Books for snowy days

Cat Out of Hell ~ by Lynn Truss, 2016, cozy animal mystery, 176 pages

The scene: a cottage on the coast on a windy evening.  Inside, a room with curtains drawn.  Tea has just been made.  A kettle still steams.  Under a pool of yellow light, two figures face each other across a kitchen table.  A man and a cat.  The story about to be related is so unusual yet so plausible that it demands to be told in a single sitting.  The man clears his throat, and leans forward, expectant.  "Shall we begin?" says the cat.

Sam Hall posted this 1966 snow photo on his Chattanooga history page:  Remember When.  I was looking out my window in St. Louis at the 7-8 inches of snow that had fallen the day before when I chanced on Sam's historical photo.  In 1966, I lived on Signal Mountain, north of the Tennessee River at Chattanooga.  So I'm sure I had even more snow than this downtown area had.  The mountains always get more snow.

When I wrote about M. L. King's book The Measure of a Man (HERE), Deb commented:  "I wonder how MLK, Jr. defines the three dimensions.  I think I understand length."  This is what I learned in reading the book:

1. LENGTH = being concerned about self and how long we live (looking in)
2. BREADTH = being concerned about others (looking around)
3. HEIGHT = being concerned about God (looking up)

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts the Sunday Salon

November 13th is World Kindness Day

Readin' and writin' and 'rithmetic

I'm reading about writing.  Yeah, I'm slowly working my way through So You Want to Write: How to Master the Craft of Writing Fiction and Memoir (2nd edition) by Marge Piercy and Ira Wood (2010), which is very appropriate for Nonfiction November.  By the way, even though I am reading some nonfiction, I am not doing the "assignments."  I'd rather read.

"Writing something down is a way of keeping it."  I borrowed this line from a very old post on Colleen's Loose Leaf Notes blog (see #44).  I also found a list online of the benefits of writing things down:

1. Writing things down helps you record everything that has your attention.
2. Writing things down helps clear your mind.
3. Writing things down helps clarify your goals, priorities, and intentions.
4. Writing things down helps keep you motivated.
5. Writing things down helps you recognize and process your emotions.
6. Writing things down encourages daily progress.
7. Writing things down enables a higher level of thinking, and therefore, more focused action.
8. Writing things down develops your sense of gratitude.

"Over to you" is the way that person ended her list.  My thinking is closest to Colleen's, I believe.  I blog so I can keep track of the things on my mind:  the books, the words, the ideas.

The main thing I say about myself (on the sidebar, under my photo) is that "I read to explore ideas."  Writing it down continues my exploration of what's happening.

(Did you find the "arithmetic" in this post?  Sorry, it's only that list of eight numbers above.)

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon, a

place to link up and to share what we've been doing

and what we've been reading during the week.

========================================

Deb shared in the comments that she had signed up at the Mayo Clinic's site for a month-long program to increase kindness in the world.  Here's the link:

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/wellness/kindness

A novel idea, continued

What happened to our novel idea from last Sunday?  Four people commented:

Mark said:  "The biggest question I have is what genre is our character in.  That's going to determine who they are and what drives me.  I usually read mysteries, so the biggest driver there is wanting to make sure that justice is done.  Quite often that includes clearing a personal friend who is a suspect.

Deb said:  "I'd recommend choosing a character who is like you, but is a better or worse version of you.  Or I'd choose a character who is based on someone you have met in your life who you found intriguing."

Shelleyrae said:  "Hmm…revenge is always a good motivator, or perhaps atonement."

Helen said:  "The main character should have a cat who is almost a character in itself.  Perhaps the main character is animal-driven (think crime or murder at the local ASPCA)."

So Mark and Shelleyrae and Helen seem to lean toward making this a mystery or thriller, but after reading several of the cozy mysteries on my friend Donna's Kindle, that doesn't interest me.  If the main character is like me (as Deb suggested), she isn't into murder and mayhem.  My "problems" are more mundane, like how to get through this week.  Or even how to get through today!

  

I notice that Helen says that "the main character should have a cat."  She's been reading my blog so long that she probably remembers Kiki (on the right), the cat I had before my little black cat, Clawdia.  Excellent idea, Helen!

If every end is a new beginning, let's incorporate that into our novel.  What has ended, and what is beginning for our protagonist?  As you make suggestions, remember that what I want to compose is a literary novel — not a cozy mystery or thriller or romance novel.  So what is literary fiction?  It does not fit neatly into an established genre, but is character-driven rather than plot-driven.  It examines the human condition, someone said.  Let's do that.

So here's what I think so far.  The characters are BJ (that would be me, though "I" need a name in my novel) and her best friend DC (Donna also needs another name).  Let's call them Betsy and Diane.  Betsy has a cat; what shall we call her?  The cat, I mean.

Now let's decide this:  What are Betsy's goals, and what would she risk losing if she is unable to meet those goals?

The Cruelest Month ~ by Aaron Stander, 2012, thriller, 262 pages

This book I'm reading now has a dog in it named Roxy, but no cats that I know of.  I'm having a hard time getting into this book and have to keep starting over, because I forget what I read yesterday.  I may abandon it.  Maybe it's more fun to write a novel than to read one.  Yay!

By the way, that photo at the top shows A Novel Idea, a bookstore in North Chattanooga that sold used books.  I worked at A Novel Idea for a short time before Donna and I opened Book Buddies, a bookstore several miles north of there in Red Bank, Tennessee.

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Sunday Salon ~ Donna's jar and other good things

I've finished reading the notes Donna put in her Good Things jar every week during 2019.  Three of her weekly "good things" reports for herself surprised me when I pulled them out on Friday.

(1)  The very last one I opened turned out to be HER very first one.  How weird is that?  "I had a fun-filled time at the Crown Center Resident Council New Year's Eve party — wonderful dinner, great music, and sharing laughter w / friends," she wrote on Week 1.  She drew smiley faces between her paragraphs.

(2)  I was shocked when I saw what she wrote on Week 31:  "No blessings this week — too many mass murders!  Sad times!"  And that's all she wrote that week.

(3)  Several of us were mentioned in Week 8:  "On Sunday afternoon last week, Bonnie went to the store for me because my arthritis was acting up in my back and hips.  She is a life-saver!"  Her next paragraph says:  "On Saturday night, Dora took me to Powell Hall to see this year's Black History concert."  They ran into some other Crown Center folks there, and Donna added:  "A good time was had by all (I hope).  I certainly enjoyed it."

It's been a long time since I shared the WindowSwap link, so we could "go" places around the world without leaving home.  Yesterday I visited someone's backyard in Canada and saw a cat in an open window overlooking rolling hills in Taiwan.  It was snowing outside a window in New York and a few other places.  Blue waves washed ashore in Cancun, Mexico (see photo).  Click the link, and see where it takes you. 

Books I'm reading

It's still the weekend, so I'm on the third book I had planned, as I shared on Wednesday:

• What Child Is This (a 2018 Kindle fiction story by Rhys Bowen) ~ I finished this one that I'd already been reading.
• The Girls with No Names (a 2020 novel by Serena Burdick) ~ I read this from beginning to end, finishing last night.
• Catch You Later, Traitor (a 2015 novel by Avi) ~ I'm reading this library book now.  Which cover do you like better?

Good Thing #1

Good friends I know in person.

Good Thing #2

Good friends I know only online.

Good Thing #3

Blogging, especially book blogging.

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts Sunday Salon, a place for us to link up and share what we have been reading and doing during the week.

Sunday Salon ~ it's all good

Would you take this road "less traveled by" (to quote from the famous poem by Robert Frost)? This road is called the W Road.  Can you see why?  In case you never had to read or memorize Robert Frost's poem, as we did back in the olden days, here it is for you to ponder:

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay 

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

My youngest great-grandchild turned five this week.  How do you like her furry, black cushion?  I wonder what she's playing on that device.

Ten Keys to Happier Living: A Practical Handbook for Happiness ~ by Vanessa King, 2016, self-help, 9/10

I've written about this before, but this seems like a good time to re-read this nonfiction book about happiness during Nonfiction November.  "Happiness is not something ready made; it comes from your own actions," says the Dalai Lama, who is the patron of Action for Happiness.  Vanessa King, expert on positive psychology, has created ten key evidence-based actions that have been shown to increase well-being — at home, at work, and in the world around you.  We all want to be happy, but what does that actually mean and what can we do in our everyday lives to be happier?  Fortunately, psychologists now have evidence of what really makes a difference and helps us to be happier and more resilient to life's ups and downs.  The author has drawn on the latest scientific studies to create a set of evidence-based practical actions.  These will help you connect with people, nurture your relationships, and find purpose.

Donna kept a Good Things Jar during 2019 and, after she died, I asked her sister if I could have that jar full of good things Donna wrote about that year.  Yesterday, I unfolded a note she wrote during September; one sentence about that week says:  "On Sunday, I went to dinner at Granite City Diner with Bonnie and Marie."  Oh, my.  That's bittersweet to read, since Marie and Donna both died this year.  I opened another one randomly, and once again Donna mentioned Marie, who was going to her son's wedding in Israel the following week.  I don't want to open them all at once, so I may share one or two here occasionally.

I think I'll start a new thing in my Sunday Salon posts, patterned after Deb of Readerbuzz, who made the buzzy bee headers I've been using.

Good Thing #1

The girl had an exciting birthday this year.

Good Thing #2

I got my booster shot a week ago.

Good Thing #3

Reading the "good things" Donna wrote in 2019.

Bloggers gather in the Sunday Salon — at separate computers in different time zones — to share what we have been doing during the week.  

Other Sunday Salon musings are linked at the bottom of Deb's Readerbuzz post.

2020 vision ~ maybe

"What are you planning to read this year, Bonnie?  I'd love to hear what you are thinking about reading," Deb asked in a comment.

The last book I finished in 2019 was Becoming by Michelle Obama, so maybe my first book of 2020 should be her Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice.  "But it's a journal," you say.  Yes, but it isn't a day-by-day kind of diary, where I must write about what comes on the next page.  If I read through it first, I could then pick out specific pages I want to write about first.  That makes sense to me, and each page has a place to put the date, like this ___/___/___.  So first, this journal Donna gave me for Christmas and then the next book, which my friend Tiny gave me.

Paws for a Moment With God: Devotions Best Enjoyed in the Company of a Cat ~ compiled by Patricia Mitchell, 2010

"Have you ever noticed how a cat will find contentment in something as simple as a ray of sunshine?  She settles herself in its pleasure and basks in the joy of the moment!"  There is wisdom to be learned by observing the habits, curiosities, and antics of a cat.  If you have been blessed with the companionship of a cat, then cozy up together with this book.

Other books I want to read:

• Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Using Philosophy (and Jokes!) to Explore Life, Death, the Afterlife, and Everything in Between ~ by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein, 2009, humor
• Resist and Persist: Faith and the Fight for Equality ~ by Erin Wathen, 2018, sexism
• The Big Book for Peace ~ edited by Ann Durell and Marilyn Sachs, 1990, stories
• 
  Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner ~ edited by Ellen E. Garrigues, 1895, 1910, ballad
• The Power of Hope: The One Essential of Life and Love ~ by Maurice Lamm, 1995, psychology
• Transitions: Prayers and Declarations for a Changing Life ~ by Julia Cameron, 1999, reflections
• Have a Little Faith: A True Story ~ by Mitch Albom, 2009, memoir
• The Altered I: Ursula K. Le Guin's Science Fiction Writing Workshop ~ edited by Lee Harding, 1976, 1978, writing
• Does God Have a Big Toe? ~ by Marc Gellman, illustrated by Oscar de Mejo, 1989, humor
• What Would Maisie Do? ~ by Jacqueline Winspear, 2019, journal

This last one comes with a slew of Maisie Dobbs books, a whole series, as a matter of fact.  I read Maisie Dobbs, the first in Jacqueline Winspear's series, and then I got this journal.  Donna, however, bought the whole series and has donated the ones she has finished reading to the Crown Center's little library.  She has enjoyed them so much that I may also take a stab at reading this mystery series.

1. Maisie Dobbs, 2003
2. Birds of a Feather, 2004

3. Pardonable Lies, 2005
4. Messenger of Truth, 2006
5. An Incomplete Revenge, 2008
6. Among the Mad, 2009
7. The Mapping of Love and Death, 2010
8. A Lesson in Secrets, 2011
9. Elegy for Eddie, 2012
10. Leaving Everything Most Loved, 2013
11. A Dangerous Place, 2015
12. Journey to Munich, 2017
13. In This Grave Hour, 2018
14. To Die But Once, 2018
15. The American Agent, 2019

Happy New Year . . . and happy 2020 reading to all!

Monday Mindfulness ~ happiness report

Click to enlarge calendar

Second week of a new year, so it's time to pull up another seven days from the Happiness Calendar (see below).

Jan. 8 ~ Go to bed an hour earlier than normal.
Jan. 9 ~ Take ten minutes to sit still and just breathe.
Jan. 10 ~ Use one of your personal strengths in a new way.
Jan. 11 ~ Learn something new, and share it with others.
Jan. 12 ~ Ask other people about things they've enjoyed recently.
Jan. 13 ~ Thank three people you're grateful to, and tell them why.
Jan. 14 ~ Get back in touch with an old friend you miss.

I'm planning to "go to bed an hour earlier" tonight, mostly because it's been a busy few days and I'm tired.  I think I'll also find time, tomorrow, to "sit still and just breathe" as I think about happiness in the world and in my own life.

Happiness Report

At the end of last week (in other words, yesterday), Deb and Helen and I had a sort of conversation on our various blogs.

• Deb left a message on Helen's blog thanking her for sharing the January 2018 Happiness Calendar.
• I commented on Deb's blog, saying, "I love it!  You got the Happy New Year Calendar from Helen, and she got it from me.  So we'll be doing it together, in a sense."
• Deb came over and commented on my blog post:  "I love it!  I got it from Helen, and Helen got it from you, and you got it from Jan .... happier and happier!"

Happiness is spreading.  Can you feel it?