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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-114027582020-02-29T04:08:31.362-04:00Bookish Marginalia: Musings on a Reading LifeMargaret's random thoughts about what she's reading, wants to read, will maybe read, has read at some point... you get the drift! It's all about the books (and the magazines, the newspapers...).Margarethttp://firstname.lastname@example.com is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1124676094638527202005-08-21T22:01:00.000-04:002005-08-21T22:01:34.680-04:00Today is...the third anniversary of my father's death. We took my mom shopping, to the movies, and to dinner -- to distract us all. I miss him so much still, though I'm thankful for the time we had together.

My own coping mechanism: while my aunt and mother were watching a movie, I was browsing at Borders. Found some good magazines and books to use with my students.

Still reading The Hamilton Case -- I find it interesting how Maud, the mother of the erstwhile main character, uses writing to cope with her solitude and the creeping infirmities of old age. She writes compulsively -- cheery, fictional letters to her old acquaintances, lists cataloging the flora and fauna of her childhood home (where her bitter son has exiled her), and journal entries that chronicle her mental, emotional, and physical decline.Margarethttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/08/today-is.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1124505903526122992005-08-19T22:45:00.000-04:002005-08-19T22:45:03.530-04:00Just saw a promo for next Friday's 20/20 -- it's about Dracula. I wonder if they'll cover Kostova's novel. I would think that's the hook right now, just like The Da Vinci Code prompted all those programs about Mary Magdalene and the meaning of the Grail legend...Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/08/just-saw-promo-for-next-fridays-2020.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1124505525477328322005-08-19T22:38:00.000-04:002005-08-19T22:38:45.506-04:00I'm back!Hi, gang! The summer vacation was wonderful, very restorative. The semester is well underway, so I have the time, energy and inclination to return to the blogosphere.

Currently reading: The Hamilton Case by Michelle de Kretser. I'm halfway through. I'm enjoying it though it's not what I expected. I don't know why (vague recollections of reviews?), but I thought it would be a thriller. It isn't. In fact, I find it hard to categorize... will mull it over as I finish it & let you know what I come up with.

So, what have you guys been up to? I'll be doing the rounds to get into the flow again.

Missed you!Margarethttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/08/im-back.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1121101266813670442005-07-11T13:01:00.000-04:002005-07-11T13:01:06.850-04:00Off on vacationI'll be officially away until early August, as I'm going on vacation with my family to the Northwest. I plan to start regularly blogging again when I return, so I hope to see you all back here. Thank you for sticking with me through this tough time, and once again, I really do appreciate all the messages of support (even if I didn't respond to you at the time).

Here's a little food for thought while I'm away:check out this essay by a stroke survivor about the impact his memoir still has a decade later.

So, friends, please live well and enjoy every moment. I intend to do the same!Margarethttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/07/off-on-vacation.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1119911723402388042005-06-27T18:35:00.000-04:002005-06-27T18:35:23.426-04:00Just read: The Historian by Elizabeth KostovaI enjoyed Elizabeth Kostova's first novel, The Historian, though, frankly, I fail to see why she got a 2 million dollar advance. BTW, wouldn't such a large advance be the death of any first-time author's promising career? Who can sell enough to pay out that advance?

It took me about a week to finish this novel. I'm not sure if that's due to its heft or to my own lack of concentration. It's an interesting approach to the Dracula story, and I'm a sucker for books with scholars as protagonists... and scholarly work at the center of the story.

As you can probably tell, I'm still not to my usual speed blogging- or reading-wise. Hopefully will continue getting better...Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/06/just-read-historian-by-elizabeth.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1119322790427803382005-06-20T22:59:00.000-04:002005-06-20T22:59:50.460-04:00Hanging in thereI'm taking care of myself, riding out the storm of negative thoughts and listlessness... I have been reading a little, very slowly.

I enjoyed reading the first Michael Ohayon Mystery by Batya Gur, The Saturday Morning Murder: A Psychoanalytic Case. It's slow going at first, but well-worth it. Plus it's so nice to have a detective that doesn't know everything... I've started the second one, Literary Murder: A Critical Case, but I'm only midway through the first chapter. I learned about Batya Gur when she died recently and many bloggers praised her work, so I felt compelled to track down her five mysteries.

I've read a few Ellora's Cave erotic romances, which I've mostly enjoyed. I do hate one Ellora's Cave author with a passion: S.L. Carpenter. Bad writing, bad plotting, bad sex... Avoid at all costs. BTW, I was surprised to see an Ellora's Cave ad in the NYT Book Review a few weeks ago...

I also read Renegade by Diana Palmer. She's quite a prolific romance writer, known for her sexually innocent/inexperienced/feraful heroines and strong, conflicted heroes. This one fits her pattern, but it's one of her best in a long time.

And I finally read MJ Rose's The Halo Effect, which I quite enjoyed.Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/06/hanging-in-there.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1118871806860955262005-06-15T17:43:00.000-04:002005-06-15T17:43:26.886-04:00Currently hibernatingYes, I know it's almost summer, but I've been in hibernation lately. A recurrence of depression, mostly... Since I was 21 I've been battling chronic major depression, and it's been paying me a little visit lately. Depression for me is not at all about sadness; it's all about (corrossive, vitriolic) negative thoughts, lack of will and motivation, and scattered concentration. Not conducive to blogging, or indeed, much of anything, except brooding. I take my antidepressants daily, exercise regularly, and just soldier on; I did spend 10 years in therapy, including a month-long stint in a psych ward, so I've learned to manage it, live through it. It doesn't really make it any easier to slog through, though.

Thanks to everyone that has sent me messages and good wishes -- your concern is much appreciated!

I'm sure the mood will upswing soon, and I'll be back to reading and blogging with passion again.Margarethttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/06/currently-hibernating.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1118451384075340602005-06-10T20:56:00.000-04:002005-06-10T20:56:24.090-04:00Does anyone else...... think it's in really bad taste for GM to announce that it will reduce its domestic workforce by 22% and premiere a new campaign offering their cars at the employee discount -- all in the same week? If the people in the new commercials are actual GM employees, I hope they're not going to be on the chopping block. Now THAT would be in bad, bad taste! (And by the way, can you believe the GM head honcho's name is Mr. Wagoner?)Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/06/does-anyone-else.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1118109294603548792005-06-06T21:54:00.000-04:002005-06-06T21:54:54.616-04:00Just read: Some Danger Involved by Will ThomasI just finished a wonderful mystery set in Victorian England. In Some Danger Involved, first-time author Will Thomas introduces an eccentric and utterly compelling detective duo. Cyrus Barker is a prosperous private enquiry agent with a mastery of arcane martial arts, a love of all things Oriental, and a gift for languages. He needs a new assistant, since his last one was found floating in the Thames with a bullet hole between his eyes. Thomas Llewelyn, a widowed, penniless, former Oxford student who just got out of prison, answers Barker's ad, "some danger involved in the performance of duties" notwithstanding. After putting Thomas through a rather unusual interview, Barker hires him, providing food, shelter, reading material, and a complete new wardrobe. And when a young Jewish scholar is found crucified in the middle of the Jewish Ghetto's busiest street, Barker and Thomas tackle their first case together... and attempt to find a murderer while averting a pogrom against London's Jewish population.

To Kingdom Come, the second installment of the Barker/Llewelyn series has just been published in hardcover.

Margarethttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/06/just-read-some-danger-involved-by-will.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1117987335255220182005-06-05T12:02:00.000-04:002005-06-05T12:02:15.276-04:00Today in my family's historyToday is my parents' anniversary. Had my father lived, he and my mom would be celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary today. Theirs was quite a love story, which makes me wonder why I don't believe in true love myself...

My parents met forty-five years ago this summer, when my mom was just a fifteen year-old high school girl away from home from the first time. She was attending a summer camp for gifted students sponsored by the state university; he was a seventeen-year old college student who drank too much and partied too hard with his frat buddies. Still, somethiing must have clicked between my shy mom and my outgoing dad, because they became inseparable that summer. It must have helped that she was staying at his house (his family ran a guest house)...

They married four years later, the day after my mom graduated from college. Four years after that they had me...Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/06/today-in-my-familys-history.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1117747954516455292005-06-02T17:32:00.000-04:002005-06-02T17:32:34.553-04:00Just seen: Empire FallsI just spent the afternoon watching the Empire Falls miniseries on HBO. It's based on the Pulitzer prize-winning novel by Richard Russo, who also wrote the screenplay. I admit I have not gotten around to reading the book yet (which I always try to do before I see an adaptation), but I really enjoyed this movie. I wonder how it stacks up to the original, though.

Some parts of the film seemed a little forced; the foreshadowing too obvious. For example: the weird outcast kid is seen arriving home and petting a scrawny dog. The next shot is of his dark house and we can hear the screech of a dog in pain. Now I ask you: what do you think is going to happen with that kid? Haven't we all heard ad nauseam about how hurting animals is a trait of serial killers? And what about all the closeups of the exacto knife in the girl's backpack -- you'd have to be blind and stupid not to figure out something will happen with that knife...

Still, it's a good movie. I'd recommend it. Now, to find that book... I'm sure it's somewhere in the stacks in my room...Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/06/just-seen-empire-falls.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1117581579501984532005-05-31T19:19:00.000-04:002005-05-31T19:19:39.516-04:00UpdateSunday's concert was terrific! Antonio Orozco is a wonderful singer/songwriter from Spain, who mixes traditional Spanish rhythms with rock and pop sounds. It was his first solo concert outside Spain, and he performed in front of an appreciative audience -- we liked him even better for performing while injured: during the third song he apparently twisted his ankle and was hobbling around for the next hour and a half. As you can see, he's also a good-looking guy, even though he dresses like a homeless person (really).

After the concert we went to check out my Aunt's new digs -- on Friday she bought a new beachfront apartment just a couple of blocks from ours. Shopping for the new apartment has consumed a lot of my time lately; she likes having company while choosing furnishings and accessories.

More shopping yesterday, and then we went to the movies -- I confess: we saw Monster-in-Law... it was better than I expected (admittedly, I didn't expect much...)... To complete the mindless entertainment double-header, we saw the Miss Universe Pageant. Hey, I can claim both the movie and the pageant were watched for patriotic reasons -- JLo is Puerto Rican (from the Bronx, but still...) and we were rooting for the Puerto Rican contestant, who was apparently a front runner. And indeed she was -- she came in first runner-up. Plus, my extended family got together for pizza and put-downs, which is always fun.

Not so fun -- towards the end of the pageant, we blew a fuse. Literally. Half the apartment went dark. Worse still: the air conditioning was out. Horror! My bedroom also lost power; that's where my computer is, so no posting for me then either. And no power today either, since the electricians spent quite a few hours rewiring and installing new fuses. But everything's back to normal now, fortunately!

Not much reading going on. I've been in a funk the last few days...

Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/update.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1117388273200341562005-05-29T13:37:00.000-04:002005-05-29T13:37:53.226-04:00I've been away......from home and computer a little too much lately, which is why I haven't posted in a few days. I'm off to a concert this afternoon, but tonight I'll update you on what's new in this little corner of the blogosphere.

Does absence really make the heart grow fonder? Or is it just a stale cliche? A justification for neglect?

I really have missed you...Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/ive-been-away.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1116984016074616192005-05-24T21:20:00.000-04:002005-05-24T21:20:16.093-04:00TeasersStill wading through tons of student papers, so here's a preview of upcoming book reviews, just to whet your appetites (I told you I've been a busy reader!):

Fiction
The Bitch Posse (also published as The Bitch Goddess Notebook in England) by Martha O'Connor -- Highly recommended. This is compelling, unflinchingly honest storytelling about what it means to live haunted by memories you can't stomach but can't quite repress. It's about the darkness within all of us, which so often seeps out through senseless, self-destructive acts. It's a haunting novel, perfect for readers who appreciate Joyce Carol Oates. Read an excerpt here -- it's representative of both style and subject matter. Another good thing: the blurbs are actually accurate!

Home Land by Sam Lipsyte -- I picked this up because it was recommended over at The Elegant Variation. I liked it, but I wasn't as enthused as TEV (overly high expectations, perhaps?). Lipsyte subverts the high-school alumni update to create a funny, absurd tale that kept me turning the pages.

A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin -- Cullin gives us a nanogenarian Sherlock Holmes who is still solving mysteries, though in a smaller, more intimate scale. This Holmes is perplexed by the vagaries of his aging intellect, but he is still a force to be reckoned with. The novel intertwines Holmes own written account of a case that still haunts him (not for its complexity, but for its protagonist), with flashbacks to a recent trip to Japan where his host presents him with a mystery, and the present, where he is trying to figure out his life and cope with some traumatic events (that I won't spoil by revealing).

Mystery
Eight of Swords by David Skibbins. This is the first in a planned series of mysteries featuring Warren Ritter, a tarot-reading fugitive who juggles several different identities and who always has an escape plan in place, ever since his 'death' thirty years ago. In this installment, one of Warren's tarot clients is abducted; another is murdered; his sister recognizes him on the street; and he starts romancing a wheelchair-bound ex-Army computer whiz/one-woman army... Entertaining, to say the least.

Memoir
Nervous System, or Losing my Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen -- In this memoir Jensen chronicles how he quite literally went insane during the final editing of his first novel (though that turned out not to be the cause, as good a hook as that is). Jensen became convinced the publication of his novel would set in motion a series of events that would end with the total destruction of the world through nuclear holocaust. Honestly -- he really thought this, which is why he couldn't sleep, which in turn resulted in his hospitalization (twice) in a psychiatric hospital. The memoir is interesting, but repetitive -- Jensen dwells too much on his delusions and paranoia, and too little on everything else in his life.

Young Adult
Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters -- Sweet novel about teenagers falling in love and lust. The twist -- both are girls, and one hadn't realized she was even a lesbian.

Luna, also by Julie Anne Peters -- This is Peters' most recent novel, about a transgendered teen. I found this novel less satisfying than Keeping You a Secret, perhaps because the novel is told from the point of view of the transgendered teen's younger sister, and Peters uses flashbacks to fill out the story (sometimes rather clumsily introduced by a sudden flash of memory...). Still, it's an interesting story; I might even assign it to my students -- they thoroughly enjoyed Normal, Amy Bloom's collection of essays on transgendered, cross-dressing, and intersexed individuals.

Miscellaneous
The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life by Steve Leven -- short, entertaining book about how to get more from your reading time. Leven (of Levenger catalog fame) advocates keeping a List of Candidates (books you might like to read), a Library of Candidates, a Living Library (of books already read), and an annotated book biography (the rather awkardly titled Bookography) of books read...Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/teasers.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1116899199988463002005-05-23T21:46:00.000-04:002005-05-23T21:46:40.020-04:00When will this semester be over?The semester is dragging to a close, a couple of weeks later than usual, due to the students' enthusiastic but ultimately futile attempt to stop a tuition increase (the first in over a decade). And I'm just so tired...

Plus, how many times can you keep a straight face when a student claims his disk just won't open, every printer at the university is out of ink, paper, toner... or perhaps a relative has died --or been seriously injured... One of my colleagues had a student who very calmly informed her that her baby daughter had just died (it turned out her 18-month-old niece was sick, but not dying); another had a student hand in a portfolio with a forged paper -- yes, forged. It's apparently no longer enough just to plagiarize; the girl had copied the professor's handwriting to write comments on a 'draft' -- and she even signed the paper using the professor's initials. Of course, the artful student didn't know that my colleague keeps track of the drafts she corrects, so... busted!

[Have been reading a lot -- will post reviews and comments ASAP (as soon as I dig myself out from under the piles of student quizzes, papers, tests...)]Margarethttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/when-will-this-semester-be-over.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1116731522044508712005-05-21T23:12:00.000-04:002005-05-21T23:12:02.046-04:00Recently Read: I'm Not the New Me by Wendy McClureA few weeks ago I read blogger Wendy McClure's new memoir, I'm Not the New Me. It fell through the cracks of my blogging life, maybe because I didn't find it too memorable. I guess I expected more from this book, given Wendy McClure's blogging fame -- her blog is Pound at poundy.com (not much going on there right now, as McClure is busy promoting the new book).

I'm Not the New Me is strongest when McClure is focusing squarely on her life -- her friends, her family, her would-be suitors. However, perhaps to try to tie it in to her popular blog (which she started to chronicle her diet and weight loss), the book is billed as being about weight and related self-esteem issues. That is grossly misleading, and also, it ignores the real strengths of McClure's memoir -- namely, her distinctive voice when describing the details of her life (beyond the body thing, which fortunately takes up little textual space). The weakest parts, for me, were the ones about fatness, particularly her discourses on fat girls in general (the prologue 'how to tell a fat girl story' and the chapter titled 'invisible jet' are particularly unfortunate examples, which would have been best sacrificed for the greater good of the book). I also found the reprints of the disgusting 70s Weight Watchers recipe cards superfluous -- and McClure's commentary not particularly funny or enlightening (yes, I know, the cards also tie into her blogging fame...).

My recommendation: skim it (and definitely skip the 'fat girl' parts). I am curious, though, about what Wendy McClure will publish next -- I think that she will blossom as a writer (and as a memoirist) when she is no longer tied to the premise of her blog as the justification for her publishing contract. I definitely look forward to that!

For more information:

Website for I'm Not the New Me - it includes lots of blurbs with opinions that are a lot more enthusiastic than mine...

Wendy McClure's blog, Pound.

Interview with Wendy McClure at zulkey.com

Brief bio from the Penguin USA site.

Boston Globe article, "From blog to book, chasing the thin line"

Q: For a book ostensibly about weight loss, you don't talk about food much. Why not?

A: I don't know. I think there's a lot of [writing] about weight where the person has a food addiction. I don't. As far as obsessing, I can't say I really do it. I think it's like this for a lot of people. If people obsess about food that way, it would just be so obvious. I tried to reflect that a little bit. I've resented TV shows that have [overweight people] who have candy bars in their pockets.
.....
Q: Although the book claims to be a memoir about weight loss, ''I'm Not the New Me" seems to have a different theme altogether at its core. It could be described as the tension between being out there on the web, living in cyberspace, and the struggle to stay in everyday reality, to stay in the moment.

A: Definitely. . . . I wanted to do something with that. So much about putting oneself online is about negotiating how you appear. If you go to . . . any blog by women in high school and college, if you look at the pictures, the pictures are taken from above to minimize their chin, and some web logs have a small picture on line.

If you must, go here to view Wendy McClure's collection of Weight Watchers recipe cards.

Margarethttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/recently-read-im-not-new-me-by-wendy.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1116709126433007382005-05-21T16:58:00.000-04:002005-05-21T16:58:46.436-04:00Check out these Book Sense Paperback Picksfor Summer 2005.

1. GOOD GRIEF, by Lolly Winston (Warner, $12.95, 0446694843) "While grief is not inherently amusing at all, Lolly Winston has found the perfect tone in her breezy and humorous description of Sophie Stanton's struggles (and failure) to be a 'good' widow at age 36. The novel never makes light of Sophie's sadness, but it does deftly show the funny side underneath." --Liz Murphy, Learned Owl Book Shop, Hudson, OH [This novel is on my TBR mountain...]

2. MULTIPLE CHOICE, by Claire Cook (NAL, $14, 0451214889) "Claire Cook once again has proven that she can write a touching, witty, and sassy novel about families. This mother/daughter novel is a laugh-out-loud fun ride that every mother and daughter can relate to." --Karin Beyer, Saturn Booksellers, Gaylord, MI

3. TRUTH & BEAUTY: A Friendship, by Ann Patchett (HarperPerennial, $13.95, 0060572159) "Patchett has written a memoir of her longtime friendship with Lucy Grealy, poet and author. By turns hilarious and tragic, Patchett remains a steadfast friend to the eccentric, charismatic, and self-destructive Lucy. She is the candle that burns too brightly but illuminates the world around her, and Patchett reflects their relationship brilliantly." --Nan Hadden, Books, Etc., Portland, ME [Here's what I had to say about it!]

4. SOME DANGER INVOLVED: A Novel, by Will Thomas (Touchstone, $9.95, 0743256190) "This blend of Sherlock Holmes and Nero Wolfe, set in Victorian England, features descriptions so compelling I wanted to gulp it down in one sitting. My favorite read in the detective genre for the season." --Jim McKee, Lee Booksellers, Lincoln, NE

5. SHADOW DIVERS: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II, by Robert Kurson (Random House Trade, $14.95, 0375760989) "This is a fascinating, true story of the deep-sea divers who discovered a German WW II U-boat off the coast of New Jersey. The book is written like a novel, carrying the reader along as the mystery is uncovered." --Connie Geverink, Chesterfield Books, Chesterfield, MI [Also on my reading agenda...]

6. THE SUMMER GUEST, by Justin Cronin (Delta, $13, 0385335822) "I am fired up about The Summer Guest. This story of a dying man's last wish was a wonderful read with authentically real and admirable characters, and I'll be hand selling it like crazy." --Wendy Morton Hudson, Nantucket Bookworks, Nantucket, MA

7. CARPE DEMON: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom, by Julie Kenner (Berkley, $12.95, 0425202526) "Kenner's Carpe Demon is best described as Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Desperate Housewives, with all the fun and thrills of both. A demon slayer turned suburban housewife, raising a teenager and toddler, is forced to come out of retirement when her family is threatened. What follows is full of laughs and edge-of-the-seat excitement." --Rita Moran, Apple Valley Books, Winthrop, ME Available in July.

8. BITTER FRUIT, by Achmat Dangor (Grove/Black Cat, $13, 0802170064) "A chance encounter with the policeman who raped his wife during South Africa's apartheid era forces a Johannesburg man and his family to confront the pain of their past. Their individual impressions, filtered through Dangor's rich imagination, create a devastating portrait of how history haunts and transforms. Dark and deep, yet full of humor, sensuality, and the desire for life's small, bitter pleasures." --Jamie Kornegay, Square Books, Oxford, MS

9. CALL IT A GIFT, by Valerie Hobbs (University of Nevada Press, $18, 0874176123) "Talented young adult author Hobbs' first adult novel explores an unlikely and, yet, very possible late-in-life romance. Jeronimo Smith is annoyed to discover that a copy of the poems of William Butler Yeats is not on the library shelf. And, even more annoying, the person ahead of him at the checkout desk has it in her hands. A hopeful book for us aging pre-Baby Boomers." --Jody Fickes Shapiro, Adventures for Kids, Ventura, CA

10. OFF MAIN STREET: Barnstormers, Prophets & Gatemouth's Gator: Essays, by Michael Perry (HarperPerennial, $13.95, 0060755504) "Eagerly awaited by us fans of Population: 485, Perry's latest delivers more news from New Auburn, Wisconsin. Perry reviews his eclectic experiences with a Midwestern sensibility that knows there is bound to be something profound mixed up in the middle of goofiness, and vice versa." --Joyce Gray, Mitchell Books, Fort Wayne, IN

See the complete list of recommendations here.Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/check-out-these-book-sense-paperback.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1116706754830200852005-05-21T16:19:00.000-04:002005-05-21T23:20:09.266-04:00Just read: Raising Hope by Katie WillardI just read a truly enjoyable novel about family and friendship, Raising Hope by first-time author Katie Willard.

The premise: Bobby Teller's wife dies in childbirth and he leaves his one-week-old daughter in the care of his sister Ruth and his former lover Sara Lynn. Ruth, tough-talking and scrappy, must learn to get along with wealthy, well-educated, well-mannered Sara Lynn, her childhood nemesis, for the sake of little Hope. So Ruth and Hope move into the Hoffman mansion with Sara Lynn and her widowed mother, Aimee, and become a happy, surprisingly functional family.

Raising Hope is (mostly) set during Hope's twelfth year of life, when Hope is impatiently waiting for her breasts and her period to make an appearance, nurturing a secret crush on her tennis instructor, and wondering where her long-gone father is. The novel is told from the perspectives of the four women in the Hoffman/Teller household: Hope, Sara Lynn, Ruth, and Aimee all get chapters of their own, so we readers get the pleasure of exploring the world and their relationships through their four very different perspectives.

Raising Hope is very definitely geared towards women (I guess "women's fiction" would be an accurate generic label) -- it's a novel that celebrates the bonds between women, be they biological or social, based on family ties or friendship. It is an aptly titled novel, not only because the character of Hope is the unifying force in the narrative, but also because the novel is hopeful about life, love, and relationships. Raising Hope shows us how life hurts, but also how it sparkles, amazes, dazzles. Most definitely recommended.

[I also hope Katie Willard writes a sequel -- I really want to know what else life holds for these four women!]

For more information:

Visit Katie Willard's website, and read an interesting Q&A:

The characters in RAISING HOPE meet life head on and grow into people fuller and stronger than they ever imagined they could be. I think if we are open to life, we have so much potential to grow into and beyond our best selves.
.....
Q: The family of Hope, Sara Lynn, Ruth and Mamie is all female. The men in your book are either absent, dead, or, like the two boyfriends, Sam and Jack, playing minor roles. That's interesting and probably significant. What was your idea behind taking men out of the picture, so to speak?

A: As a feminist, I consciously celebrate women. I love women: we are mysterious and complicated in our bodies and our souls. Men are fine (especially my husband, who is very, very fine), but I'm just not as interested in what makes them tick. I also think men have plenty of opportunities to voice who they are; my book unapologetically is not one of them.
.....
RAISING HOPE is a gentle book, and, yes, it does reflect my sensibilities. There isn't anything "offensive" or "shocking" in it because there wasn't a need for that kind of material in this particular story. That's not to say that shocking material won't show up in another book, but I'd bet against it. I write stories I want to read, and I just don't enjoy reading about excessive violence or meanness. Writing a novel is a huge commitment of time and energy, and I want to spend my resources on characters and situations that touch my emotions but ultimately make me happy. There's enough ugliness in this world that I don't feel the need to add to it.

On the origins of Raising Hope:

I wrote Raising Hope because it was a way for me to talk about the complexity, pain, and deep, deep love between mothers and daughters. Writing a novel had been my lifelong crazy dream, an idea I'd pooh-poohed as a silly fantasy until I became a mother, grew into being a woman, and learned a thing or two about what really matters. It took motherhood to show me that life is short and precious and I'd better start living it. It took motherhood to show me that I could fail and fail and fail and learn from those failures to make something worthwhile. It took motherhood to show me that being fully present in my life was the biggest gift I could give my daughter, myself, and my writing. Most of all, it took motherhood to show me that the wildest, most wonderful dreams do come true. I should know. They come true for me every day when I look into the sparkly eyes of a little girl with wiggly front teeth.

Hometown newspaper coverage: "Hopes are High for First Novel":
"I have always loved fiction and I have written on and off through my life just for fun, and just for me," said Willard, who remembers writing short stories and poems from the time she learned to read at the age of four.

But when her daughter was about to enter kindergarten in the fall of 2002, a bittersweet time of letting go, Willard, 37, felt compelled to put her hopes for her child, and the life lessons she wanted to pass on, into a written legacy.

"I wanted to tell her about grabbing life with both hands and going forward, and that the curveballs life throws you can lead to places you never expected," said Willard whose own life has taken some unexpected twists.

Willard's words of wisdom were woven into a novel, "Raising Hope," written for Zoe, now 8. Willard's debut novel is about the love between three generations of mothers and daughters, and how self-fulfillment often comes during life's detours.

Margarethttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/just-read-raising-hope-by-katie.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1116617705462919292005-05-20T15:35:00.000-04:002005-05-20T15:35:05.466-04:00The New Yorker weighs in on the latest/last Star Wars episodeDrop by Jenny Davidson's Light Reading to read a really funny excerpt from Anthony Lane's review of Revenge of the Sith. Warning: You might not find it so funny if you take your Star Wars seriously. (I found it hilarious!)Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/new-yorker-weighs-in-on-latestlast.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1116616316672916382005-05-20T15:11:00.000-04:002005-05-20T15:14:11.640-04:00The benefits of insomniaI couldn't sleep on Wednesday night, so I spent the night reading (always a good thing in this corner of the blogosphere). The good news: I read the Cassandra James mysteries (only two so far) by Christine Poulson. The bad news: after a night of no sleep and then teaching five courses and driving two hours, I collapsed when I arrived home last night, so no blogging for me on Thursday night...

But I'm back now, well-rested and ready to blog!

The first Cassandra James mystery, Murder is Academic (original UK title Dead Letters -- why can't they keep original titles in the US? It just makes things confusing for readers...) introduces our non-sleuthing academic, Dr. Cassandra James, a lecturer on nineteenth-century literature at the English Department of the fictional St. Ethelreda's College in Cambridge, England. The book opens with Cassandra's discovery of the body of her boss floating in a pool (you can read an excerpt here). Was Margaret's death a suicide? An accident? Murder? No one is sure, but Cassandra needs to get her act together, because she has been put in charge of St. Ethelreda's struggling English Department. If Cassandra cannot cajole/threaten/push and otherwise prod her colleagues to produce publishable work by the end of the year, the department will cease to exist and Cassandra and her colleagues will be out on the street. When Margaret's husband names Cassandra the literary executrix of the dead woman's estate, Cassandra finds --and destroys-- shocking letters that reveal Margaret's life is not what it seemed... and which link her to another mysterious death involving the college. As Cassandra deals with an excentric colleague who claims Conan Doyle is coauthoring his long-overdue academic treatise, a supportive boyfriend who is pushing for more, and a student who has plagiarized Cassandra's own work, she must also ponder what to reveal about Margaret's secret life and to whom...

The second Cassandra James mystery, Stage Fright, finds Dr. James on maternity leave and attending rehearsals for a play based on a nineteenth-century novel she adapted for the stage. Her neighbors, Melissa and Kevin, are also involved in the production of the play; Melissa, a well-known actress, is the star, and husband Kevin, a former tv star, is the director. But when Melissa disappears just a few days before opening night --leaving her six-month old daughter home alone-- Cassandra knows something must be very wrong. Cassandra struggles to take care of Melissa's baby while juggling her own daughter (who has the temperament of a diva), fielding calls from her boyfriend Stephen, a lawyer who is away on business in California, and seeing her first husband for the first time in fourteen years...

Poulson writes engaging academic mysteries that make for enjoyable light reading. These books cover no new ground, either in style or content, but they are full of interesting, quirky characters who provide wonderful company to wile away a few pleasant hours.Margarethttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/benefits-of-insomnia.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1116477470992055842005-05-19T00:37:00.000-04:002005-05-19T00:47:24.936-04:00Just Read: Kate Atkinson's Case HistoriesI already had Case Histories, Kate Atkinson's fourth novel, on my To Be Read pile(s), but I admit that when the LBC chose it as the first Read This! pick, I bumped it up and started reading.

[BTW, am I the only one who hates this cover?]

I found the first three chapters --the case histories themselves-- tough going. The writing didn't engage me and reading three tragic episodes back-to-back was a little wearying. I finally became a little more engaged with the novel with the appearance of the PI whose cases these would become. Jackson Brodie seemed to me a more interesting and engaging character than all the dysfunctional, unhappy people in the case histories. Not that Jackson isn't dysfunctional and unhappy -- he is, but he's witty about it. This guy has a sense of humor about his misery, while the subjects of the case histories just seem so dreadfully earnest in their suffering. I guess I can safely say that Atkinson's decision to organize her novel around the three "case histories" felt contrived to me and not entirely successful. I think the novel would have been better and stronger had the material been organized differently (perhaps losing the "case histories" as separate entities and reworking them more smoothly into the narrative).

I also found Atkinson's narrative coy -- she flashes her hand but then holds it back, refusing to reveal information her characters already know. For example, when Jackson uncovers the key piece of information regarding the Laura Wyre case, he calls his client (her long-grieving father) and tells him he'll mail him a postcard with the information. What? Is that believable? Oh yes, I spend ten years obsessing about my daughter's case and when the PI I finally hired to look into it calls and says he's solved it, I just say okay, don't need to know, I'll wait to get that postcard... Please. And that little unbelievable exchange comes a little after Atkinson interrupts the narrative when the woman Jackson is interviewing says Oh I know who the killer is... Well, we don't. Could you tell us? Show us? Nope -- Jackson apparently has better things to do, and so does Atkinson. We must wait until they feel like showing us... That's a little too coy for my taste.

Other things also annoyed me:

The little beggar girl that just kept popping up. I just wanted to shout to the characters -- take a look at her! Isn't it obvious she'll turn out to be important! And of course, she is...

The Carolyn character. Obviously, since she was given her own chapters, she must be important to the case histories. And indeed she is... It just takes a while to become apparent (frankly, too long).

Why does Jackson put up with the secretary from hell? Does she have something on him we don't know about? Otherwise, it makes no sense to me that Jackson would employ this dour, nasty woman with no apparent redeeming qualities.

I did like that the resolution of the cases was surprising (a little contrived and manipulative, perhaps, but still interesting). I was also thankful that towards the end of the novel the atmosphere of utter, pervasive failure and despair surrounding all the characters lifted a little. There are no happy endings, just hopeful endings. And that's good enough for me.

For more information:

Atkinson's bio

Links to reviews of Case Histories

Follow blogger Grumpy Old Bookman discusses Case Histories, pre-LBC (I happen to agree with many of his comments):

As for me, well I found Case Histories to be hard going. For one thing you have to go 60 pages before you get anything that might reasonably be called a scene (in dramatic terms) in which two or more actors engage in a dialogue. And to my mind that ain't the best way to proceed. So I began to skip. Fast. Which is not, of course, the ideal way to read a novel. You should read every word, but I'm afraid I am very old-fashioned about these things and I expect the writer to give me some help. Reading a novel is suppose to be fun, at least in my estimation; it's supposed to be an enjoyable, interesting, satisfying experience; it's not supposed to be a whole lot of hard, tedious work.

Anyway, I did stick with the book, after a fashion, and after a couple of hundred pages or so I began to see a little more virtue in it. And by the end I could also see, very clearly, that if the material had been organised differently, Case Histories could have been an impressive novel indeed. But it would have been an impressive crime novel. And that, I suspect, is something that Kate Atkinson and her publisher would rather die than admit.
Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/just-read-kate-atkinsons-case.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1116473140415058282005-05-18T23:25:00.000-04:002005-05-18T23:28:33.300-04:00On Bride & Prejudice, the movieThis weekend I saw Bride & Prejudice, the Bollywood-and-Austen-inspired new movie by the director of Bend It Like Beckam. It's light and cheery and full of gorgeous sounds and colors, exactly what I needed after a week of gray, rainy days (it hasn't been paradise in the tropics lately!). While this is not a cerebral interpretation, it is a lot of fun -- a celebration of over-the-top Bollywood song-and-dance numbers infused with the spirit of Jane Austen. And most of the actors and actresses in the movie are uncommonly beautiful, so that it seems quite fitting that they spend a lot of time prancing around decked out in colorful clothing...

The beautiful Aishwarya Rai, former Miss India and current Bollywood star, plays Lalita, a 21st century Indian Elizabeth Bennet, who is destined to be momentarily charmed by the wicked Wickham (here a nomadic backpacker), ogled by Mr. Kholi (Austen's Mr. Collins has been turned into an ingratiating accountant who emigrated to California and has returned --green card in hand-- to shop for a proper Indian wife), and ultimately landed by Darcy, a white-bread (and bred) American hotelier.

Of course we all know what happens, but it's so much fun to watch anyway. And how cool is it to see Lalita and her Mr. Darcy riding an elephant that is sporting a "Just Married" sign with its bejewelled finery?

For more information:

Bride & Prejudice website

Miramax's B&P website

Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/on-bride-prejudice-movie.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1116384134564906732005-05-17T22:42:00.000-04:002005-05-17T23:34:50.630-04:00On Lynn Viehl's Darkyn SeriesRecently I read If Angels Burn, the first in a new series of novels by Lynn Viehl (of Paperback Writer fame). Billed by publisher Signet Eclipse as "paranormal romance", If Angels Burn is described by its author as also containing "strong elements of horror, suspense, fantasy and science fiction." The fact is that the novel works better within any of those other genres than as a romance.

That is my main problem with this novel: expectations created and left unfulfilled.

Not only is If Angels Burn marketed as "paranormal romance" but a prominent blurb on the cover proclaims this novel "[e]rotic, darker than sin, and better than good chocolate." It is none of those things. Of course I know blurbs exaggerate, but still, as a reader I'm annoyed (angry, really) at being deliberately misled.

I have read a lot of romance, and a fair amount of paranormal romance (including all of Christine Feehan's Carpathian romances, which are a favorite of mine), and trust me, If Angels Burn is NOT romance. In a good romance there are two basic genre rules that cannot be bent: 1) the narrative has to focus on the relationship between the hero and the heroine; and 2) there has to be a happy ending, which includes the promise of the hero and heroine together and happy. If Angels Burn skirts both these rules -- the story contains too many secondary characters and subplots; the supposed hero and heroine occupy but a small part of the narrative; there is very little sex, and what there is of it cannot really be called erotic; the end of the novel is merely a setup for the continuing Darkyn saga, not a satisfying resolution of the relationship between hero and heroine (who really seem like an afterthought).

I'm not a slave to genre -- I like Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series, which is not strictly horror or romance, but then, I don't expect Hamilton's books to follow a particular formula. Even then, the Anita Blake books have a strong heroine and devote a lot of narrative time to developing her (admittedly problematic and genre-bending) relationship to her several heroes.

Still, even though I was disappointed, I liked If Angels Burn (great title, even if it doesn't directly relate to anything in the novel) enough that I will give the second book in the series a try. I just hope there's more romance in it next time. Or that the publisher reclassifies the books. Or that the blurbs are more truthful...

For more information:

The Darkyn website, which explains what the first three books are about.

Sheila Kelly's blog: Paperback Writer

Interview with Sheila Kelly (Lynn Viehl's given name)
SK: My day starts at 5:30 a.m. and ends at midnight. I write new material in the mornings and early afternoons for six to eight hours, and edit for another four to six hours in the evening. I have no time/genre preferences.
RK: Do you write more than one book at once?

SK: I usually write three books at the same time. This month I'm writing four so I can take off two weeks at Christmas.

RK: Do you outline or write from the hip?

SK: I outline the novel with a fairly detailed synopsis and about forty or fifty pages of notes that only make sense to me. The book is completely planned out in my head before I write the first word. I rarely deviate from the plan, but when I do, I rework the outline before I continue to write.
.....
RK: What are you offering readers with the Darkyn novels?

SK: I avoid genre labels, but I guess dark fantasy seems most appropriate to me. The series is being marketed by the publisher as paranormal romance. There are strong elements of horror, suspense, fantasy and science fiction in the books as well. Take your pick.

Sheila Kelly on the search for the perfect suit:

I was facing my first crisis as a professional writer. It wasn't a plot problem. It wasn't writer's block (I never get writer's block. There are many moments, usually around 2 am, that I fervently wish I did). I liked my editor, loved my agent, and was busily whizzing through the revisions on my manuscript. Problems with them I could handle.

I had been invited by a local writer's group to attend their monthly meeting. At the Airport Hilton. To meet 65 published or aspiring writers. I wasn't nervous about attending. Sixteen years of public school conferences had enabled me to be pleasant and sit and listen to almost anyone politely insult me. Then there was all the hand-to-hand combat training I'd gotten in the military. I figured meeting a bunch of writers would be a breeze.

No, the problem was my closet. Or more specifically, what was not in my closet.
[Isn't it nice? She never gets writer's block. She writes and publishes 4 books a year. She works from 5:30 am to midnight. She always outlines. She never deviates from her schedule. She plans her writing 2 years in advance; she doesn't sign her books because it makes her "feel ridiculous".. And she lives with her husband and two children in South Florida. Now, am I being cynical, or is there something wrong with this picture?... Which prompts me to wonder: how reliable (truthful?) are writers when they talk about how they write?]Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/on-lynn-viehls-darkyn-series.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1116285375796846122005-05-16T19:16:00.000-04:002005-05-17T22:51:22.060-04:00On Ghosting by Jennie ErdalThis weekend I read another Borders Original Voices selection, a memoir entitled Ghosting by Jennie Erdal. For almost 20 years Erdal worked as an editor and translator for Quartet Books in London, and she also became the ghostwriter for Quartet's flamboyant owner, whom she dubs "Tiger" (his real name is Naim Attallah). Ghosting has caused quite a stir in England, where Atallah is quite well-known and his books well-received.

I wanted to love this book. After all, what's not to like? Ghosting purports to tell the true story of how Jennie Erdal went from Quartet Russian-lit editor (and sometime translator) to ghostwriter of Attallah's books, novels, newspaper columns, articles, and even intimate correspondence. I've often wondered about the relationship between ghost and ghosted (haunted? ghostee?): what makes one person take on the writing persona of another? And is it ever ethical to disclose the relationship? Is the ghost being paid just for the words or also for discretion and silence?

But ultimately, Ghosting answers none of these questions. In fact, I found this memoir just plain boring; I found myself skimming... trying to get over the repetitive bits as quickly as possible. How many ways can Erdal describe Tiger's flamboyance? His little eccentricities, like the mismatched socks, the three watches, the obsessive scheduling, and the never-ending drama? The answer: way too many. Perhaps this book should have remained a Granta article... the added length does not add depth or value.

While many reviews have commented on Erdal's elegant prose, I found the writing clunky. It drags. [And yes, I could cite examples, but I only got 3 hours of sleep last night --(non)emergency at my grandmother's nursing home-- and don't have the patience to transcribe...] There's too much telling (and retelling) in Ghosting and not enough showing, both in her relationship to Tiger and in the sections chronicling her own life (which I found, well, boring...).

Erdal cites extensive passages from the novels she ghosted for Tiger; the passages from the first novel are particularly excrutiating to read. It's hard for me to believe that those novels got good reviews. But then again, Erdal herself mentions that reviewers often see in novels what they are looking to find.

Erdal also chooses to include fairly long passages in French, which are not translated. I can read French, so those posed no problem for me, but I imagine non-French-speaking readers would be annoyed. Another annoyance: Erdal frequently cites words of wisdom from other writers -- sometimes she references the cites with a footnote, sometimes she doesn't (even when she cites directly, using quotes). I couldn't figure out the rationale for this haphazard referencing system -- either reference all the cites or none of them, please!

Bottom line: I wouldn't recommend this book. If you're interested in the topic, like I was, I suggest you browse through the info and links below -- they provide plenty of free info without requiring a large commitment of time.

For more information:

Excellent interview/article on Erdal and Ghosting.

Overview of the reviews on Ghosting, from metacritic.com. Most of them are much more favorable than my own opinion!

Reprints of reviews, articles, and excerpts from Ghosting

"Giving Up the Ghosting":

David Sexton of the Evening Standard, in an interview with Attallah, has depicted a rift between Erdal and her former employer. Attallah is, Sexton writes, 'understandably agitated.' The prominent publisher has found in Ghosting, 'details that you don?t normally put in a book' to the point where he claims, 'I don't recognise myself' It is not mentioned, however, that Attallah personally approved the book after being given advance copies. Sexton himself is ultimately impressed enough to find Ghosting 'a fascinating and notably well-written memoir.'

Adding further fuel to the controversy, Attallah himself has recently published a new book of his own, this time without the use of a ghost-writer. The Old Ladies of Nazareth is the first of a proposed trilogy in which Attallah explores his own Palestinian heritage, published on October 21.

With Ghosting's much anticipated publication, the media frenzy will perhaps subside, and Erdal will - for the first time - be able to speak for herself, and under her own name.

Review, "A Kind of Self-Deception":

Ghosting is not a literary kiss-and-tell, its author emphasises, anxious about the book's reception. She points out that for years it was an open secret in publishing circles that Attallah, magazine proprietor and owner of Quarto Books and The Women's Press, did not himself write every word of the journalism or the books that appeared under his own name--notably volumes of his interviews with famous women, and a brace of novels. Private Eye had long ago "exposed" the situation, in very unflattering, black-and-white terms.

Instead Erdal is interested in the intense relationship that developed between herself, an editor, translator and single mother-of-three from a conservative small town in Fife, and the exuberant, obsessive, emotional Attallah, who grew up amid the olive groves of Palestine.

And she is interested in the complexities of the role she took on in his employ. In one way she sees it as just a simple service, comparing her job to that of the letter wallahs in India, who will compose a letter to order because they can phrase it better than the individual who buys their skills. In another, particularly when she came to write Attallah's novels, it became a strange kind of distortion of her own mental space, as she attempted to force her own creative imagination into the shape of another person's brain.

"Ghostwriter Giving Shape to Own Career":

Her role developed so gradually that she wasn't aware for a long time that what she was doing was not moral — that writing material for someone else to say without attribution was "ghosting." She says neither she nor Attallah ever used that word.

"He was very ambitious about being a writer, and he thought I could make it happen for him. I worked at home — about 500 miles from London. I didn't feel manipulated at the beginning. My impression was that a lot of people were doing the same thing."

By the time she wrote the book, she was sorry and wanted to "take a hard look at ghostwriting, which is very prevalent now. We all get mixed up in our heads. I was doing an extreme form of it — especially with intimate letters. Passing off something that is not your own is not honorable or moral behavior, but it is interesting behavior. Why give words away? Words are very personal."

Her top salary, she said, was "25,000 pounds a year — less money than he paid his chauffeur. He paid me just enough to keep me interested. It was enough for me to pay the bills. The fact that I didn't get credit didn't matter to me. I knew. He couldn't own my thoughts. Getting credit seemed very low on the list of priorities. It was more important for me to care for my family."

From "War of the Words" in W Magazine's March 2005 issue:

At the very mention of Jennie Erdal's name, Attallah becomes enraged. "Our relationship--any relationship I have--is sacrosanct," he booms from behind his desk. Although he knew she was writing a book about her time with him ("I told him more than once that I wasn't going to make him a saint," says Erdal), he says he was shocked when he first read an excerpt in Granta. Choosing his words carefully, he refuses to confirm or deny Erdal's ghostwriting claims: "It was a very close collaboration where two talents intertwined.

"I am obsessed with loyalty," he adds, clenching his fists. "And she knows how I view loyalty."

Though Attallah acknowledges he recognizes "some aspects" of himself in Erdal's portrayal, he is offended by most of her description. "It's like an opera, there are many inaccuracies, embellishments, exaggerations," he says. "She made me look like a comical buffoon. To be called illiterate by somebody with whom you have worked closely is not a nice thing. You can be so kind to someone, and then put a knife in them--and the wound feels just as painful. I feel betrayed."
A little trivia:
The Nigella Erdal mentions in Ghosting as one of Tiger's girls is Nigella Lawson, now of cooking fame.
Margarethttp://email@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/on-ghosting-by-jennie-erdal.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11402758.post-1116032658333354462005-05-13T21:04:00.000-04:002005-05-17T18:46:00.703-04:00Saying goodbye to a beloved bookstoreI don't know how I missed it, but one of my favorite bookstores closed at the end of October 2004 and I just didn't hear about it. WordsWorth Books in Harvard Square was my home away from home during my four years at Harvard College. And now it's gone! I knew they had filed for bankruptcy, but not closed. It pains me. Harvard Bookstore better be thriving -- Harvard Square just wouldn't be the same without it, and I don't think I could stand losing yet another favorite bookstore... even one thousands of miles away.

Hillel Stavis, owner of WordsWorth Books, in a Boston Globe interview after WordsWorth's closing, talked about reading, bookstores, and booksellers's reading habits:

As independent bookstores wither away, what of the future of reading? Is it time to prepare the obituary for bookstores?

''No, people read, although they have attention-span-reading-disorder. People buy books, but I have a suspicion they don't read them through. Everybody bought [Umberto] Eco's 'The Name of the Rose,' but how many read it? [Hey, when I was a bookseller I wanted to sell books. Sure, I would like everyone to be a voracious reader, but, let's get real, no one ever reads every book s/he buys!]

''Habits are changing. Bookstores are no longer the sole repository, other than libraries, of intellectual pursuit. There's competition. Television has not only stupid music videos but serious offerings, like the History Channel. From the Internet, you can download Shakespeare.

''I don't want to give the impression books are becoming extinct. Recently, I was looking at John Locke's 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding.' Online, you can read three paragraphs and get the gist, but if you bought the book you might tend to read the whole thing. [I thought people didn't read the books they bought, but maybe Locke just trumps Eco... Nah...]And unlike your tape recorder or a plasma TV, a book is relatively inexpensive. You can lose it and replace it easily, and so, when you think about Gutenberg's invention, it's proven to be portable, cheap, and remarkably durable."
.....
''People fantasize about owning a bookstore, but what happens is that you get so busy with minutiae you don't have time to read. If there's a retirement home for booksellers, what you'd see is a lot of old booksellers sitting in rocking chairs, and what would they be doing? They'd be reading all the books they never had time to read when they owned a bookstore."
Now, that I agree with. When I was a bookseller I hardly had time to read. In fact, I read much less those two years than at any other time since I was about 10 years old. I always felt that I was drowning in a sea of text... (I still miss, though, the thrill of opening the boxes of new books and of handselling beloved titles to potential readers, but not the aggravation of dealing with vendors or employees or taxes...)Margarethttp://firstname.lastname@example.com://bookishmarginalia.blogspot.com/2005/05/saying-goodbye-to-beloved-bookstore.html


text: Bank Mellat and Iran Medical Council have signed a memorandum of understanding with the aim of improving bilateral cooperation and increasing banking ties. "In this MoU, [the goal] has been emphasized by way of unifying the accounts of the medical council in the premium branch of Bank Mellat at Tehran University and preparing the ground to offer foreign exchange services to upgrade the quality and quantity of health in the private sector," the statement on Bank Mellat's website reads. As part of the MoU, which was signed between Bank Mellat CEO Hadi Akhlaqi and IMC Director Alireza Zali, the lender will provide the entity with all kinds of banking services for three years, which period may be subject to extension in the future.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Fredericton police responded to a shooting at a north side home that sent one man to the hospital early Friday morning.
Alycia Bartlett, a spokesperson for the Fredericton Police Force, said the victim is a 47-year-old male who suffered a gunshot wound. He was transported to Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital with injuries believed to be non-life threatening.
Police responded to the incident at approximately 4:25 a.m. after receiving a call, according to Bartlett. Shortly after, a 56-year-old man was arrested on an adjacent property.
The victim remains in stable condition. Bartlett said the victim and suspect are known to one another.
The emergency response team, police service dog and primary response team all responded.
Bartlett said the incident is under active investigation by the major crime unit. The suspect is expected to face several charges, including weapons-related offenses.
The incident follows a shooting on the city's north side over the summer that left four people killed, including two police officers.


text:
Nozomi Ando
Assistant Professor
Department and Program Affiliation:
Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Academic focus:
Biophysics, structural enzymology
Current research project:
We develop X-ray methods to study proteins in motion. We are particularly interested in uncovering the evolution of protein allostery and how dynamic proteins perform sequential reactions in the correct order.
Previous positions:
- Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, 2014-2018
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry, MIT, 2009-2014
Academic background:
- Ph.D., Physics, Cornell University, 2009
- B.S., Physics, MIT, 2001
Last book read:
"Authority" by Jeff VanderMeer
In your own time/when not working:
My serious hobby is classical singing, and I've studied voice since I was 16. I enjoy baking, cooking, and observing wild animals. I also enjoy art and making illustrations.
Courses you're most looking forward to teaching:
Structural Methods in Biochemistry
What most excites you about Cornell:
I am a long-time user of the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS). My group makes use of any beam time that becomes available. Our motto is "no photon wasted."


text:
Source: StreetCode Academy
(If you missed part 1, please start here.)
The champ is here
And then someone made a grand championship fight entrance that even President Obama himself would stand and cheer for. That someone was 6'7, 215 lbs of pure muscle, and the current WBC World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
Keep in mind that this was Super Bowl Saturday. And the Big Game was being played 40 minutes away at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. If you're the current heavyweight champion of the world, you have a buffet of options on Super Bowl Saturday. I'm pretty sure they include partying with Hollywood celebrities, music celebrities, sports celebrities, or some variation of all three.
And yet, on Super Bowl Saturday, the champ Deontay Taylor chose to come to Rocket Fuel to speak to the kids. Anyone who forgoes the pleasures of short-term gratifications for the benefit of kids they don't even personally know, is a hero in my book.
I thought it was hard to top Michael Greene and Tony Prophet's individual talks, but the champ proved me wrong. His story resonated with me so much that at some points, I thought he was talking about my life. He spoke about real struggles, vulnerable emotions and ambition dreams that made him easy to identify with.
The fact that he spoke in a simple and real fashion kept the audience captivated from start to finish. It was an epic 20 minute talk about positivity, self-belief and faith.
Three key themes that struck me the most from Deontay's talk were about 1) speaking it into existence, 2) making tough decisions and 3) dedicating yourself to your craft.
Deontay made it a point to keep reiterating the importance of positivity.
"I can do this."
"I'm going to be somebody someday."
"I can and I will."
"Anything is possible."
Why did Deontay choose these phrases as triggers for us?
Remind yourself to keep going
Let's face it, coding isn't "cool" to most everyday people. In fact, I dare you to go tell one of your friends you're going to start learning how to code. Chances are most of them will laugh at your efforts. They'll tell you not to do it; that you can't do it; that it's a waste of time. People will make fun of you before they offer a helping hand.
You'll be lucky if you find someone who'll support you in doing something that hasn't been done before. I know that was true for me. All I kept getting hit with over and over again was endless negativity. I was sick of it.
And I thought these people were my friends?
When you're fed all this negativity day in and out, you'll start to doubt yourself. You'll almost convince yourself that other people are right about your dreams. In the face of all this negativity, you'll be tempted to quiet your voice.
Don't do it. Don't let anybody stop you from speaking positivity into existence.
They might be your friends and they might mean well, but their fears don't have to be your fears. If you're trying to do grand things, you'll have to be deaf to the negativity people will feed you. It's their unconscious way of testing your patience and mental strength.
That's why Deontay kept emphasising those positivity triggers - when you're left all alone, you'll need those words to remind yourself to keep going.
Your words will become your most powerful bond. If you say you're going to do something, do it. If you make a promise to yourself, you owe it to yourself to keep it - no matter what. If you keep speaking positivity you'll become positive yourself. With positivity will come newfound confidence. Being positive will literally keep your mind in a positive state when all the world wants you to enter a negative state.
Do you want to know one beautiful thing about coding?
Coding is writing it into existence.
Right place, right time
Deontay drilled the message about making tough decisions home when he candidly spoke about having an unplanned pregnancy at 19 years old. Deontay distinctly remembered going to the doctor for a regular check up and being told that his daughter would be born with spinal bifida, a birth abnormality where there's an incomplete closing of the backbone and membranes around the spinal cord.
The doctor gave him two options, you can go through the process of a long and complex journey of treatment, or you can terminate the birth right here, right now and go about your life and try to fulfill your dreams without this burden.
Almost instantaneous, Deontay shook his head and said, "No. We're going to do this."
Deontay felt he needed to quit college in order to start working as soon as possible. He worked everything from Red Lobster, to IHOP, to driving a beer delivery truck to support his daughter. During this stressful time period, he kept thinking how in life, we make wrong decisions and right decisions.
While most people would have terminated at the words of "spinal bifida," he felt giving his daughter an opportunity at life was the right thing to do.
As an outlet from stress and work, Deontay walked into a boxing gym one day. In the land of rapid fire speed bags, jumping rope and fighters hitting punching bags, something click inside him. It all just made sense to him. He felt like heaven was shining a light on him on that day.
For the first time in his life, he felt like he was in the right place at the right time.
A few weeks ago, I committed to starting to learn how mobile programming. Initially I was pissed off. Here I am, in startup world, handling the marketing, branding, social media, business development, product development, R&D, sales, and now I have to learn how to build the software too?
That's BS.
To be continued...
Visual story from Rocket Fuel GIVES BACK's vantage point:


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Friday – Time to have some fun in the sun with Annual Family gathering, enjoy relaxing cruise on Carnival ship Sensation August 6- 10, 2020. Explore the wonders of Key West, Florida If you have never been here before, you are in for a real treat. There are Key West attractions for everyone. Some of our most popular Key West tourist activities on the water include dolphin encounters, kayaking the backcountry, diving and snorkeling at Ft. Jefferson and the Dry Tortugas, or renting a boat at a Key West marina to explore on your own. On land, shopping, museums, art galleries, tours, theaters and more await you. Or you can simply relax in the sand at one of our Key West beaches, by the pool at your Key West hotel, or on Duval Street with a cocktail in hand.
Saturday – Next embark in Cozumel Mexico, one of the most magical destinations to visit in the Western Caribbean during a cruise is the island of Cozumel, Mexico. Beauty, adventure, mystery, and fun all describe this destination. From postcard-perfect beaches to lush jungles dotted with Mayan ruins, Cozumel features it all and has plenty to see and do. Cozumel Mexico tour options
Sunday – Enjoy relaxing day on ship, fun, games, shows and casinos before returning home to business lifestyle.
Cost per person based on double occupancy $554.00
$25.00 deposit per person due by Nov 1, 2019
$150.00 payment per person due by April 1, 2019
Balance due 6/1/2020 no exception.
Ocean view Cabins
Does not include transportation to/from Miami
Gratuities fee due at end of cruise (mandatory can be added to price above.
Transportation to/from cruise ship, can be added to price above.


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Italian police are hunting a pack of stray dogs which killed a boy aged 10 and mauled a 24-year-old woman in the Ragusa area of southern Sicily.
They caught about 30 strays after the boy was dragged off his bicycle and killed on Sunday but about 20 dogs are believed still to be running wild.
The priest at the boy's funeral accused society of turning animals into icons.
It is an offence to kill a dog in Italy and the country lacks properly funded pounds in which to collect strays.
Reports suggest the dogs had been neglected and starved by a man entrusted with caring for them. A suspect has been arrested.
Animal rights groups estimate there are up to half a million stray dogs, mainly in the south of the country, many of them abandoned by their owners and left to run wild.
Although local town councils are supposed to round up strays and put them in public kennels, the law is often ignored as public funds are not provided for building dog pounds, the BBC's David Willey reports from Rome.
Health officials in Sicily are to meet on Wednesday to decide how to cope with the killer dog emergency.
Deep wounds
In the latest attack, the 24-year-old, a German tourist, was seriously injured while walking on a beach near Ragusa on Tuesday.
"Her face was particularly disfigured," said Christian Ilardi, a rescue official who was on the helicopter that rushed the woman to Catania.
"Her life is in serious danger due to the wounds, which are very deep."
Local police killed two animals which tried to attack them during the day.
Some 7,000 mourners attended the funeral of Giuseppe Brafa, the boy killed on Sunday.


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For the ninth year Global Reinsurance takes a look at the developments in the Bermuda market
To download a PDF of this article as it appears in the magazine click here
IntroductionAfter the whirlwind of formations in late 2001 and early 2002, and the final death rattle of soft market victims during the course of 2002, last year proved a 'bedding in' period for new and old Bermuda players alike. Right at the turn of the year, the Gog and Magog of Hamilton - ACE and XL - poured substantial sums into back-year reserves. ACE announced a $354m charge as part of its Q4 2002 figures, while XL strengthened its US casualty reserves to the tune of $215m. Alas, this wasn't to be XL's last foray into the land of deteriorating portfolios, and by the end of last year it added a further $647m to reserves, under the watchful eye of XL supremo Brian O'Hara, who had decided to personally oversee the analysis of the problem.The sheer size of these Bermudian behemoths meant that these problems, while by no means trivial, were in no way life threatening. The same could not be said for several of their now deceased Bermuda brethren. During the course of 2003, Trenwick initially ceased underwriting in the US, then shut down all its operations, with the exception of its Lloyd's business, which it sold to its management. During the course of the year, as well, a long-awaited Pennsylvania court decision finally put failed carriers Legion and Villanova into liquidation, and allowed the formation of a creditors scheme of arrangement at Bermuda-based parent Mutual Risk Management.In the meantime, Annuity Life & Re has been putting up a truly Lazarene display, surviving the threat of a trading suspension and delisting to continue to see some interest in its stock, albeit around the 20-40 marker, rather than the 160 it was trading at right at the beginning of last year.Later in the year, specialty life reinsurer Hampton Re went into liquidation, apparently leaving fairly substantial losses in its wake, and the once stellar Centre Solutions crept under a bushel and quietly slipped into run-off.The class of 2001 were, however, on a roll. In the first few months of the year, AXIS spread its operations into the US by acquiring Royal & SunAlliance Personal Insurance Co, as well as acquiring the renewal rights to Kemper's D&O business; Arch boosted its hull and liability business by buying renewal rights from CNA; Endurance IPOed on the New York Stock Exchange and bought Hartford's in-force US property/casualty reinsurance business; and almost newby White Mountains went to market with a $700m senior note offering.In fact, fund-raising, listing and generally flirting with the markets were very much the flavour of the year in 2003. AXIS and Aspen (the rebranded Wellington Re, a breakaway from the semi-eponymous Lloyd's agency) both IPOed on the New York Stock Exchange in the course of the year, and a plethora of their Bermuda big brothers, including ACE, XL, RenaissanceRe and PXRE raised funds from hungry investors. Indeed, the appetite seemed so good for Bermudian re/insurance stock that some of the class of 2001 boys were soon back for another round of fund or debt raising.On the IPO side, the year was very neatly rounded off by ACE Guaranty floating, with Dominic Frederico at the helm. Frederico's move away from the bosom of ACE appeared concurrent with the rise of Evan Greenberg, who by mid-year had apparently cemented himself in the very heart of the organisation as President and COO. This, however, was somewhat of a feint, since he has now taken the sceptre of ACE CEO, as the ultimate ACE man, Brian Duperreault, gradually hands over the regalia.Diversification has been a strong theme during the course of 2003, and only the purists have resisted the urge to spread the reach of their operations while the market's hard. Max Re, originally set up to take on life portfolios and play an original investment strategy (a business plan stymied by severely underperforming investment markets) in the summer received a license for non-life insurance business through its Dublin-based Max Insurance Europe Ltd, to write excess casualty and professional lines. In the meantime, Imagine, originally set up as a finite reinsurer, bought into Lloyd's, both into an existing agency, Greenwich, and a UK liability start-up, Illium. Lloyd's was also looking in Bermuda's direction. Wellington Re, a breakaway from the famous Lloyd's agency, renamed itself Aspen, while GoshawK failed at Lloyd's but continued successfully with its Bermuda reinsurance outfit, recently renamed Rosemont Re. Interestingly, Bermuda's investment in Lloyd's is currently dropping in both relative and absolute terms. Particularly for 2004, Bermuda's contributions to the coffeehouse coffers have tumbled to around half the capacity provided last year. With some of the heavy-handedness apparently being brought to bear on Lloyd's-based businesses by the powers that be, demanding that large profits continue to be made in what is undoubtedly an at least stabilising market - and one with continuing issues around cost - it may just be that the Bermudian bucks can be put to better use elsewhere.Although the post-9/11 captive feeding frenzy died down somewhat in the course of 2003, there was still a steady stream of new incorporations in Bermuda, and figures from the Captive Insurance Companies Association indicate that the island is still way ahead of its nearest rivals. Although Bermuda has been keeping a wary eye on the Cayman Islands, which have developed a strong reputation for hospital and physicians' captives, it still seems to be attracting new start-ups. Towards the end of 2003, Assurex Global broker network set up a new segregated cell captive, and Novus Management opened up on the island about the same time. As the genesis of Bermuda's affair with the re/insurance business back in the 1950s, the island retains a particular fondness for the captive concept, and there is little batting of eyelids that the creditors' scheme of arrangement for Mutual Risk Management has enabled the captive management and insurance brokerage operations of the failed company to continue carrying on business as an independent company.
Hurricane FabianJust over a decade since Hurricane Andrew ripped through Florida, creating $16bn in insured losses, a gaping crater in capacity available to write property catastrophe business and a huge uplift in insurance premiums for said business, it was somewhat ironic that Bermuda was struck by Hurricane Fabian. Bearing in mind that some of the most famous names on the island landed on its shores to start writing property cat business in the wake of Andrew - and a few continue to cover that business - the way the island dealt with Fabian would be closely watched by competing markets. In fact, many of the great and the good of the Bermuda market were visiting the Rendez-Vous in Monte Carlo when Fabian struck. News of roofs lifted, windows smashed, boats in trees and cars in the harbour soon was circulating round Rendez-Vous delegates, but what became increasingly clear was that news was getting out from this somewhat isolated island. The business district - Hamilton - never lost power, and few of the buildings in the city were damaged. Roads, trees and buildings in more exposed parts of the island were washed or blown away, and four people lost their lives on a causeway leading to the airport, but soon the island was pretty much back to usual. Although Fabian doesn't feature on Swiss Re's table of the 20 costliest insurance losses last year, any interruption of business process could have had long-term ramifications for Bermuda as a risk location.Catastrophe business still forms a significant proportion of Bermuda's business, and some of the original post-Andrew re/insurers - the 'cat pack' - continue to write the business. Man-made catastrophes reached a close to all-time low in 2003, though the fairly benign experience on the nat cat side in 2002 saw somewhat of an uplift last year. Thunderstorms with hail in North America took particular toll on re/insurers, with the largest single loss being a May thunder/hail storm, costing $3.2bn. That the wind blows in places aside from the Atlantic was brought home by Typhoon Maemi, who followed hot on the heels of Hurricane Isabel, a September storm which made US landfall. Isabel herself came close behind Bermuda's own storm, Fabian.The property cat writers generally are seeing fairly stable conditions, judging by their 2003 accounts, though XL Re has been suffering. In general, premium volumes increased, while the combined ratios remained around the level of the previous year. Endurance's purchase of LaSalle Re's property cat business in 2002 has brought a new player into the field, and there is some suggestion that premium rates are beginning to come off.As a generalisation, Bermudian re/insurers listed on the New York Stock Exchange have fared pretty much in line with the market. Annuity & Life Re has proved a somewhat obvious exception to this rule, though the fact that it stopped accepting new business and received a delisting warning from the NYSE in the spring of last year probably didn't help its pricing. For many of the players, though, the upwards movement in stock prices has strengthened their capitalisation quite considerably, and the ease with which listed companies recently have been able to access sources of funding would indicate that the investment markets feel them to be an interesting option. Unlike 2002, last year saw no particularly outstanding players, though the uplifts in capitalisations surpassed the 65% mark for both Arch and Everest Re. Only XL languished in the single digit increases for capitalisation, perhaps not surprising bearing in mind the reserving issues it was facing at both ends of the year.
A telling periodNow that the post-9/11 start-ups have settled in, inevitably thoughts are turning to mergers and acquisitions. Few people would dispute that the market currently has reached its pinnacle, and Bermuda is pretty much on the top of the wave. Falling premiums and conditions may push some players towards the old game of buying in books in order to maintain premium. So far, though, discipline seems to have been pretty much maintained. But the next few months could well be the telling time, particularly as we enter the hurricane season.To download a PDF of this article as it appears in the magazine click here


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Black Friday is coming very soon and I hope I have some money saved up soon for a new HDTV to go in my room. Anyways, what are you guys going to buy this black Friday? I may try to pick up some games, and since the Xbox One is now only $350, until January, I may finally get myself an Xbox One. Not sure yet, will see.
Forum Moderator | Support e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com | Leaptrade Steam Group | Leaptrade Discord


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Onion Tea with Honey
- Cut 1/2 an onion in rings and cook in water (about 1 cup full) - not in a microwave oven.
- Add 2 spoonfuls of honey, then stir. (Do not put 'dirty' spoon into the honey jar it will SPOIL the honey it !)
- Drink as hot as possible. - Please be careful not to burn yourself !!!
- - - It tastes better as it sounds !!


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Real Sranang
From Wiki
Revision as of 00:11, 1 July 2015 by Ingo Eigen (Talk | contribs) (Automatischer Import durch Python-Skript)
Template:Infobox football club
Real Sranang (English: Royal Suriname) are a Dutch amateur football (soccer) club from Amsterdam, founded on 1 June 1960, who play their home games at the Sportpark Middenmeer.
Founded on 1 June 1960, by Surinamese immigrants in the Dutch Capital Amsterdam, Sranang means Suriname in the Sranan Tongo language, and the club is known to be mostly composed of players from the Surinamese community of Amsterdam. The club started the 2013-14 season fielding a Saturday team in the Derde Klasse, and a Sunday team playing in the Vijfde Klasse of the KNVB district West-I. The Sunday first team however withdrew from the competition after only seven matches played.
External links
- Real Sranang Official website
Template:Football clubs in Amsterdam


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I clicked on this story just out of idle curiosity about how Charles Manson died. The story didn't really specify, so I'm assuming it was old age; Manson was 83 years old, after all.
I read the story, which told us about his life, and I was briefly plunged into memories of youth group days in the late 1970's and early 80's, where we did consciousness raising about how we could recognize a cult before we got caught in the clutches of one. We all assumed that we'd head off to college where cults would try to lure us in and hold us captive.
That did not happen to me; the closest I got to cults was when a sorority asked me to rush in my Senior year, and I came to an event, just out of curiosity. I was shocked by how much money I'd have had to pay, so that was it for me.
As I read the article, I thought about how many people are still vulnerable, either to charismatic people like Manson, or to the lies that advertising/pop still try to sell us. Sociologists and psychologists have tried to explain the reason why bright young people would follow Manson, and many of them have focused on the free-love era of the late 1960's, when social norms have been overthrown, leaving a vacuum.
In so many ways, so many of us are still vulnerable in this way. We have a sense that the old rules are no longer in force, but we don't have a new set of rules to guide us.
I am grateful for my church for many reasons, but one of the main ones is because of the roots the church has given me with a set of ancient rules that still seem valid to me: love each other, love God, look out for the poor and oppressed in your societies. Trust in the power of grace; there's no need to castigate ourselves or each other. But we don't get a free pass to just behave any way that we'd like. God calls us to our best version of ourselves--and in this way, we create a better world. If we go back to the roots of loving each other and looking out for the poor and oppressed, we will be on our way to solving some of the thorniest social issues.
And hopefully, we'll build immunity to the evil, like Charles Manson, that occasionally walks among us. Our light will overcome it.
you're perfect just the way you are
4 months ago