Monday, July 28, 2014

A Haunted Family and a Haunted House




Since Rebecca Makkai snuck on to my radar with The Borrower I have been waiting patiently for her next book...and here it is.  The Borrower is one of those books that I loved because of it's quirk; experience has taught me that I should be cautious about recommending books that fall into that category, but I can't help it. They make me giggle at the wrong times, and by turning the world upside down they push me to see the life differently.  I don't always like what I see but as a result, I have stopped questioning whether or not there is life on Mars and go about my days taking what is given to me and accepting people for who they are no matter what they think or do or believe.  

One of the responsibilities of the written word is to challenge us to look again, to reevaluate and to consider other ways.  Quirky books do that for me, and so for me, they are valuable.  That is not the case for everyone, however, and that is just fine.  That is, unless it's the 50 shades books that are influencing your life. Not going into that again, except to say ...forget it, I won't get on my soapbox again about cruddy writing and cruddy books.  (And that is not an opinion, that is fact - 50 shades books are crud.)  OK, I have stepped off the box.  

Don't confuse The Borrower with the young people's stories by Mary Norton.  That is The Borrowers - with an "s" - clever little stories about tiny folk with borderline evil intentions - living under the steps in a family home.  Makkai's Borrower tells the story of a young boy who kidnaps a librarian.  Try topping that for excitement.  I double dog dare you.

Here's the scoop on this new book...which you all should read!

A haunted family and a haunted house... in reverse.

When Doug’s mother-in-law offers up the coach house at Laurelfield, her hundred-year-old estate north of Chicago, Doug and his wife Zee accept. Doug is fascinated by the house’s previous life as an artists’ colony, and hopes to find something archival there about the poet Edwin Parfitt, who was in residence at Laurelfield in the twenties (and whose work happens to be Doug’s area of scholarship). When he learns that there are file cabinets full of colony materials in the attic, Doug is anxious to get to work and save his career—but his mother-in-law refuses him access. With help from friends, Doug finally does access the Parfitt file—only to find far stranger and more disturbing material than he bargained for.
Doug may never learn all the house’s secrets, but the reader does, as the narrative zips back in time from 1999 to 1955 and 1929. We see the autumn right after the colony’s demise, when its newlywed owners are more at the mercy of the place’s lingering staff than they could imagine; and we see it as a bustling artists’ community fighting for survival in the last, heady days of the 1920s.

Through it all, the residents of Laurelfield are both plagued and blessed by the strange legacy of Laurelfield’s original owners: extraordinary luck, whether good or bad.

Thanks for stopping by.


Even though I no longer teach, I still read this book each year at the end of August.  It reminds me of what an important job teachers have,and  of how how hard they all work.  I think of my friends who continue to teach, and admire them for it.  I hope they are thanked each and every day.

This August, when I read UTDS, I will be thinking of Bel Kaufman, who passed away last Friday at 103. 

Monday, July 14, 2014

The Bestseller that Bombed (for me)

Oh my goodness, what didn't I like about this book?  The style, mostly. Wait.  The characters, mostly.  Then again...mostly the plot.  So, there you have it.  Looks like I was not fond of this book.  

What am I reading now?  Still Life with Bread Crumbs by the ever reliable Anna Quindlen.  Quindlen's easy style is a nice contrast to the themes running through this novel.  Rebecca Winter is an accomplished photographer with national recognition.  As the story opens, her career is in decline, her saving account in tow.  She sublets her NYC condo and takes a year lease on a secluded cabin in the middle of nowhere. This gentle story of unexpected love at times reminds me of Under the Tuscan Sun, and that's not a bad thing.  Rebecca is a relateable character with dignity and an admirable presence.  Above all, she is not angry, vindictive or one-dimensional. And she is sane.  

Quindlen charms.  She has a delicate sense of humor that is always well-placed.  For example, although a bit over 60, city born and raised Rebecca has never seen a cow close up.  To her "They always seemed a little frightening, like farm machinery with an unpredictable personality."

Let me back up to Gone Girl for a few lines.  If you have read this book and liked it, that's good.  I always say there's the right book out there for everyone..  The popularity of this book baffled me, so I started digging around and found several sites dedicated to trashing and hating it.  I am not alone.  However, most people were unhappy with the ending and that colored their experience with the entire book.  I struggled right from the beginning, and by page 100 found the heavy narrative tedious and angering.  The story is told from two (supposedly opposing perspectives) but the characters share a common voice and syntax.  One in indistinguishable from the other. Neither one is likable.   Sentences are too long with little dialogue to break up the monotonous rhythm. 

Granted, I'm a purist when it comes to style.  Straightforward,  Simple.  Not a lot of ornamentation.  (I prefer music with the same qualities.  No baroque or crazy frilly sonatas for me).  The author uses far too many parentheticals, which are like little speed bumps (and in most cases, the info she offers in parens does not further the plot.).  Usually words captured by  parens are like theatrical asides - a character sharing a secret with the listener, or in this case, the reader.   But since the chapters are already narrated by the main characters, isn't everything written already a confidence shared between writer and reader, rendering the parenthesis redundant, or am I obsessing on those two little curved lines?

I won't trouble you with my thoughts on the Swiss cheese plot or the lame characters.  The whole book is like really, really really bad Shakespeare.  Lots of disguise plots, plots within plots and go nowhere plots. The Bard used those techniques sparingly, masterfully, and not all at once.  Flynn, not so much.

For me, the most interesting characters were the cat and the ottoman.

So, if you're reading this, liked the book and are feeling a little beat up, just remember, my book group threw rotten tomatoes at me for The Family Fang. The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, The Lonely Polygamist, The Lady Cyclist Guide to Kashgar,...the list goes on.  Still, I read.  Still I enjoy the search for characters that jump off the page and speak to me, settings that take me places I haven't been, real or imagined, and plots that get me thinking...and sometimes arguing and defending.  And that's where the fun begins.

(Anyway) thanks for stopping by (today).

Monday, July 7, 2014

Just Enough Time for a Few Short Stories


With the hoppin' city picnic and fireworks on the agenda for the weekend, I figured there wouldn't be much reading time available.  I did manage to finish Cold Dish and start our discussion book, Gone Girl.  I flew through the final half of Cold Dish.  That's the way it works for me and mysteries.  Once the plot gets rolling, I find it hard to walk away and I plow through to the end.  At some point, I can't rest until I know whodunit and why.  For me, this book was more about character than plot, although the plot kept moving, jumping, twisting and never boring.  I was disappointed with the end, however (Sorry Steve).  Too many suspense novels resolve with a common reason for the perpetrator having committed the crime.  Well, that was a convoluted statement, but I don't want to give anything away.  That single disappointment did diminish my enjoyment of the book, and I will  read another Craig Johnson book soon.  You should too.

In fact, Johnson has a collection of short stories coming out soon and I know I will buy a copy.  Short stories were on deck on Sunday due to the busy weekend.  I first discovered Graham Greene when I saw the film version of The Quiet American.  The first time around I was so taken with the cinematography that I missed the story.  I never imagined there could be such lush,serene beauty in Saigon.  Breathtaking.  The second time around, I was able to concentrate on the story of a CIA agent working under cover in Vietnam. Since seeing that film, I have read  one or two Greene novels.  His main characters are generally highly scrupled individuals who face a major moral dilemma forcing them to question  closely held beliefs.  These personal moral issues are frequently entwined with political issues - shady political issues.

The few stories I read from this collection kept to those themes, but one or two strayed.  Although Greene is not often considered a mystery writer, he wrote several crime novels and shorts stories.  In "The Basement Room" he skillfully crafted a psychological drama based on lies and  pangs on conscience.   The truth V. lies cat and mouse games move quickly and the anxiety driven protagonist finds himself locked in a web of lies because the truth appears unbelievable.

Hawthorne wrote some dark (really?) and challenging short stories.  Haven't read many of them since torturing my high school student with them.  Maybe it's time....Watch out Dr. Heidigger...I'm coming for you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Go Ahead, Blame Steve

If you stop by my house over the holiday weekend, I will graciously greet you at the font door, but you are not getting inside.  You can thank Nebraska Steve for that.  You see, he has been torturing me for several years with reference to Craig Johnson books, the Longmire series.  Then he began nagging about the Longmire series on A&E so I decided catching an episode or two of that would be less painful than reading what I pre-judged to be a half-baked mystery series with stock characters and predictable plots set on the edge of a Native American reservation.  

I'm well into the second season of the series now and am looking forward to the third. On Sunday, I cracked open my first Walt Longmire novel, The Cold Dish.  Granted, I was looking for an excuse to not clean, but this book pulled me in from the first page.  

Dust bunnies reside happily in corners, HAR scrapbooks are piled high  to be riffled through for historical articles and pictures, magazines remain in stacks to be sorted, tossed or re-assigned to another reader, two half painted signs for the store wait for finishing touches on the dining room table. That is just the beginning of the chaos that will keep you visiting on my front porch if you drop by.  Again, you can thank Steve for that.

Now about the book - I have a little literary crush on Walt Longmire. Come on, who doesn't have one of those?  My friend Valerie thinks that 80-year old Major Pettigrew (Major Pettigrew's Last Stand) is sexy, and I know you have a book crush, too.  Walt's an earthy, common sense kind of guy, and he reads people well.  He's scrupled and fair and he has a wicked sense of humor.  

Admittedly, I have been a cowboy fan since Sky King rode across the skies.  Gene Autry and the Lone Ranger were also favorites of mine growing up, and "Talent round-Up Day" was my favorite theme day on The Mickey Mouse Club.  Cold Dish starts fast with the discovery of a body.  The victim is tied to another crime and this appears to be a revenge killing.  That's about as predictable as it gets.  Intertwined, and well constructed characters, enter the story randomly, leading me in new directions.  It is clear who will be the leads throughout the series.  I like them all and so I am afraid I am committed to another Longmire book after this one.

Johnson is a no nonsense writer, except for an occasional simile for which I will forgive.  I hate similes.  I am a fan of the metaphor, personally.  His clean, direct style supports Walt's solid persona, and the story arc ebbs and flows bringing in just enough personal info on Walt and his companions along with Native American culture and lore to keep the mystery itself from growing stale.  All in all, a masterfully crafted mystery.

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Here's my rant for the week....Let me begin by saying that most self published authors are excited to talk with me and are grateful to see their books on our shelves.  But I ran into one who wasn't.  He put together a nice looking non-fiction book, well written, well organized, great pictures.  I agreed to start out with five on consignment.  I could tell he was disappointed that I didn't want cases of them, but five is always where I begin.  We signed the contract, and his parting words were "Five is good for you, Bev.  I'll make my real money at B&N and on Amazon.  None of you small stores are going to last much loner anyway."  I was floored that he was so rude to someone from whom he had just asked a favor.  I tried hard to think of a cheeky comment to finish off this rant, but can't come up with one.  The "writer's " comment will have to stand on its own.

All in all, it was a good reminder to me to try to be less caustic.  Had I been heeding those words I wouldn't have shared that last story now would I?


Thanks for stopping by.