Beginning ~ with "JFK ESCAPES ASSASSINATION."

Beginning

I have never been what you'd call a cryig man.  My ex-wife said that my "nonexistent emotional gradient" was the main reason she was leaving me (as if the guy she met in her AA meetings was beside the point).

11/22/63 ~ by Stephen King, 2012, historical fantasy, 880 pages

On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed.  What if you could change it back?  In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King — who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer — takes readers on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.

It begins with Jake Epping, a thirty-five-year-old English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, whose life is upended when his friend Al, who owns the local diner, divulges a secret:  his storeroom is a portal to the past, a particular day in 1958.  And the dying Al enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession — to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson, in the world of Ike and JFK and Elvis, of big American cars and sock hops and cigarette smoke everywhere and to the small town of Jodie, Texas, where Jake falls dangerously in love.  Every turn leads eventually to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and to Dallas, where the past becomes heart-stoppingly suspenseful, and where history might not be history anymore.  Time-travel has never been so believable.  Or so terrifying.

My thoughts so far

I have never, ever tried to read a book this long before, but the idea intrigued me.  The front cover inside the front cover (yes, read that again) has a different headline that the one above.  It says:  "JFK ESCAPES ASSASSINATION."  So I brought it home and have read several chapters so far.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Being foolish

We're into April now.  Yesterday, the first day of the month, is widely known as April Fool's Day, when children play pranks on each other.  I remember doing it as a school girl.  One year, when I attended summer camp, a fun event was for each of us to dress up to represent something about the month we were born.  I no longer remember what anyone else did, but I do recall dressing as an April Fool.  What I remember is wearing my jeans and shirt turned wrong-side out, so that the tags were on the outside.  By acting "foolish," I won the contest.

These words are not what they seem to be

Abbreviation ~ is 12 letters long.

Monosyllable ~ is definitely not.

Non-hyphenated ~ has a hyphen in it.

Thesaurus~ does not itself have a synonym.

So these are not at all what they seem to be,

and I think that's funny.  I have started the list.

Can you think of some other examples to share?

Historical fiction

The Women ~ by T. Coraghessan Boyle, 2009, literary fiction, 464 pages

Is it easy to live with a genius?

Frank Lloyd Wright’s life was one long, howling struggle against the bonds of convention, whether aesthetic, social, moral, or romantic.  He never did what was expected, and he never let anything get in the way of his larger-than-life appetites and visions.  Wright’s triumphs and defeats were always tied to the women he loved:

1. Olgivanna Milanoff, an imperious Montenegrin beauty who was a student of the Russian mystic Gurdjieff and was known by Wright’s apprentices as “the Dragon Lady”;
2. Maude Miriam Noel, a passionate Southern belle with a mean temper and a fondness for morphine;
3. the spirited Mamah Borthwick Cheney, tragically murdered at Wright’s Wisconsin estate, Taliesin, in 1914; 
4. and his young first wife, Kitty Tobin, with whom he had six children.

T.C. Boyle deftly captures these very different women and, in doing so, creates a gripping drama about marriage, the bargains men and women make, and the privileges and pitfalls of genius and fame.

But do you know who Frank Lloyd Wright was?  He was born on June 8, 1867, and died on April 9, 1959.  He was an American architect who designed more than 1,000 structures over a period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements of the twentieth century, influencing other architects worldwide.  He believed in designing in harmony with humanity and the environment, and his philosophy was exemplified in Fallingwater (1935), which some see as the best American architecture ever.  This photo shows Fallingwater.

If you want a BIG book, here it is

Things We Never Got Over (Book 1 of 3 in the Knockemout series) ~ by Lucy Score, 2022, romantic comedy, 570 pages

Naomi wasn’t just running away from her wedding.  She was riding to the rescue of her estranged twin to Knockemout, Virginia, a rough-around-the-edges town where disputes are settled the old-fashioned way … with fists and beer.  Usually in that order.

Too bad for Naomi her evil twin hasn’t changed at all.  After helping herself to Naomi’s car and cash, Tina leaves her with something unexpected.  The niece Naomi didn’t know she had.  Now she’s stuck in town with no car, no job, no plan, and no home with an 11-year-old going on thirty to take care of.

There’s a reason Knox doesn’t do complications or high-maintenance women, especially not the romantic ones.  But since Naomi’s life imploded right in front of him, the least he can do is help her out of her jam.  And just as soon as she stops getting into new trouble he can leave her alone and get back to his peaceful, solitary life.  At least, that’s the plan until the trouble turns to real danger.

. . . and to another book that was recently

added to our Crown Center library collection.

Another book donated to our library for residents

Unfreedom of the Press ~ by Mark R. Levin, 2019, history of journalism, 272 pages

Levin shows how those entrusted with news reporting today are destroying freedom of the press from within:  “not government oppression or suppression,” he writes, but self-censorship, group-think, bias by omission, and passing off opinion, propaganda, pseudo-events, and outright lies as news.

With the depth of historical background for which his books are renowned, Levin takes the reader on a journey through the early American patriot press, which proudly promoted the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, followed by the early decades of the Republic during which newspapers around the young country were open and transparent about their fierce allegiance to one political party or the other.

It was only at the start of the Progressive Era and the twentieth century that the supposed “objectivity of the press” first surfaced, leaving us where we are today:  with a partisan party-press overwhelmingly aligned with a political ideology but hypocritically engaged in a massive untruth as to its real nature.

Week in Review

• For Monday Musing, I had noticed "Divorce: The End of an Error" and wrote about it HERE.
• On Twosday, I wrote about a book and the title I would give a memoir, HERE.
• On Thursday, I wrote about the Crown Center's new bus, HERE.
• Friday's book beginning was about a suspense thriller, HERE.
• I got chocolate on my shirt yesterday and wrote about how to get it out of fabric in my Saturday post, HERE.  Did it work?  Yes, it did!

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Saturday stuff

I ate soft chocolate earlier, and some of it fell on my shirt.  So I looked up how to get it out without making it set permanently, and I'm hoping, hoping, hoping.

Key Steps to Remove Chocolate Stains:

1. Remove Excess:  Gently scrape off solidified chocolate with a dull knife or spoon.
2. Rinse Cold:  Run cold water through the back of the stain to prevent it from setting deeper into the fibers.
3. Pre-treat:  Apply a heavy-duty liquid detergent (like Tide) or dish soap (like Dawn) directly to the stain.
4. Soak:  Let the garment sit for at least 15–30 minutes to break down the grease.
5. Wash:  Launder the item as usual in cold water.
6. Check Before Drying:  Ensure the stain is completely gone before putting it in the dryer, as heat can permanently set any remaining stain.

I'm about to do a load of laundry in cold water.  When it's done, then I'll know whether this is a happy Saturday or not.

  (Added later:  Yes, it worked. )