this morning and closing arguments to the jury are this afternoon. Then we are done. We have no way to guess how long the jury will deliberate, but waiting is not working. We'll be antsy but unproductive after closing arguments. I may come back to blog then.

Opening Sentence of the Day: L'Affaire

"All of Europe had been fascinated for the past few days by televised images of avalanches descending in the wake of storms on certain ski resorts and pretty villages in the Alps."

-- L'Affaire by Diane Johnson

I really enjoyed two of Johnson's earlier books about Americans in France -- Le Divorce and Le Mariage. I think this one is going to be just as good.

All three are on my French Connections list.

NOTE
Book Beginnings on Fridays is a Friday "opening sentence" event hosted by Becky at Page Turners.