Deadline ~ by Chris Crutcher

Title, author, copyright date, and genre (setting).

Deadline ~ by Chris Crutcher, 2007, YA fiction (Idaho), 10/10

Summarize the book without giving away the ending.

When Ben Wolf learns he has only one year to live, he chooses to tell no one of his "deadline" so he can lead a normal life as long as possible.  He figures he has mere months to experience all he can, and he wants to do that on his own terms.

What made you want to read the book?

Four years ago, my friend Donna told me how good the book is.  When she started a blog around that time, this was the first (and still the only) book she reviewed.

"Ben Wolf's conversations with 'Hey-soos,' as well as glimpses into his close relationship with Coach Lou Banks (from previous Crutcher stories), meticulously guides us through Ben's adventures and his maturing as he travels this part of life's journey.  This is perhaps my favorite of Crutcher's young adult novels, and that is saying much since he is, in my view, one of the best young adult authors today."

And then recently, Stephanie @ Confessions of a Bookaholic reminded me of the book:

"Without telling ANYONE, including his parents or younger brother, he sets out to make his Senior year unforgettable.  Honestly, I'm having a hard time not tearing up just writing this paragraph.  It really is an exceptional book."

What did you think of the main character?

Ben is a smart kid, and best of all, he's a reader.  Unlike some people I know, who tell me they forget a book almost as soon as they finish it, Ben talks about what he's read.  He mentions some of these only once, but refers back to others:

A Short History of Nearly Everything ~ by Bill Bryson (p. 25)
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong ~ by James W. Loewen (p. 40)
Outgunned: Up Against the NRA ~ by Peter Harry Brown and Daniel G. Abel (p. 43)
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream ~ by H. G. Bissinger (p. 51)
The Autobiography of Malcolm X ~ as told to Alex Haley (pp. 83, 86)
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln ~ by Doris Kearns Goodwin (p. 157)
Robert McNamara's book (p. 293) He doesn't say which one, but maybe this one:  In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam.

And Ben quotes the poet Robert Burns: "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley," which we usually translate into "The best-laid plans of mice and men oft go awry," which I translate into, "The best laid schemes of horny dying short guys oft land in the shitter" (p. 115). [Yes, watch out for teenage male language.]

Which character could you relate to best?

Dallas Suzuki, the girl Ben wanted to date, probably because she was the only female character who was really developed.  I could also relate to Marla, the therapist, who appeared briefly near the beginning and then again very briefly near the end.

Were there any other especially interesting characters?

I really liked Coach Lou Banks, who truly cared about his students.  Here's one reason to like him:

"Lambeer is a teacher who cares what you think.  Coach cares how you think" (p. 159).

And then there's the town drunk. I began to understand his pain and his guilt and, to that extent, began to warm toward him as a human being.

Were the characters and their problems believable?

Oh, yes!  Ben Wolf, the protagonist with a "deadline," began to be overwhelmed with all the problems of the people around him.  And I began to think of the people I see from day to day, wondering what grief and despair they may be hiding from the world.

What was the book's central question, and how was it answered?

How will Ben Wolf (also known as "little wolf" and "little big brother") get through the year facing his "deadline"?  Mostly pretty well, I think.

Was location important to the story?

Yes, in that Trout, Idaho was a nowhere little town, making some of the events more likely than in a large city.

Share any favorite quotes.

Ben's opinion (p. 284):  "Planet Earth is a tough town."

Hey-Soos tells Ben (pp. 241-242):  "God isn't a guy.  God isn't a girl.  God is a force.  You have all these people trying to figure out whether to believe in God or the big bang.  God is the ultimate scientist. ... Just know that everything started as one, everything still is one, and it will end up as one."

Did you like the way the book ended?

I finished the book with teears running down my cheeks, yet it was still satisfying.  Crutcher wrapped up the loose ends, and I could imagine what Ben's brother Cody and others, like Dallas Suzuki, might do in the future, which looked good.

What do you think will be your lasting impression of this book?

Reading about Ben's world that was suddenly turned upside down (see the cover photo above) is likely to stay with me.  I expect to continue thinking about him and how he faced that year of his life, maybe for a very long time.

Would you recommend this book?  How would you rate it?

Yes, I highly recommend it, having given the book my highest rating:  10/10 means I couldn't put it down.

Library Loot ~ February 29 - March 6

Having several books still checked out, I managed to limit myself to a single additional book this week.  And it may be a few days before I crack it open.

Ashfall ~ by Mike Mullin, 2011, fiction

Many visitors to Yellowstone National Park don’t realize that the boiling hot springs and spraying geysers are caused by an underlying supervolcano, so large that the caldera can only be seen by plane or satellite.  And by some scientific measurements, it could be overdue for an eruption.  For fifteen-year-old Alex, being left alone for the weekend means having the freedom to play computer games and hang out with his friends without hassle from his mother.  Then the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, plunging his hometown into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence.  Alex must journey from Cedar Falls, Iowa, to Illinois to find his parents and sister, trying to survive in a transformed landscape and a new society in which all the old rules of living have vanished.

This summary reminds me of Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, which I rated 9/10.  I decided to read Ashfall when Angie @ By Book or By Crook reviewed it.

Library Loot is a weekly meme co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.  Claire has the Mister Linky this week, if you'd like to share the loot you brought home.  You may submit your link any time during the week.

Sunday Salon ~ abandoned books

Do you ever put a book aside -- and then never get back to it?  Following the lead of Nancy @ Bookfoolery and Babble, I call that kind of book a DNF, for "Did Not Finish."  In her Salon post last week, Eva @ A Striped Armchair explained how that happens.  She says it so beautifully.

"I don’t have a definite set of criteria for abandoning a book, but since I read in fifty to sixty page shifts, I always end up with ‘pauses’ in whatever I’m reading.  If I notice that I put off reading when a certain book is at the top of the pile, or that I seem to begrudge an author the time I’m spending on the page or my internal monologue begins ratcheting up the sarcasm, I know that it’s time to take stock.  So then I just ask myself if there’s a book I’d rather be reading in the questionable’s place; if a title immediately springs to mind or if I suddenly feel more excited about reading just thinking about alternatives, I know it’s time to walk away."

BOOKS

Just finished, a re-read for a read-in:  Ninth Ward ~ by Jewell Parker Rhodes, 2010, YA fiction (Louisiana), 9/10

Currently reading:  Girl Meets God ~ by Lauren F. Winner, 2002, memoir

Also reading, for 3-4-12 book club discussion:  American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation ~ by Jon Meacham, 2006, religion

Up next, so I can lead a 3-25-12 discussion:  The Last Week ~ by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, 2006, religion
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LIFE

My granddaughter Cady and her friend Amanda (on the left) delivered Girl Scout cookies -- twenty-four boxes in two plastic bags, since a couple of my friends ordered cookies through me.  Since the bags advertised a business, I handed each of the girls a box of thin mints so I could take this picture.  Have you tried the new Savannah Smiles?  I really like the tartness of the lemon taste.

On Wednesday, I had lunch with my friends Jane and Donna at the Vietnamese restaurant, which is owned by our friend Rosa and her husband.  Rosa and Jane both had birthdays this week, the 21st and the 23rd.  I forgot to take photos of the food, as I'd planned, so instead I'll let you ponder this unique jar on the counter.  It was a gift, Rosa said.

Visit the Sunday Salon's Facebook page for links to more posts.

Saturday Snapshot ~ emergency vehicles

This was taken with my cell phone, about an hour after I had snapped a photo of the sign at Ryan's.  I could "wonder" if there's any connection between the two, but — no — the snapshot taken an hour before was the result of carelessness or an under-educated employee.  (Why are you still here?  Don't you want to see my earlier photo?)

This meme is hosted by Alyce @ At Home With Books.
Links to today's photos are here.

Three sets of questions ~ National African-American read-in

 
Here are our discussion questions about Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes (2010, YA fiction about Louisiana).  I rated the book 9/10, which means I consider it excellent.

The leaders of this read-in posted questions this week.  I've linked to all three, so you can read the comments left on each of their blogs.  I have added my answers for the questions here.

Vasilly @ 1330v (Monday)

1.  The Ninth Ward is one of the newest additions to the magic realism genre.  As you read Lanesha’s story, how did you feel about the fantastical elements such as Mama Ya-Ya’s visions or the ghosts that lingered throughout the neighborhood?

Although I'm not usually a fan of magical realism, it worked in this book.

2.  This was the first book I’ve read that dealt with Hurricane Katrina and some of the issues surrounding it like Mama Ya-Ya and Lanesha being too poor to evacuate before the storm.  Have you read a book that dealt with this hurricane before?  Whether or not you have, how did the storm’s role in the book feel to you?  Could you imagine it and its aftermath as you were reading or was it vague?

Lots of people read this book to discuss it during this read-in.  "Because it’s written for children, it doesn’t go into the horrific particulars of the aftermath of the storm," said Heather @ Between the Covers, who also wrote:  "This is a great book for parents and their children to read together."  She read it with her 11-year-old daughter.  I read two books about Katrina in January:  "horrific particulars" in the novel Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward were more about the dog fights than the hurricane, which was bad enough, and in Dave Egger's book about a man named Zeitoun the horrors which followed his being arrested for looting, even though he was in his own house.

3.  Last but not least, what did you think of Lanesha?

I like that she was excited about school and new words and tied together things like math symbols and her life.  I like her imagination:  "If Mama Ya-Ya were a flower, I'm pretty sure she'd be a magnolia."

Doret @ The Happy Nappy Bookseller (Wednesday)

1.  Many times when I read novels, I find myself moved by its rhythms and tempo that I associate with a particular genre of music.  That being said what genre of music does Ninth Ward bring to mind?  (Sometimes it helps to visual it)

I visualized it (could see it from the descriptions), but I don't hear music while I'm reading.  I can imagine the people in this video (link left in a comment by Edi) being neighbors of Lanesha and Mama Ya-Ya.  I may have seen and heard these folks when I was in New Orleans in the late 1970s:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75rZm9FPrL8

2.  The setting of New Orleans could be considered a character in its own right.  How well do you think the author developed this central piece of Ninth Ward?  Is there anything you would've changed or wanted more of?

Having read three books about the hurricane (see my answer under Vasilly's first question, above), I can picture some of what was going on during that time.  I'm sure the town has changed a lot since I was there 40-some years ago.

3.  Doret's interview with the author.

Edi @ Crazy Quilts (Friday)

1.  Lanesha talks a lot about symbols in the book.  She mentions words, numbers and math as symbols.  I found other symbols in the book; what symbols did you find?  What did they mean to you?

I noticed more about signs, rather than symbols.  Mama Ya-Ya saw signs in all kinds of things, like colors, which made Lanesha aware of the colors of the things around her.

2.  My grandmother was like a second mother to me.  My sister and grandmother both had 6 fingers.  I was in the NOLA train station that summer before the hurricane hit, and I’ll always remember the beautiful murals in that building.  I cannot think of a deeper way the story relates to me, thankfully my coming of age was nothing like Lanesha’s.  How does the story relate to you?

I don't relate to the story in any direct way, except as one human being feeling the pain of others.  I never saw murals in the New Orleans train station, but when I used Google to look at them, I see they've been restored.  Or maybe at least in part.

Beginning ~ with the sight

Ninth Ward ~ by Jewell Parker Rhodes, 2010, YA fiction (Louisiana), 9/10

They say I was born with a caul, a skin netting covering my face like a glove.  My mother died birthing me.  I would've died, too, if Mama Ya-Ya hadn't sliced the bloody membrane from my face.  I let out a wail when she parted the caul, letting in first air, first light.

Every year on my birthday, Mama Ya-Ya tells me the same story.  "Lanesha, your eyes were the lightest green.  With the tiniest specks of yellow.  With them eyes, and that caul, I knew you'd have the sight."  Mama Ya-Ya smacks her lips and laughs.  Afterwards, we always have cake.  Chocolate.  Today, I'm twelve.  I've eaten three pieces of cake.

Lanesha and Mama Ya-Ya live in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans.  If you are old enough to remember Hurricane Katrina, you probably also remember the Ninth Ward was flooded after that storm which destroyed houses and killed people.

Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes was chosen for the online African-American Read-In and Discussion, which I wrote about earlier.  In my next posts, I'll answer some (if not all) of these questions posed by the discussion leaders:

Vasilly @ 1330v (Monday)

1. The Ninth Ward is one of the newest additions to the magic realism genre.  As you read Lanesha’s story, how did you feel about the fantastical elements such as Mama Ya-Ya’s visions or the ghosts that lingered throughout the neighborhood?
2. This was the first book I’ve read that dealt with Hurricane Katrina and some of the issues surrounding it like Mama Ya-Ya and Lanesha being too poor to evacuate before the storm.  Have you read a book that dealt with this hurricane before?  Whether or not you have, how did the storm’s role in the book feel to you?  Could you imagine it and its aftermath as you were reading or was it vague?
3. Last but not least, what did you think of Lanesha?

Doret @ The Happy Nappy Bookseller (Wednesday)

1. Many times when I read novels, I find myself moved by its rhythms and tempo that I associate with a particular genre of music.  That being said what genre of music does Ninth Ward bring to mind?  (Sometimes it helps to visual it)
2. The setting of New Orleans could be considered a character in its own right.  How well do you think the author developed this central piece of Ninth Ward?  Is there anything you would've changed or wanted more of? 
3. Doret's interview with the author.

Edi @ Crazy Quilts (Friday)

1. Lanesha talks a lot about symbols in the book. She mentions words, numbers and math as symbols. I found other symbols in the book; what symbols did you find? What did they mean to you?
2. My grandmother was like a second mother to me. My sister and grandmother both had 6 fingers. I was in the NOLA train station that summer before the hurricane hit and I’ll always remember the beautiful murals in that building. I cannot think of a deeper way the story relates to me, thankfully my coming of age was nothing like Lanesha’s.  How does the story relate to you?

If you want to play along, this meme is hosted by Katy at A Few More Pages. Share the first sentence or two of the book you are reading. (Sometimes it takes several sentences to get the full thought.) Then, share your impressions of that beginning.  Click this link to see what others say about the books they are reading this week.

BTT (#19) ~ book blogs

Booking Through Thursday has a guest questioner, so it is Yvonne who asks:

What do you look for when reading a book blog?

Does the blogger have to read the same genre?

Do you like reviews?  Personal posts?  Memes?  Giveaways?

What attracts you to a book blog?

When I first started blogging, I couldn't see the point in doing memes.  Gradually, I realized it brought people to my blog, even if only the five or six people I was supposed to "tag" to do the meme with me.  When memes are related to books in some way, I'm more likely to read them, but I have always disliked long memes with no connection to books or reading.  I remember being especially annoyed by a long meme that started by asking about eating and drinking.  My testy answer:

"Food, and now drink?  When do we get to the books?  That's what reading is all about.  I drink when I get thirsty, not because I'm reading."

Bloggers differ widely in what we call reviews.  Dewey had a list of questions that helped me jump-start my thinking, and I came up with additional questions, based on whether the book was fiction, nonfiction, or memoir, for example.  Eventually, my "reviews" became more like stories showing how I connected with a book — or not, as the case may be.

If a blogger sticks solely to reviews, with every post paraded out in identical shape and format, I lose interest.  I think we became a book blogging community because we got to know each other.  And that means telling something about our lives as well as the books we've read.

Genre — okay.  If someone reads all the same kinds of books and those are books I rarely or never read, there really isn't much point in checking out their reviews.  Romance novels don't interest me, whereas you may find it boring to read about history or religion or culture.  The "curse" of reading book blogs is adding to our own growing TBR stacks.  I visit blogs where I'm likely to find titles I want to read.

Giveaways?  Sure, I'll enter your contest if the book looks good to me, but that isn't the primary reason I dropped by.  I'm there because, as with friends in real life, you are someone whose interests and opinions matter to me.

Library Loot ~ February 22-28

Ninety Minutes in Heaven:  A True Story of Death and Life ~ by Don Piper, 2004, memoir

When Don Piper's car collided with a semi-truck he was pronounced dead at the scene.  For the next 90 minutes, he experienced the glories of heaven.  Back on earth, a passing minister felt led to pray for the accident victim even though he was told Piper was dead.  Miraculously, Piper came back to life, and the pleasure of heaven was replaced by a long and painful recovery.

My friend Jane wants me to read this book so we can discuss it.  Since it was published eight years ago, I haven't had any particular desire to get it, but Jane has questions.  If you've read it, tell me what you think.

A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty ~ by Joshilyn Jackson, 2012, fiction

Fifteen-year-old Mosey Slocumb — spirited, sassy, and on the cusp of womanhood — is shaken when a small grave is unearthed in the backyard, and determined to figure out why it's there.  Liza, her stroke-ravaged mother, is haunted by choices she made as a teenager.  But it is Jenny, Mosey's strong and big-hearted grandmother, whose maternal love braids together the strands of the women's shared past — and who will stop at nothing to defend their future.

The Invisible Ones ~ by Stef Penney, 2012, fiction

Small-time private investigator Ray Lovell veers between paralysis and delirium in a hospital bed.  But before the accident that landed him there, he'd been hired to find Rose Janko, the wife of a charismatic son of a traveling Gypsy family, who went missing seven years earlier.  Half Romany himself, Ray is well aware that he's been chosen more for his blood than his investigative skills.  Still, he's surprised by the intense hostility he encounters from the Jankos, who haven't had an easy past.  Touched by tragedy, they're either cursed or hiding a terrible secret — whose discovery Ray can't help suspecting is connected to Rose's disappearance.

Something Wendy @ Caribousmom said made me reserve this one at my library:

"Penney has a way of constructing her novels to provide tension.  This novel had me guessing right up until the end when Penney inserts a twist I did not see coming."

I Could Tell You Stories: Sojourns in the Land of Memory ~ by Patricia Hampl, 1999, memoir

Memoir has become the signature genre of our age.  In this timely gathering, one of our most elegant practitioners explores the autobiographical writing that has enchanted or bedeviled her.  Patricia Hampl's topics include her family's response to her writing, the ethics of writing about family and friends, St. Augustine's Confessions, reflections on reading Walt Whitman during the Vietnam War, and an early experience reviewing Sylvia Plath.  The word that unites the impulse within all the pieces is "Remember!" -- a command that can be startling. For to remember is to make a pledge:  to the indelible experience of personal perception, and to history itself.

I do remember I discovered this one when Beth Kephart quoted from it, saying her students would be reading the first two chapters that week.  I put the book on reserve because of this section she shared.  Thanks, Beth.

Maybe a reader's love of memoir is less an intrusive lust for confession than a hankering for the intimacy of this first-person voice, the deeply satisfying sense of being spoken to privately.  More than a story, we want a voice speaking softly, urgently, in our ear.  Which is to say, to our heart.  That voice carries its implacable command, the ancient murmur that called out to me in the middle of the country in the middle of the war — remember, remember (I dare you, I tempt you).

Besides teaching and writing novels for young adults, Beth Kephart has also written several memoirs, which I wrote about in an earlier library loot post.

Library Loot is a weekly meme co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.  If you would like to share a list of the loot you brought home from the library, Marg has the Mister Linky this week.

Just walked in the door ~ Still

Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis ~ by Lauren F. Winner, 2012, memoir

Synopsis:  In the critically acclaimed memoir Girl Meets God, Lauren F. Winner chronicled her sojourn from Judaism to Christianity.  Now, in Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, Winner describes how experiences of loss and failure unexpectedly slam her into a wall of doubt and spiritual despair:  “My belief has faltered, my sense of God’s closeness has grown strained, my efforts at living in accord with what I take to be the call of the gospel have come undone.”

Witty, relatable, and fiercely honest, Winner lays bare her experience of what she calls the “middle” of the spiritual life.  In elegant and spare prose, she explores why — in the midst of the overwhelming anxiety, loneliness, and boredom of her deepest questioning about where (or if) God is — the Christian story still explains who she is better than any other story she’s ever known.  Still is an absorbing meditation combining literary grace with spiritual wisdom.  It is sure to resonate with anyone looking to sustain a spiritual life in the midst of real life.

This book arrived in the mail today.  A couple of weeks ago, while waiting for this book to arrive, I got Girl Meets God (2002) from the library.  I wanted to read it first, and now I have the next installment of her faith journey at hand.  And, hey, she inscribed this fresh-off-the-presses book to me before mailing it.  See?

Thanks, Lauren.  I've already printed out the study guide and plan to go through it thoughtfully, day by day.

Sunday Salon ~ bookstore bounty

BOOKS

After lunch last Sunday, Donna and I went to the bookstore in sight of Applebee's door.  As a matter of fact, when she told me to pick a restaurant, I chose that one for its proximity to the bookstore.  After all, I'm a bookie, aren't I?  Bookie, bookaholic, book blogger, something like that, all of that.  Anyway, I rarely walk away with nothing, and that visit was about average.  Donna got five or six books, so I think I was entirely circumspect in going home with only two young adult novels.

Patience, Princess Catherine ~ by Carolyn Meyer, 2004, YA fiction (England)

Catherine of Aragon grew up expecting she would someday become the queen of England — not a dejected teenage widow.  But that is exactly what happens when fragile Prince Arthur, to whom she has been betrothed since the age of three, dies only months after their wedding.  Her power now obsolete, Catherine is exiled to a dank castle in a remote part of the country.  She is stranded there for years with little money and no control over her own fate.  The one ray of light in her lonely life is her friendship with handsome Prince Henry, her deceased husband's younger brother.  A marriage to Henry could elevate Catherine from her precarious position and give her the crown that she was once promised.  But will Henry take the risk of making the destitute princess his queen?

Mary, Bloody Mary ~ by Carolyn Meyer, 1999, YA fiction (England)

Mary Tudor is a beautiful young princess in a grand palace filled with servants.  She is accustomed to sparkling jewels, beautiful gowns, and lavish parties.  Then, suddenly, she is banished by her father, King Henry VIII, to live in a cold, lonely place without money, new clothes, or even her mother.  At first it seems like a terrible mistake.  Even when her father has a public and humiliating affair with a bewitching woman, Mary remains hopeful.  But when he abandons her mother, marries his mistress, and has a child with her, Mary begins to lose faith.  And now, dressed in rags, she is summoned back to the palace to be a serving maid to her new baby half sister.  Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII, is a servant in her own home.  Believe it or not, it's all true.

I had checked out six books about Eleanor of Aquitaine, who married into the Plantagenet dynasty.  So these Tudor princesses, one the mother of the other, moved me on down the line of English royalty into a later century or two.  Although these books may be in my public library, buying them as remaindered books makes sense to me.
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STATS

Just finished:  Defending Jacob ~ by William Landay, 2012, fiction (Massachusetts), 8/10

Currently reading:  American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation ~ by Jon Meacham, 2006, politics and religion

Up next, or actually, also currently reading:  Ninety Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life ~ by Don Piper, 2004, memoir

Totals for 2012:  15 finished + 1 DNF (did not finish) + 9 reviews

____________________

LIFE

Three years ago today, I had quadruple bypass surgery.  Talk about life-changing!  I was missing from the blogging scene for weeks, with only two possts between mid-December and mid-March.  I returned with a post I called "Ya gotta have heart."  Then no more posts for a couple of months.  Since I "started over," I consider this my new birthday.  That means I'm three years old today!

I actually had a first birthday party, which I dubbed my rebirthday, inviting my post-surgery support group to party with me.  We played games — well, only the pin-the-tail game shown here, which had special rules for the elderly, meaning (in this case) anyone over ten.  And for you youngsters who don't know, the ancient technology in this photo is called a record player — it plays vinyl records, which I still have in two heavy boxes.  The very first song on the first album picked by one of my friends that day was Carole King's "You've Got a Friend" from her Tapestry album — "Ain't it good to know that you've got a friend?"  How appropriate was that?

Raegan, my 2-year-old great-granddaughter, is very proud of her artwork.  Good job, Raegan!

Visit the Sunday Salon's Facebook page for links to more posts.

Dead ~ at the beginning

Ninety Minutes in Heaven:  A True Story of Death and Life ~ by Don Piper, 2004, memoir

I died on January 18, 1989.

Paramedics reached the scene of the accident within minutes.  They found no pulse and declared me dead.  They covered me with a tarp so that onlookers wouldn't stare at me while they attended to the injuries of the others.  I was completely unaware of the paramedics or anyone else around me.

While I was in heaven, a Baptist preacher came on the accident scene.  Even though he knew I was dead, he rushed to my lifeless body and prayed for me.  Despite the scoffing of the Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), he refused to stop praying.

At least ninety minutes after the EMTs pronounced me dead, God answered that man's prayers.

I returned to earth.

This is my story.

I've already started reading this book -- today -- almost as soon as I left the library with it.  I'll probably have it finished before my library loot is posted on Wednesday.

 If you want to share the first lines of a book you are reading, click on the link and visit Katy at A Few More Pages.  (Today's list.)

Browse there to find interesting books for your own reading list.  And don’t forget that Katy and all the contributors to this meme (including me) love comments.

Quote from Plato

"The wise* talk because they have something to say;

fools, because they have to say something."

— Plato

* "Wise men" is the way it was translated from the original Greek, but I want to include women among those who are wise and foolish.

Thinking cap ~ a new feature

Let's do something a little different today.  But first, don your thinking cap and get ready.  Yes, thinking.  That's today's game plan.  Do we need a little practice before we get into the heavy stuff?  Okay, I won't make this hard since it's your first day on this particular playing field.  Ready?  Time to use your noggin.

Which is correct?  (Or better, which makes more sense to you?)


One is half of two.

-or-

Two are halves of one.


The conversation is HERE.




To access all my "thinking cap" posts, click HERE.

Library Loot ~ February 15-21

A Long, Long Sleep ~ by Anna Sheehan, 2011, YA fiction

It should have been a short suspended-animation sleep.  But this time Rose wakes up to find her past is long gone — and her future full of peril.  Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss.  Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew.  Now, her parents and her first love are long gone, and Rose — hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire — is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat.  Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh.  But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes — or be left without any future at all.

Alyce @ At Home with Books is giving away a copy of this book, which sounded to interesting that I went ahead and reserved it at the library.   Even if I win it, I can go ahead and start reading now.

Defending Jacob ~ by William Landay, 2012, fiction (Massachusetts)

Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years.  He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob.   But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next:  His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.  Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy.  Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him.  Andy must.  He’s his father.  But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own — between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.  Award-winning author William Landay has written the consummate novel of an embattled family in crisis — a suspenseful, character-driven mystery that is also a spellbinding tale of guilt, betrayal, and the terrifying speed at which our lives can spin out of control.

Sheila @ Book Journey listed ten books she had heard were "the best of February."  Defending Jacob was fifth on the list, but one she herself was considering.  After clicking her link and reading about it, I agreed and reserved it at the library.  She said,

"I have read none of these.  Have you?  Out of the list two interest me… maybe three.  Defending Jacob sounds pretty good..."

Ninth Ward ~ by Jewell Parker Rhodes, 2010, YA fiction (Louisiana), 9/10

I rarely re-read books, and this is one I read less than a year ago -- in May.  So why this book, and why now?  Because I'm reading it during February as the book chosen for the online African American Read-In.  To read a summary of the book and learn more about the read-in, click here.

Library Loot is a weekly meme co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.  Claire has the Mister Linky this week, if you'd like to share the loot you brought home.  You may submit your link any time during the week.

Valentine's Day

You should read The True Hero of Valentines Day by Ben Bishop.

Since I sent out several Valentine cards this year, I would have included one for Charlie Brown, if I'd known his mailing address.  Do you want me to write a letter to you?  Do I have your address?  Email it to me at emerging DOT paradigm AT yahoo DOT com.  For now, here's my valentine to you:

Can you find joy in this valentine?  How about hug?  And love?  I found a dozen words (two go together).  And one more thing:

Charlie Brown, wherever you are, this one's for you!

Sunday Salon ~ book pairs

What do these pairs of books have in common?

1

Moby Dick by Herman Melville ~ Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund

2

The story of Jacob in the Bible ~ The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

3

King Lear by Shakespeare ~ A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

4

Macbeth by William Shakespeare ~ Lady Macbeth by Susan Frasier King

5

The Odyssey by Homer ~ The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

6

The Iliad by Homer ~ The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley

7

Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory ~ The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The answer:  "HIS" are on the left, and "HERS" are on the right.

1. Melville gives us Ahab's story about the hunt for Moby-Dick, and Naslund presents his wife's point of view.
2. The Bible tells us about Jacob and his sons, while Diamant gives us the perspective of Dinah, Jacob's only daughter.
3. Shakespeare tells us what King Lear and his three daughters said and did, but Smiley's 20th-century characters show us possible reasons for what the three daughters did.
4. While Shakespeare focuses on Macbeth, King's focus is on his wife, the last female descendant of Scotland’s royal line.
5. Homer gives us the story of Odysseus, who finally makes it home to Penelope and promptly kills her suitors and twelve of her maids.  Atwood lets Penelope and her twelve hanged maids tell the tale as a 21st-century retrospective by the ghost of Penelope.
6. Homer tells us the story of the Trojan Wars, with all the "heroes" fighting.  Bradley shows us how it was lived by Cassandra, one of the many daughters of King Priamus of Troy.  Cassandra was a psychic and unmarried, thus "making" her unpopular with the men.
7. The legend of King Arthur recounts the battles of the knights of the Round Table, while Bradley's version is told from the perspective of powerful women characters like Morgaine, more commonly known as Morgan Le Fay, and Gwenhwyfar, a Welsh spelling of Guinevere.

So the answer to my question is that the second of each pair of stories gives us the women's viewpoint. And the stories change greatly when viewed through the eyes and experiences of women. His and hers stories.  Do you know any other pairs of stories like these?
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STATS

Just finished:  The House on Olive Street ~ by Robyn Carr, 1999, fiction, 9/10

Currently reading:  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian ~ by Sherman Alexie, 2001, YA fiction (Washington state)

Up next:  Inside Out and Back Again ~ by Thanhha Lai, 2011, children's (Alabama)

Totals for 2012:  13 finished + 1 DNF (did not finish) + 9 reviews

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