Sunday, March 3, 2024

First lines: February 2024 edition

This is false advertising: this is NOT my stack of books.
The finger puppets, however, are mine.
The only one of these books I have read is Persepolis.


February was a month of mostly light reading.  Even though this particular February had a whole additional day added to it, I managed to finish just four books.  I had a ridiculous amount of other tasks on my plate.  

 

 

Book 1

“We’re white!” my three-year-old son yelled from the back seat before pausing to shout, “And blue!”

 

 

Book 2

Eleanor Roosevelt never wanted to be a president’s wife.

 

 

Book 3

Omertà, and Fascinators

Even if she had not been an anthropologist, Domenica Macdonald would have understood the very particular significance of weddings.

 

 

Book 4

The Riding Ring

Perveen Mistry sighed, adjusting her hat on her sweating brow.  It was six-thirty in the morning and already eighty-two degrees.

 


Did not finish

When I sat down to write this book, I imagined it would be a history of Russia under Vladimir Putin, detailing the changes that have taken place in the mind-set and the worldview of the man himself and his inner circle: how it all began, and where it has all led.  As the book progressed, I came to realize that the participants in the events described did not fully remember what had actually happened.


 

 

 

The titles and authors revealed:

 

 

Book 1

The Color of Life: A Journey Toward Love and Racial Justice, by Cara Meredith.  Cara Meredith.  240 pages • first pub 2019

 

At first I felt the author was so enthusiastic and giddy that I would not finish the book.  But then it got more serious, with the examination of what it means to be a white mother of mixed-race children.  I read it for a community church discussion in March.


 

Book 2

Eleanor Roosevelt:  A Life of Discovery, by Russell Freedman.  Published 1993.  187 pages.  Newbery Medal.


It’s a book aimed at ages 9-12, but it addresses some (but not all of the possible) adult themes – the marital situation of the Roosevelts, including the affair FDR had with Lucy Mercer.  It’s well written, and has interesting photos.  I read it for book club.


Eleanor Roosevelt traveled to so many places, to report back to her husband the Governor or the President, that she was nicknamed “Eleanor Everywhere.”   She did not have a particularly happy home life, neither during her childhood nor her adulthood.  But she did fulfill her sense of purpose.  After WW II she worked hard in the UN and was responsible for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. 

 

 

Book 3

Sunshine on Scotland Street (44 Scotland Street Series #8), by Alexander McCall Smith.  297 pages.  Published 2012.


An enjoyable and amusing tale which includes a dog, a wedding, a doppelganger, and a holey kilt. 


For those who are wondering, a 'fascinator' is “a particular style of ladies hat that serves no practical function and is intended only to be decorative,” according to Professor Google.

See more info and photos here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascinator


 

 

Book 4

The Satapur Moonstone, by Sujata Massey.  Published 2019.  340 pages.

Second in the mystery series starring a woman lawyer in 1920s India.  Includes lots of horseback riding through the forest.  A well-spun tale.

 

 

Did not finish

All the Kremlin’s Men: Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin, by Mikhail Zygar.  Published 2016. 396 pages.  “Translated from Russian; no information is available about the translator.”


It turns out I could not bear to read about this topic right now. 


- - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

 I would love to hear about what you are reading these days.


Sunday, February 11, 2024

In Honor of SuperbOwls

 The Year Flaco the Owl Roamed Free


With any luck, this is a "gift" article, meaning you can read the whole thing if you don't have a Times subscription.

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

First Lines: January 2024 edition

Some of my parents' books, 2012

 

Below are the first lines of the four books I finished reading in January.

 

 

Book 1

Prologue: What Is America?

The American novelist and literary critic Ralph Ellison once remarked that, “Whenever we as Americans have faced serious crises we have returned to fundamentals; this, in brief, is what I have tried to do.”  Me too.  


 

Book 2

This book was born on a cold, drizzly, late spring day when I clambered over the split-rail cedar fence that surrounds my pasture and made my way through wet woods to the modest frame house where Joe Rantz lay dying.

 

 

Book 3

Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York.  Especially in the summer of 1912. 

 

 

Book 4

The Mercy Workshop

There are times in our lives – scary, unsettling times – when we know that we need help or answers but we’re not sure what kind, or even what the problem or question is.



 

 

The titles and authors revealed:

 

 

Book 1

First Principles: What America's Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country, by Thomas E. Ricks.  416 pages.  Published 2020.


An interesting overview of the first four US presidents' relationship to classical (Greek, Roman) thought, and how that relationship contributed to the formation of the Constitution.  You'd think it would be a stodgy, slow read, but I found it quite engaging and easy to read.  At the end, Ricks put a 10-point list of “what to do now”. 


 

Book 2

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Daniel James Brown, 416 pages,  Published 2013.

 

This is a book about the 9-man rowing team (“crew”) that made it from underdog status to Olympic competition.  I will read a sports-oriented book only if it is chosen by book club.  And even then, I might not read it.  I did finish this one, but it was sometimes a struggle.  The personal story of the Univ. of Washington team members and how the Nazis used the Berlin Olympics as a propaganda tool were for me the interesting parts of the story. 

 

This book has been made into a movie, which is well made, but superficial compared to the book (as is usually the case with book vs movie).  The movie glosses over most of the heartbreaking story of Joe Rantz’s youth, which had a profound effect on his ability to work as part of a team.  The movie also ignores how Joseph Goebbels and Leni Riefenstahl capitalized on the Berlin Olympics as a propaganda tool. 

 

For me the most fascinating part of the story is the observation train.  On the day of the rowing team meets, a train ran alongside the water, with seats facing the water, allowing spectators to see the race in its entirety.  Pretty cool, yes?



Some boys in a boat
 

Book 3

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith.  493 pages.  Published 1943.


This book tells a coming-of-age story; the description of poverty is overwhelming.  The reading was slow going.  Wondering if it is me, because Boys in the Boat was also a slow read for me.   I read it for the other book club.  

 

 

Book 4

Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy by Anne Lamott.  192 pages.  Published 2017.


This book was what I needed to read at that particular moment.  Here’s one quote:


Singing is breath that is larger than yourself, so it joins you with space, with community, with other realms and our deepest inside places. You are joining your strand to everyone else’s, weaving something with the whole, and this extends the community outward into a force bigger than itself.

 

And that is exactly how I feel about singing.



Singing fruit
Art at the Northside Common Ministries food pantry

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

The Monday of the Year

January 2017

 

Sunday Jan 14 2024


Today Pastor said that January is the Monday of all the months of the year.  And in the same breath she said January is full of possibility, and to prove it, distributed “star words” to all us in the congregation.

I have ample evidence that January acts as the Monday of the year.  Getting back into my work schedule has been more difficult than usual this year.  I now work with colleagues half my age, and they know stuff, such as Python, and biofuels markets, and how to make cool charts, that I have proved incapable of learning.  I am reminded of my shortcomings in that regard every work day.

Further January Mondayness occurred just today (which is Sunday), when I banged my knee HARD when going up the attic fold-out stairs to put away the Xmas decorations.  I am fine, but I had to say owie owie owie for several minutes.  I’m lucky I didn’t fall off the attic stairs from the sudden pain.

January Mondayness may also show up in these decidedly “first-world” problems:  The masking tape I had to use for closing up the boxes was awful, despite being brand name tape.  I have not been able to buy a decent roll of masking tape in the past 20 years.  Why did I have to use lousy masking tape?  Because the freezer tape, which should be a star word because it works so stellarly,  has been missing for the past 2 weeks.  And UPS was closed today at the time I was able to go there, so I couldn’t mail the space heater to Younger Daughter (who now lives in even colder climes).

January behaves as a Monday, in that all the organizations I keep stats for expect a reckoning of the stats for the past year.  All the numbers are due in January.  It is overwhelming.

The giving of “star words”  is a fun and possibly misguided church practice  of picking at random a word that is supposed to guide you for the entire calendar year.  Like the star guided the Magi to the no-longer-a-baby Jesus, you know?  I like this custom because I receive a glittery star to hang somewhere in my house.  I tend to like shiny things and words, so star words should be right up my alley.  

I acknowledge with gratitude that someone takes the time to painstakingly glue about a hundred meaningful words onto glitter stars, AND attach a loop for hanging the star. At the same time I admit that in past years I have mostly ignored the star word I picked from the bowl.  

This year my star word is “Listen”.  This is further proof that January is the Monday of months.  

I used to think of myself as a very good listener - I genuinely wanted to hear what people had to say, and was interested in learning about people.  But my skill in this area went out the window in around 2017.  Receiving the star word ‘listen’ is like a slap in the face saying to me, what happened to you, anyway?

I am relieved that my star word is not “CleanUpYourDesk”.

Maybe I could relearn how to listen.  What to listen TO is important, and the choices are nearly endless.   

Pastor is right.  January is full of possibility.



Monday Morning Quiz, 2015






Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Keep a song in your pocket

The Common Household Husband
captains the boat

In the first church sermon I heard in the new year, the preacher said, carry a song in your pocket for the coming year.  That preacher is right - I’m going to need a song, and maybe more than one, this year.   


Three years ago, during the uncertain early months of the pandemic, I must have been looking for a song, because I recently found a document with strange first lines of hymns, mostly gloomy.  Some of them now seem particularly appropriate for the throes of 2020.  According to my notes, I found these in 2020 while searching on hymnary.org for all hymns with the meter 8.6.8.6.  It escapes me now why that meter was important for 2020.


* * * * * * *

First lines of hymns for the covid era


A holy air is breathing round (much needed during a pandemic)


And are we wretches yet alive? (seems a fitting mood for a pandemic.)


Far from the world, O Lord, I flee (good for covid-19 stay-at-home times)


How sweet and silent is the place (describes all large, empty arenas during the height of the pandemic)


Actually a fairly pleasant hymn



How vast must their advantage be (for politicians who cast doubt on the virus, but get the covid vaccine before essential workers do.)


Lo, the destroying angel flies (reminds me of certain episodes of Doctor Who.  Utterly terrifying.  But also reminds me of airborne viruses. When I did a google search for this hymn title I got a bunch of advice about deadly mushrooms. Destroying angel indeed.)


Lord, from the ill and froward man (that is the person that the murky, diseased droplets of virus come from)


My thoughts on awful subjects roll (I hear you, hymn writer.  I ruminate too.)


Not from the dust affliction grows (yes, we have learned that it comes from airborne droplets.)


When languor and disease invade (a hymn for the covid era, for sure.)


When sickness shakes the languid frame (an accurate description of symptoms.)


* * * * * * *


It’s hard to imagine that hymns which start like this would spark religious fervor.   


The song I am keeping in my pocket for this month is The Queen of Connemara.  It's a song

about a boat, earning a living, beauty, facing danger, and the love of family.

I was first introduced to this song in this version, which has a fun jig at the end.  But the

version I love the best is the one that Younger Daughter and I sing at our own piano,

a good clip faster than Cherish The Ladies’ version, at the top of our lungs.







The Queen of Connemara Lyrics:

Verse 1:

Oh my boat can safely float in the teeth of wind and weather

And outrace the fastest hooker between Galway and Kinsale

Where the white foam of the ocean and the dark clouds roll together

There she rides, in her pride, like a seagull over the waves


Chorus:

Oh she's neat, oh she's sweet

She's a beauty in every line

The Queen of Connemara

She's that bounding barque of mine


Verse 2:

When she's loaded down with fish 'til the water lips the gunwale

Not a drop she'll take on board her that would drive a fly away

Like a ship she'll sail out gladly like a greyhound from his kennel

And she'll land her silver store the first at ould Kinvara quay


(Chorus 2x)


Verse 3:

There's a light shines out afar, and it keeps me from dismaying

When the sky is ink above us and the sea runs white with foam

In a cot in Connemara there's a wife and wee ones praying

To the One who walked the waters once, to send us safely home


(Chorus 2x)


The Queen of Connemara

She's that bounding barque of mine





Monday, January 1, 2024

Favorite books read in 2023




Mainly because of insomnia and time spent in hotels in July and August, this year I was able to finish reading 84 books, 49 fiction and 35 nonfiction.   That is a total of 23,801 pages.  


Don’t be too impressed.  Thirteen of those books were children’s/YA lit, which is worthwhile for adults to read but is much easier to get through. I read 6 volumes of graphic/comic books.  Beyond those, another 11 I would rank as light/cozy lit.  And 4 were re-reads.  That leaves 50 books not in those lighter categories.


And because I am paying a bit more attention to this now, 5 of the fiction books depicted characters who are disabled, 2 books depicted characters with chronic illness.  Plus 2 non-fiction books that directly addressed disability.



Here are the books I rated as excellent and my most enjoyable reads in 2023:



Excellent Fiction

The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo with Sophie Blackall (Illustrator).  2021.  256 pages. Children’s lit.


Small Things Like These  by Claire Keegan.  187 pages.  Published 2018.


The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride.  400 pages.  Published 2023. 

I just finished it yesterday, but I think this will end up being one of my favorites, as was McBride’s The Good Lord Bird.  This might have been found in the category below (Excellent writing; difficult topic) but McBride manages to include enough humorous elements to keep the edge off. 



Excellent Nonfiction


World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks and Other Astonishments, by Aimee Nezhukumatathil184 pages • first pub 2020


Lady Justice:  Women, the Law and the Battle to Save America, by Dahlia Lithwick.  Published 2022.  284 pages (text).  With endnotes 369 pages. 


The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet

by John Green.  293 pages • first pub 2021.



And some others I found quite enjoyable and/or thought-provoking (there were so many - I didn’t even include all of them here):


American Grunt: Ridiculous Stories of a Life Lived at $8.00 an Hour, by Kevin Cramer. 354 pages. Published 2023.


Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus, 2022,  386 pages.


Rolling Warrior:  The incredible, sometimes awkward true story of a rebel girl on wheels who helped spark a revolution, by Judith Heumann with Kristen Joiner.  Audiobook 4 hours, read by Allie Stroker,  Beacon Press Audio,   Published 2021.  215 pages in print form.


The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb.  Published 2022. 338 pages.


How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water, by Angie Cruz.  Published 2022.  208 pages.


The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Gamache #3) by Louise Penny

311 pages. Published 2007


Jane and Prudence, by Barbara Pym.  222 pages. First published 1953.


March: Books One, Two, and Three, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, art by Nate Powell.  Graphic books.  Published 2013, 2015, 


Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson.  416 pages. Published 2022.  Children’s literature.

2023 Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award winner


The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz with Hatem Aly (Illustrator) 384 pages. Published 2016.  Children’s literature.





Excellent writing; difficult topic

These would have been up above, but the topic matter made them a bit more difficult for me to classify as fully enjoyable.  I'm a squeamish reader. These are well worth reading, all of them.



The Overstory, by Richard Powers.  2018.  502 pages.  Pulitzer Prize winner.


Apeirogon, by Colum McCann. Published 2020.  480 pages.


The Marriage Portrait, by Maggie O’Farrell.  2022.  333 pages


Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, by Ibram X. Kendi, 592 pages. Published 2016.


House on Endless Waters, by Emuna Elon, Translation to English by Emuna Elon. 2016.  309 pages.


The Watcher, by Italo Calvino.  First published in Italian with the title  La giornata d'uno scrutatore in 1963 in Italy. 


Manhattan Beach, by Jennifer Egan. 448 pages.  Published 2017.


King Leopold’s Ghost, by Adam Hochschild.  376 pages (text thru page 323; the rest is end notes). Published 1998.



Some second readings


The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich.  464 pages.  © 2020.  (Pulitzer prize winner).  


Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo with K. G. Campbell (Illustrator)  240 pages. Published 2013.  Children’s literature.


Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates.  176 pages. Published 2015.


Meet Me at the Museum, by Anne Youngson, Published 2018.



My top 5 genres, from thestorygraph.com

 My top five genres for 2023 were historical fiction, history (nonfiction), mystery, literary (??) and contemporary.