The suspense is killing me! (Take that with a grain of salt.)

Storm Prey (Book 20 of 36 in the series) ~ by John Sandford, 2010, suspense thriller, 416 pages

There's a storm brewing.  Very early (4:45 a.m.) on a bitterly cold Minnesota morning, three big men burst through the door of a hospital pharmacy, duct-tape the hands, feet, mouth, and eyes of two pharmacy workers, and clean the place out.  But then things swiftly go bad, one of the workers dies, and the robbers hustle out to their truck and find themselves for just one second face-to-face with a blond woman in the garage.  She is Weather Karkinnen, surgeon, wife of an investigator named Lucas Davenport.

Did she see enough?  Can she identify them?  Gnawing it over later, it seems to them there is only one thing they can do:  Find out who she is, and eliminate the only possible witness.

On Amazon, 69% of reviewers give five stars to this Lucas Davenport thriller from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author.  This is one of the "millions" of books stacked all over my apartment (see HERE) that have been donated to the Crown Center library, probably by a resident.

Week in Review

• On Tuesday, I remembered old friends celebrating St. Patrick's Day together, HERE.
• My word for Wednesday was quiddity, HERE.
• Friday was the first day of spring, HERE.
• Saturday's subject was eating black-eyed peas and hummus, HERE.

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Black-eyed peas

Do you like black-eyed peas?  I do, but I haven't eaten any lately.  I was just thinking about their nutrition value, so I looked it up.  The illustration below shows that they are full of vitamins, proteins, minerals, and fiber.  They are also good for heart health.  So people would eat them on New Year's Day for luck.

Eating black-eyed peas (with cornbread, in my family) on New Year's Day was supposed to make us rich or something.  I have now missed New Year's Day by several weeks at this point, but I should go look to see if I have a can of them in my kitchen cabinet because my mouth is watering.

But first, let me tell you why I was thinking about black-eyed peas in the first place.  I was casually scrolling on my phone and came across this:  "The black-eyed peas can sing us a tune, but the chick peas can only hummus one."  I know I have hummus in the fridge, if I don't find the other.

Spring and happiness go together, don't they?

March 20th is the first day of spring in my part of the world, the time of year when night and day are of equal length.  Today is also the International Day of Happiness.  How can you celebrate?  Maybe call a friend to chat, or even better, get together.  People all over the world will be celebrating this day.  It's a time to cultivate happiness and connection.

Looking for a happy illustration, I found these three characters.  They are doing some sort of happy dance, aren't they?  Can you name all three?  (Names below.)

Today's happy dance is brought to us

by Lucy, Snoopy, and Sally.  We miss

you, Charlie Brown, Linus, Woodstock,

and Schroeder with your piano.  (Oh, wait,

do I hear a happy tune in the background?)

Quiddity is today's word

quiddity (ˈkwɪdəti), quiddities (noun) =  (1) the essential quality of a person or thing; (2) a distinctive feature; a peculiarity.  Example:  My quirks and quiddities make me unique.  (I found the illustration HERE, to give credit to the artist.)

St. Patrick's Day

My friends Marilyn and Donna celebrating St. Patrick's Day in 2015 in the Circle@Crown Café.  Notice they are wearing green.  Neither of them is still with us, but today (reminded by this photo) I'll think of them and St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, who is said to have died on March 17 around 493 A.D.

Let me end this blog post with a bit of humor:  "A best friend is like a four-leaf clover:  hard to find and lucky to have."

Please don't let the word "philosophy" keep you from reading this post

Philosophy 101: From Plato and Socrates to Ethics and Metaphysics, an Essential Primer on the History of Thought ~ by Paul Kleinman, 2013, philosophy, 288 pages

A reviewer wrote that this books takes you "on a journey through the development of human intellectual thought from several hundred years B.C. to present."  That's a fair summary.  Since philosophy was part of my double major in college, I smiled when I saw that someone had donated this little book to the Crown Center library.  I'll probably read it before shelving it (or trading it for fiction, which people living here are likely to read).  Hey, I see The Thinker musing in the top right corner.

Week in Review

• On Monday, I mused about walking to the store for groceries, HERE.
• On Tuesday, I wrote about a book I had decided to re-read, HERE.
• On Wednesday, my subject was a novel set in Egypt, HERE.
• My Thursday Thoughts were about the massive piles of books donated to the Crown Center library that are currently piled up in my apartment, HERE.
• My Book Beginning for Friday was from a novel about swimmers, HERE.
• Saturday was Pi Day, pronounced Pie Day, so I mentioned both fruit pies and pizza pie, HERE.  I am certain some of you who read this will remember "pi equals 3.14" from your math class and say, "Philosophy and now math?"

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Today is Pi Day

What is Pi Day?  I first learned that Pi equals 3.14 (with a longer string of numbers, if you are really interested) when I was a youngster in school in the 1950s.  The day itself dates to 1988, though, when (according to what I found online) "physicist Larry Shaw began celebrations at the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco."

But it was 2009 when Congress designated every March 14 to be a holiday.  Why?  I read somewhere that someone hoped it would spur more interest in math and science.  Today, I read that it is, fittingly enough, also Albert Einstein’s birthday and (get this!) also the day that Stephen Hawking died.  I'd say they are probably the two biggest names in math and science most of us could come up with.

So celebrate by eating a piece of pie.  It could be a slice of pie like those above or, if you want to be different, it could be a slice of pizza pie.  I want pepperoni.

Beginning ~ with the people at the pool

Beginning

The pool is located deep undergrounw, in a large cavernous chammber many feet beneath the streets of our town.  Some of us come here because we are injured, and need to heal.  We suffer from bad backs, fallen arches, shattered dreams, brokwn hearts, anxiety, melancholia anhedonia, the usual aboveground afflictions.  Others of us are employed at the college nearby and prefer to take our lunch breaks down below, in the waters, far away from the harsh glares of our colleagues and screens.

The Swimmers ~ by Julie Otsuka, 2022, literary fiction, 192 pages

From the award-winning author of The Buddha in the Attic and When the Emperor Was Divine comes a novel that "starts as a catalogue of spoken and unspoken rules for swimmers at an aquatic center but unfolds into a powerful story of a mother’s dementia and her daughter’s love" (The Washington Post).

The swimmers are unknown to one another except through their private routines (slow lane, medium lane, fast lane) and the solace each takes in their morning or afternoon laps.  When a crack appears at the bottom of the pool, they are cast out into an unforgiving world without comfort or relief.

 

One of these swimmers is Alice, who is slowly losing her memory.  For Alice, the pool was a final stand against the darkness of her encroaching dementia.  Without the fellowship of other swimmers and the routine of her daily laps she is plunged into dislocation and chaos, swept into memories of her childhood and the Japanese American incarceration camp in which she spent the war.  Alice's estranged daughter, reentering her mother's life too late, witnesses her stark and devastating decline.

One reviewer wrote:  "As the book progresses, I found [the crack at the bottom of the pool to be] a clear metaphor for the beginning of Alice's demise, the crack in her mind so to speak."  Now I'm into the book and enjoying it so far.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Thinking about books, as usual

I'm thinking about the million donated books that have piled up on my table in the kitchen.  Well, maybe not quite a million, but more than a thousand.  Why?  Because when people die, their relatives often donate their books to our little library.  Since I am currently the only librarian working here (for free, as in volunteering my time), it means people (even current residents) often ask me how they can donate books.  During our recent renovation of the library, no books were being processed.  And we (including me) had no access.  So I ended up collecting them on my table (make that plural, as in tables).  And on the floor around the table.  And in boxes under the table.  And taking up part of my desk top.  I can barely move, folks!

Another book donated to our Crown Center library

Children of the Alley ~ by Naguib Mahfouz, 1996, (Egypt), 464 pages

The novel was first published in Arabic in 1959.  It's about an Egyptian family, but it's also the setting for a second, hidden, and more daring narrative:  the spiritual history of humankind.  The men and women of a modern Cairo neighborood unwittingly reenact the lives of their holy ancestors:  from the feudal lord who disowns one son for diabolical pride and puts another to the test, to the savior of a succeeding generation who frees his people from bondage.  This powerful novel confirms that Mahfouz is "the single most important writer in modern Arabic literature" (quoting Newsweek).

In 2016 an Amazon reviewer wrote:

This book is a fictional retelling of the history of the great religious leaders of the Middle East, including Moses, Jesus and Mohammad, and a scientist to represent the modern era, when God is supposedly dead.  The story is a bit predictable, because you know who the players are in advance, but Mahfouz plays with their histories enough to provide some surprises, and the way he interprets the temperament of the great spiritual leaders is designed to be entertaining and leave you wondering what will happen next.  The writing is quite good, better than in many of his books, though I don't know how much of this is Mahfouz and how much is the translator.  The book is fast-paced, and I found myself turning pages quite rapidly as the heroes appear on the scene, take on the bad guys, and effect spiritual enlightenment which never lasts long.  I have read many Mahfouz books, and this one is a gem.  I found it on a list of great world literature, and I agree with whoever made that list; this story is excellent.  Highly recommended!"

A book I've decided to re-read

What We Keep ~ by Elizabeth Berg, 1998, fiction, 304 pages, 8/10

A reunion between two sisters and their mother reveals secrets and complexities in the lives of the women in a family.  Ginny Young is on a plane, going to visit the mother she hasn't seen or spoken to for thirty-five years.  She thinks back to the summer of 1958, when she was twelve years old and a series of dramatic events divided her family, separating her and her sister from their mother, seemingly forever.  Moving back and forth in time between the girl she once was and the woman she's become, Ginny confronts painful choices in a woman's life — even as surprising secrets are revealed about the family she thought she understood.

Grocery shopping

I went grocery shopping this afternoon.  My store isn't far from my home.

It was warm enough for me to walk there today, so I went.

I was really tired by the time I got home, but exhilirated

because I now have fresh fruits and things I was out of.

International Women's Day

Since today is International Women's Day, it seems appropriate to share a book about women.

Women Make the Best Friends: A Celebration ~ by Lois Wyse, 1995, stories and poems, 189 pages, 8/10

In her heart of hearts every woman knows that men may come and go, but a true friend is forever.  At nine, nineteen, or ninety, the one constant that marks each stage in a woman's life is the importance of the friendships she has made.  In the best of times and in the worst of times, it is our friends who sustain us, cheer us, and see us through whatever surprises life throws our way.  (Edited, from the dust jacket.)  This book has short anecdotes, short poems, short 4-5 page pieces about conversations remembered.

Week in Review

• On Monday, I mused about a surrogate mother, HERE.
• On Tuesday, I wrote about people I meet in the Circle@Crown Café, HERE.
• My Book Beginning for Friday was from a book about Iran (which seems too topical, but is also why I picked up the book), HERE.

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Iran Awakening

Beginning

In the fall of 2000, nearly a decade after I began my legal practice defending victims of violence in the courts of Iran, I faced the ten most harrowing days of my entire career.  The work I typically handled — battered children, women hostage to abusive marriages, political prisoners — brought me into daily contact with human cruelty, but the case at hand involved menace of a different order.

Iran Awakening: One Woman's Journey to Reclaim Her Life and Country ~ by Shirin Ebadi with Azadeh Moaveni, 2007, memoir, xvi + 257 pages

Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize and advocate for the oppressed, has remained strong in the face of political persecution and despite the challenges she has faced raising a family while pursuing her work.

Known as the lawyer working tirelessly on behalf of Canadian photojournalist, Zahra Kazemi — raped, tortured, and murdered in Iran — Dr. Ebadi offers a vivid picture of the struggles of one woman against the system.  The book chronicles her childhood in a loving, untraditional family before the Revolution in 1979 that toppled the Shah, her marriage and her religious faith, as well as her life as a mother and lawyer battling an oppressive regime in the courts while bringing up her girls at home.

Outspoken and controversial, Shirin Ebadi is a fascinating women.  She rose quickly to become the first female judge in the country, but when the religious authorities declared women unfit to serve as judges, she was demoted to clerk in the courtroom she had once presided over.  She eventually fought her way back as a human rights lawyer, defending women and children in politically charged cases that most lawyers were afraid to represent.  She has been arrested and been the target of assassination, but through it all has spoken out with quiet bravery on behalf of the victims of injustice and discrimination and become a powerful voice for change, almost universally embraced as a hero.  Shirin Ebadi won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.  Her memoir is a gripping story and a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the political and religious upheaval in our world.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Two by two

When I eat in the Circle@Crown Cafe, either I've agreed to meet someone there or one or TWO people come over to talk to me.  Yesterday, a women sat down to talk with me, and a man stopped to talk us, though he never sat down.  Both are residents.  Today, a man who lives on my floor sat down to chat while I finished up my lunch.  It really is good to live in a place with so many friendly people.

Go ahead and borrow that book

The Surrogate Mother ~ by Freida McFadden, 2025, literary fiction, 320 pages

She was promised a miracle.  She got more than she bargained for.  Abby wants a baby more than anything.  But after years of failed infertility treatments and adoptions that have fallen through, it seems like motherhood is not in her future.  That is, until her personal assistant Monica makes a generous offer to serve as a surrogate.  It's an offer that will make all of Abby's dreams come true.  But soon, strange things start happening, and it turns out Monica isn't who she says she is.  The woman now carrying Abby's child has an unspeakable secret.  And she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

My note:  Seeing this in the library, I had to have it, even though I have not yet finished the book I'm reading.  I went ahead and got it.  (Amazon calls this literary fiction, suspense thriller, and psychological thriller.  So which is it?)

March is Women's History Month

I am still slowly reading this book:

Separation of Church and Hate is making me think.  It is a rallying cry for anyone who is sick of people using religion as a way to hide their hate.  I blogged about it HERE.

Week in Review

• The subject I chose for TWOsday was games, HERE.
• My Wednesday word was "ubiquitous," HERE.
• On Thursday, I was thinking about Chinese proverbs, HERE.
• My Book Beginning for Friday was from More Than Words, HERE.
• On Saturday I reflected on a signifigant family anniversity, HERE.

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Remembering a long-ago Saturday

The long-ago Saturday that is on my mind today was February 28, 1959.  Let's see, 2026 minus 1959 is 67 years ago.  That's the day I married.  I remember as we left the church, that car-loads of friends were lined up to follow us.  We got into our "getaway" car driven by a friend, but went straight through it to another friend's car going in the opposite direction.  Yep, we almost got away, except for those who happened to be parked going in that direction.  I no longer remember details, but I do remember divorcing him 14 years and three children later (also in February).  The three children, all married now, gave me seven grandchildren.  The first one made me a grandparent on grandparents day.  And now I have six GREAT-grandchildren).  This photo includes four generations (I'm wearing red):

Beginning ~ with the prologue

Beginning

He'd imagined the baby would be a boy, a son to take to ball games, to watch his favorite movies with, to teach to drive stick.  A son who would slay the Jabberwock with him, who would pick up his own sword and fight the manxome foes alongside his old man.  The way he had.  A son who would continue his legacy, the family's legacy.  An heir.

Standing with his baby girl in his arms, her head resting in the crook of his elbow, he felt the need to say he was sorry.  To apologize for imagining her a boy.  Because from the moment she was born, the moment he first saw her, it was as if a seed had been planted in his heart.  It quickly rooted there, and now, three days later, he felt it growing, filling him with pride and love and determination.

More Than Words ~ by Jill Santopolo, 2019, fiction, 350 pages

Nina Gregory has always been a good daughter.  Raised by her father, owner of New York City's glamorous Gregory Hotels, Nina was taught that family, reputation, and legacy are what matter most.  And Tim — her devoted boyfriend and best friend since childhood — feels the same.  But when Nina's father dies, he leaves behind a secret that shocks Nina to her core.

As her world falls apart, Nina begins to see the men in her life — her father, her boyfriend, and unexpectedly, her boss, Rafael — in a new light.  Soon she finds herself caught between the world she loves and a passion that could upend everything.  This is a heartbreaking novel about grief, loss, love, and self-discovery, and how we choose which life we are meant to live.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Pondering some proverbs today

Chinese Proverbs ~ by Ruthanne Lum McCunn, illustrated by You Shan Tang, 1991, sayings, 58 pages, 

From a culture rich in advice and thought, this little book is a collection  of centuries of traditional wisdom.  Each proverb is illustrated along with words in both English and Chinese.  This saying made me smile and nod in agreement:

"Do not wait until you're thirsty to dig a well" (p. 42).

Here's another:  "An old horse knows the way" (p. 36).  As you can see, it's short and the whole book can be read in a few minutes.  If you stop to ponder each saying that is included, it could take a bit longer.  Maybe that's the whole point.

My word for today is ubiquitous

Ubiquitous (adj.), pronounced yoo-BIK-wih-tus) = a word that describes some-thing existing or appearing everywhere simultaneously.  One example would be the orange man's pervasive self-advertising.  (No, I will not include his photo.)